Maniobra Means “to Handle”… and So Much More

Puerto Rican artists play critical leadership roles within their communities, yet often live in a state of financial precarity. According to 2019 data reported by LabCultural and based on a community survey, artists in Puerto Rico reported earning a median annual income of approximately $13,500, with 33 percent generating less than $12,000 annually.

Inspired by cultural employment programs in the United States and elsewhere, in 2022 the Centro de Economía Creativa (CEC) launched Maniobra, an initiative designed to facilitate stable employment opportunities for artists while strengthening the administrative bandwidth of community-based cultural organizations across Puerto Rico. Maniobra focuses on the unique conditions that exist in Puerto Rico, where artists are making work in their respective disciplines and where arts organizations are also central to relief efforts following hurricanes and other natural disasters.

“In addition to supporting these artists, we also expect to strengthen the work of the collectives and organizations by providing technical and managerial support as well as operational budgets for the execution of the initiatives,” said Sonia Méndez Cintrón, program manager of the Centro de Economía Creativa, Inc. “It also represents a unique project that offers the artist not only a salary, but also fringe benefits and health care coverage.”

Rooted in the word for “hands,” the Spanish word maniobra suggests the “maneuvering” or “handling” built into many artistic processes. It is also meant to evoke the way in which artists, absent of stable work opportunities, are regularly in a state of maneuvering to find work.

Prior to the launch of Maniobra, CEC and the Mellon Foundation collaborated on artist-centered initiatives including the development of Nido Cultural—a platform to support management services for artistic and cultural production in Puerto Rico, as well as on an initiative aimed at Mapping of Cultural Work in Puerto Rico.