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TheFestival Internacional Cervantino (FIC), popularly known asEl Cervantino, is a festival which takes place each fall in thecity of Guanajuato, located in centralMexico. The festival originates from the mid 20th century, when short plays byMiguel de Cervantes calledentremeses (singularentremés) were performed in the city's plazas.
In 1972, the festival was expanded with federal support to include more events to add a more international flavor. Since then, FIC has grown to become the most important international artistic and cultural event in Mexico andLatin America, and one of four major events of its type in the world.[1][2][3][4] It is a member of theEuropean Festivals Association and theAsian Association of Theater Festivals[2] In addition to government support, there are also private sponsors such asTelmex,Televisa andMicrosoft.[3]
The city of Guanajuato, where the Festival takes place, has historically had a large cultural scene in relation to its size. The richness of the mines in colonial times started a tradition of theaters and other cultural venues to satisfy the desires of the middle and upper classes. The city has a tradition of hosting musical, theatrical and dance events not only in its numerous theaters but also in its many small plazas with benches.[5]
In 1953, Enrique Ruelas of theUniversity of Guanajuato began to put on an annual event called the Entremeses de Miguel de Cervantes Saaevedra, short plays written by the author ofDon Quixote. These plays are still part of the annual Festival. In 1972, he founded the Coloquio Cervantino from June to September to expand the annual Entremeses event.[4] Ruelas's efforts came to the attention of the federal government through actressDolores del Río.
While in the city of Guanajuato, she came across the Entremeses being performed at the Plaza San Roque and was fascinated. Around the same time, former presidentLuis Echeverría had attended cultural festivals in Europe and was interested in doing something similar in Mexico. Through Echeverría's cousin, Del Río relayed what she had seen in Guanajuato.[6] The federal government then established the foundation for an international cultural festival, originally proposing it forAcapulco. However, the tradition of the Entremeses was the main reason why Guanajuato was eventually chosen, meshing the two ideas to produce the modern event for the first time in 1972 with performances by artists from fourteen countries including Mexico. For this reason, this year is considered the foundation of the event.[4]
The Festival in its current form was a governmental effort, with the 1972 edition attracting interest solely because of the influence of the politicians promoting it.[7] The Cervantino had its greatest growth from 1976 to 1982, during the presidency ofJosé López Portillo because of the efforts of his wife, Carmen Romano, who promoted it abroad.[8] It quickly gained the attention of noted artists, with Berlin Philharmonic directorHerbert von Karajan offering to appear at no cost.[8] Initially the city of Guanajuato had difficulties in hosting the event due to the lack of infrastructure.[9]
Elizabeth II and thePrince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh attended the event in 1975. By decree, an organizing committee was set up in 1976 under the Secretaría de Educación Pública, the state and city of Guanajuato and the University of Guanajuato to invite artists from Mexico and abroad. Some of the first invited by this committee wereMario Moreno Cantinflas andDolores del Río. This committee is still in charge today, working with theConsejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, elInstituto Nacional de Bellas Artes and the Instituto de Cultura deGuanajuato. In 1978,Juan Carlos andSofía of Spain attended as guests of honor.[4]
Initially, the city of Guanajuato was only the host, with local artistic groups not participating in the event. However, efforts were soon made to lobby for their inclusion, especially by the Universidad de Guanajuato, and now artists from this university and other parts of the city and state regularly appear.[10]
Since 1982, the festival has diminished somewhat in size, mostly because of reduced funding. Another issue that arose was that the festival had become very popular with backpackers, who slept in the streets and caused problems for local residents.[11] However, it remained a very important event, attracting notable acts and up to 140 journalists to cover it.[12] In the 1980s, these includedLazar Berman,Mercedes Sosa, theNew York Philharmonic,Joan Baez,Gilbert Bécaud,Mario Lavista,Guillermo Velázquez,Los Leones de la Sierra de Xichú, theNational Ballet of Canada,Nikolais Dance Theater, theBolshoi Ballet,Sankai Juku,Theater Scena STU (Poland) and theMarionette Theatre of Hungary.[4]
In 1989, the city became aWorld Heritage Site which allowed most of the city's colonial and late 19th-century architecture, including its theatres, to be restored.[5]
