/ARTS WEEKLY/ MEXICO: Cervantes Festival Basks in Long History

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Diego Cevallos

MEXICO CITY, Oct 21 2003 (IPS) - The central Mexican city of Guanajuato is abuzz until Nov. 2 with 2,500 artists from 36 countries gathered for theatre, dance, opera, music, painting and photo exhibitions – all under the auspices of the International Cervantes Festival.

Organisers expect more than 70,000 people will attend this year’s festival, whose diversity has elevated it to the status of “the most important cultural event in Latin America,” according to the event’s web site.

Festivalgoers are not only taking in theatre productions, concerts and expositions, they are also participating in workshops, roundtable discussions and book presentations during the 19-day event.

“The Cervantes Festival has reached maturity at age 31, and is the pre-eminent event of its type in the region,” festival director Ramiro Osorio told IPS.

On Nov. 2, most of the participating artists will leave Guanajuato – a city founded by Spaniards in the early 16th century, attracted by its abundant silver – to tour and perform in theatres and plazas in 18 of Mexico’s 31 states.

As in previous years, Mexico City will see in November at least 80 percent of what audiences are currently enjoying at the International Cervantes Festival in Guanajuato.

But even after audiences pack their bags, Guanajuato, capital of the state of the same name and “birthplace of Mexico’s independence”, will not have much time to relax. Preparations will begin for the December opening of the city’s International Book Fair, one of the most important in the Spanish-speaking world.

As for the International Cervantes Festival, initially, says the web site, it was devoted “mainly to artistic creation in the Spanish language, in homage to Miguel de Cervantes,” author of Don Quixote.

“In the course of time, the universal scope of the influence of Cervantes gradually took the form of the vast variety of artistic and cultural expressions included in the festival today.”

The 31st Cervantes Festival is dedicated to Germany and France, which sent a combined total of more than 400 artists, said Osorio.

The presentations, shows and performances – most considered to be on the cutting-edge of their respective genre – each year draw hundreds of youths who, for the duration of the event, turn a part of the city into a big dance party, and the alcohol flows in abundance.

The hotels of this historic city of some 200,000 inhabitants are overflowing, and many local families turn their houses into bed-and-breakfast lodgings for visitors, who are also here to absorb Guanajuato’s colonial architecture of tunnels and narrow streets, and its florid balconies.

To prevent things from getting out of hand, some 800 police are patrolling the city.

In 1989, Guanajuato was declared Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation).

Over the history of the Cervantes Festival, some 25,000 artists from more than 80 countries have taken part, a record that no other festival of its type in Latin America or the Caribbean has come close to breaking.

This year, among the items on the programme that stand out are the Flamenco ballet of Spain’s Sara Baras, the state opera of Hamburg and the French music group Art Zond.

The critics are highlighting the opera “Conquest of Mexico”, staged by German artists, and the play “Platicens Volans”, of the Theatre Titanick collective, also of Germany.

Also being talked about are the Reda ballet of Egypt, the Odissa dance troupe of India and the play “Ship in a View” by a Japanese theatre group.

On the streets of this old city, actors, musicians and storytellers from around the world are drawing crowds. Many Mexicans have converged on Guanajuato too, as clowns, mimes and puppeteers, performing on the street in hopes of earning some pesos.

In the 19 days of the festival, Guanajuato’s theatres and parks are the venues for more than 60 concerts, 31 dance performances, 55 plays and six operas.

The multifaceted event comes with a price tag of more than six million dollars, financed by the national and state governments as well as corporate sponsors. Local hotels and restaurants are expected to see revenues of around 37 million dollars.

Throughout its history, the International Cervantes Festival has faced financial troubles on several occasions, particularly during the Ernesto Zedillo government (1994-2000), but with Vicente Fox in the presidency for the last three years, it has recovered some of its past lustre.

A contributing factor to this upturn could be that Fox served as governor of Guanajuato state from 1995 to 1999.

***** +Int’l Cervantes Festival (http://www.donquijote.org/guanajuato/info.festivals.asp)