TeatroStageFest Partnership Puts Spotlight on Performing Arts in Latin America

In October, Music of the Americas teamed up with TeatroStageFest, an organization that promotes Latin American performing arts in New York. Music of the Americas hosted two programs with Latin American artists and some of the institutions of that bring their work to the public. The first event took place on October 5 and showcased a wide array of talents including performances by tango band Escalandrum and dancers Viviana Laguzzi and Esteban Domenchini. It also featured a discussion panel consisting of Maria Kodama, widow of acclaimed Argentine author Jorge Luis Borges; Hernan Lombardi, minister of culture of the city of Buenos Aires; and Daniel Piazzolla, leader of Escalandrum and grandson of tango legend Ástor Piazzolla. The panel was moderated by WNYC host Terrance McKnight. The second event on October 22 featured cultural leaders from leading Latin American institutions in a conversation led by NY1’s Patrick Pacheco.

The first event spotlighted the works of Piazzolla and Borges. Piazzolla and Borges collaborated directly on a set of songs, some of which were presented at Music of the Americas in 2006. During this program, the audience heard from Kodama and Piazzolla, two people keeping the late artists’ legacies alive. They were joined by Lombardi, a strong cultural supporter of tango. Piazzolla remarked, “The idea behind the music [tango] is to always find new things; that’s what my grandfather always taught me and that is what my father reminds me of every day.” The evening centered around Borges and Piazzolla’s works, as well as on the impact of their art.

[[nid:48401]]

The second event brought together cultural leaders from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and the United States to speak about their institutions and the cultural issues facing Latin America. The panel consisted of Margaret C. Ayers, president of the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation; Alberto Ligaluppi, general director of the Complejo Teatral de Buenos Aires; Sandra Meluk, programming director of Teatro Mayor Julio Mario Santo Domingo, Bogota; and Danilo Santos de Miranda, regional director of SESC São Paulo.

Pacheco began the discussion by asking each director to describe their respective institution and how it operates. Ligaluppi outlined the massive production operation the Complejo Teatral de Buenos Aires undertakes as the theater encompasses all of the processes required to produce a theatrical work. A model taken from European theaters, the Complejo Teatral does everything from building the sets and costumes to hiring over 300 actors for over 25 new productions a year, a singular feat in the region. At only two years old, the Teatro Mayor Julio Mario Santo Domingo is relatively new and is part of the overall Public Library Cultural Center Julio Mario Santo Domingo. An important cultural center in Bogota, the Cultural Center is comprised of a library, a theater for concerts and theater productions, a studio theater, conference rooms, and other services. The Center’s name reflects the generous gift by the Santo Domingo family who donated the construction of the building. The Teatro Mayor operates as a public- private partnership whereas the Cultural Center is operated by the city of Bogota.

One of the highlights of the evening came from Miranda, whose organization SESC São Paulo functions in a radically different way than most performing arts institutions. The SESCSP, an acronym for Social Service of Commerce of the state of São Paulo, operates with a budget of $600 million collected through a 1.5 percent payroll tax from local companies, an arrangement cemented in Brazil’s constitution. Both the SESC’s national support and financial stability allow Miranda extraordinary leeway when it comes to programming and outreach—something extremely enviable to most art institutions still struggling to regain their footing after a tough recession. Miranda recognized this luxury but restated his mission: “Our job is to convince the public that a more just world cannot be created by meeting basic needs alone—art and culture must also exist.” Music of the Americas also hosted Miranda in 2011. Check out his presentation here.