During the 1990s, the festival featured acts such as theGuitar Trio of Amsterdam,Voices of Change, theVienna Quintet,Guadalupe Pineda,Krzysztof Jakowicz,Krystyna Borucinska,Kronos Quartet,Madredeus, theOpen Theater of Belgrade, theLindsay Kemp Company and theRoyal Shakespeare Company.[4]
In the 2000s, the custom of having Mexican states and foreign countries and regions as “special guests” began. In 2001, the invited region wasOceania along withVeracruz. Acts featured during those years includedHélène Grimaud,Eugenio Toussaint,Juan Fornell and Los Van Van, theVienna Symphony Virtuosi,Enrique Bunbury,Los Tigres del Norte,Panteón Rococó,Meno Fortas andLes 7 doigts de la main.[4]
The city was declared theCervantino Capital of America in 2005, which prompted the federal government to issue a commemorative silver coin.[4]
However, problems with the lack of funds and organizational issues brought the event to a crisis by 2006. There were structural and financial changes made during the rest of that decade, and by 2010, the Festival was able to recuperate much of its former status, attracting major artists from around the world.[13] However, problems with large crowds of mostly young people, drinking in public remains a problem, especially for the local populace.[14]
The 38th edition of the Festival in 2010 was dedicated toMexico's Bicentennial of Independence and Centennial of the Revolution. Three states,Chihuahua,Michoacán andQuerétaro, along with three countries,Argentina,Colombia andChile, were the special guests as they celebrated their bicentennials in the same year.[4] The 2010 version had 3,161 artists from 31 countries, with special emphasis on traditional Mexican music and dance.[3]
The 2011 version brought together 2,800 artists from 29 countries, in genres such as classical and folk music totechno, open-air theatre, expositions, recent plays and other works from the 20th century by well-known writers.[15] It is dedicated to the environment, with a theme of “The Gifts of Nature” and special guestsDenmark,Finland,Sweden,Norway andNayarit.[16][17] Artists include TheOslo Camerata,Geir Henning Braaten,Knut Reiersrud,Mari Boine,[17] a dramatization ofIl Postino byPablo Neruda,[18] theSaint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra focusing on 19th century Russian music, especiallyTchaikovsky,[19][20] theDeMUG Baroque Ensemble, and an exhibition ofOaxacan painterFrancisco Toledo in the Museo del Pueblo.[21] The 2011 event cost 122 million pesos to set up, with most of the money coming fromCONACULTA and the rest from the state ofGuanajuato, theUniversity of Guanajuato and thecity of Guanajuato.[16]
The 2014 performance was opened bytaiko drumming groupTokyo Dagekidan, a performance attended by Japan's PrinceFumihito Akishino and his wifeKiko.[22][23]
The 2020 festival was presented online from October 14 to 18 due to theCOVID-19 pandemic in Mexico.[24]
The events happen in the forty nine theatres, plazas and other venues in the city, with satellite events in other plazas in the state and other cities in the country.[3] The Festival in the city of Guanajuato takes advantage of these numerous venues, indoor and outdoor which include theTeatro Juárez, theTeatro Principal, theTeatro Cervantes, the Patio of the Faculty of Industrial Relations, the State Auditorium, the Plaza San Roque, the Esplanade of theAlhondiga, theTeatro de Minas, theValenciana Church and theEx-Hacienda of San Gabriel de Barrera. In addition, seven museum spaces are used for exhibitions such as those of photography.[5]
The event represents a tourist and economic windfall for the city, which brought in 423 million pesos in 2010, a 57% increase over 2009 with hotel occupancy alone up 39%. The total number of visitors in 2010 is estimated at 179,000, with 463,000 tickets to events sold. In addition to the events in Guanajuato proper, there were another 125,000 attendees to related activities in 37 cities and seventeen states in Mexico.[25]
Being named after Spanish writerMiguel de Cervantes, the Festival has a special emphasis on artistic creations in the Spanish language, with the original tradition of performing this writer's “entremeses” plays upheld by the University Theater of Guanajuato. The international aspect is to create a space for discovery and exchange.[2] TheBallet Folklorico de Mexico underAmalia Hernández has performed every year since the beginning.[4]
Acts have been booked from all parts of the world of a wide variety from classical music, Mexican folk dance,Chinese acrobats and more.[5] The event attracts artists from all over the world each year in order to present typical aspects of culture from each country.[4] Acts include those from genres such as opera, music, dance, theatre, street spectaculars, visual arts, film and literature along with various academic events.[15] The Festival has an agreement with theMUTEK Festival of Montreal with the aim of presenting newer acts to the audiences in Mexico especially in the field of electronic music.[3]
In 2010, the Presea FIC was instituted to recognize the work of Mexican and foreign artists for their contributions to culture. The prize is symbolized by a statue designed by Vicente Rojo, which is awarded during the opening ceremonies. The first was awarded toLuis Herrera de la Fuente.[4][15]
To promote a link between culture and technology, the Festival and Microsoft México sponsor a Technology Pavilion at the Mesón de San Antonio. It is planned to contain an Internet café with large lounge chairs and wireless services for those with mobile devices.[26] Microsoft sponsors a set of academic lectures about what's new in technology and art, games and everyday life.[27]
Much of the festival is set up to attract young people from children to university age. The Cervantino Program for Youth sponsors programs for this age group as well as other activities.[27] It has an annual Artistic Creativity Contest for Youth put on in collaboration with theEdinburgh International Festival andThe Anglo Mexican Foundation.[28] Two activities in 2010 were a contest of photos taken with cell phones and another contest of short electronic music pieces, both of which were launched over the Internet. Winners received trips to theEdinburgh International Festival, the first and largest international cultural event of its type in the world.[3][27] A number of performers and academic activities are scheduled with young audiences in mind. These include rock and electronic music concerts with dance and theater events. In 2011, these included German electronic music groupsMoonbootica andSchlachthofbronx sponsored by theGoethe Institute and rock musiciansSierra León,Finde,El Otro Yo andRubick .[27][28] Theatre for youth includeVivarium Studio performing L éffet de Serge,Mauricio García Lozano andTeatro Farfullero presenting La pequeña habitación al final de la escalera andCirco Aereo andLes Objets Volants, aFinnish/French group with acrobats, comedians and other circus performers. Other events for youth includeDJ Frivolous andDJ Kid Koala from Canada and German artistBrandt Brauer Frick who mixes electronic and acoustic sounds.[27] University students can get up to a 73% discount on tickets for selected acts.[28] There is an event to bring together children and Mexican poets and a performance of A magic flute for children by the French ensembleThéâtre des Bouffes du Nord.[15]
In 2011, the Festival scheduled its first Art Book Fair, focusing on books about the visual and theatrical arts.[15]
Based on the program sponsored by theLucerne Festival, the Cervantino Academy's purpose is to train professional level instrumentalists in classical and contemporary music.[29][30] The program sponsors individual students, classes, workshops, practice sessions and concerts, including at the Festival Cervantino, both by small ensembles as well as in an orchestra. Participants are under thirty and are selected by audition. The program has invited maestros from both Mexico and abroad, includingIrvine Arditti,Steve Schick,Norio Sato andSalvatore Sciarrino.[29][30][31] The program attracts students from various countries in Latin America, includingGuatemala, Brazil, Cuba, andBolivia as well as Mexico.[30][31]
Prior Festival events and shows related to artists scheduled to perform in upcoming festivals are shown through the Festival's television, radio and website. A channel called TV FIC or Canal Cervantino was created on channel 157 ofCablevision to broadcast archived footage of past festivals and performances by those scheduled to perform the upcoming year.[3][4]Microsoft sponsors the Festival's web page as well as an online radio station called Radio FIC which offers online archives of music, video and photographic works, as well as a various types of informative material.[3]
Most of the events related to the Festival occur in Guanajuato, but some events such as dance, plays and concerts are presented live or are transmitted to other areas of the country. These include national and international acts.[32][33] The Más Allá de Guanajuato (Beyond Guanajuato) program to bring Cervantino cultural events to other parts of the country, free to the public. As of 2014, the program has sponsored events in over 100 venues in 26 states and the Federal District. These include schools, cultural center, libraries and correctional institutions.[34] Much of this activity is made possible through a collaboration with CONACULTA and the Secretaría de Educación Pública.[35]
The Ruelos Project, named after the founder of the Entremeses Cervantinos, was created in 2014 to pair artists with disadvantaged communities. The Festival provides logistical support but the actors and support staff are locals with that thirty participants in each event.[36] The project is based on the original Entremeses Cervantinos done by Enrique Ruelos starting in the 1950s which relied on community participation to produce plays such as those by Shakespeare but modified to the local culture. The performances are planned and executed with communities where there are high levels of crime and family instability and violence, mostly in the state of Guanajuato.[37] They have also worked with prison populations.[38]
21°1′3.74″N101°15′23.99″W / 21.0177056°N 101.2566639°W /21.0177056; -101.2566639