Mariana Aymerich looks happy on Friday afternoon about the results of the International Cervantino Festival that is held year after year in the Mexican city of Guanajuato. The director of the festival, one of the most important in the world in terms of performing arts, affirms that the response from the public has been enthusiastic despite the fact that the world of culture in Mexico was disrupted by the impact of the covid-19 pandemic. and the budget cuts imposed by the previous Government of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. This is an open wound that Aymerich believes the new Administration is willing to close. At least, he says, he sees an openness to dialogue between the new Secretary of Culture, Claudia Curiel, and the artistic sector. The director of Cervantino speaks with EL PAÍS about the 52nd edition of the Cervantino that comes to an end on Sunday, the sniping at Culture and the possibility of a new direction in the sector by the authorities.
Ask. What is your assessment of this edition of the Cervantino?
Answer. Very positive. The public’s response to this edition has been surprising and I think it also responds to everything that awakened in all of us a combination of Oaxaca and Brazil. Oaxaca with its depth of culture, its diversity, which is very similar to what we know from Brazil. Everything we have seen has been very surprising. The main objective of having Brazil as a guest country is that even though it is on our same continent, the reality is that we do not know it. And since 2019 we set out to bring all those things that seem extraordinary to us and that may surprise the public. I am very satisfied with what we have achieved in this edition and because the Guanajuato public is consuming the festival more.
P. How has attendance been at the dance, theater, and performing arts events compared to previous editions?
R. I think it has gone up. This year we did two experiments to see how the audience worked. On the one hand, open the doors of the Juárez Theater to artistic proposals more focused on young people, such as the case of Silvana Estrada, who had never been to the festival and by opening the doors of the Juárez we break a little that barrier that young people Sometimes they see the theater as majestic and do not dare to enter. That reaction from the young audience to having Estrada was impressive, because the theater was full. It worked very well. The same thing happened with Daniel, you’re killing me, this band that was at the State Auditorium. We hadn’t presented music either and we wanted to do that test and it worked very well.
P. Have they maintained the federal budget to organize the festival?
R. The federal budget has not increased, because we have the same as last year, which is 45 million pesos. But there is also a lot of management work with strategic allies, with sponsors, with other institutions, the embassies. This is a work of many years and it responds to the prestige of the festival, which trusts in this dissemination and promotion platform. There is the contribution of the State Government, of the municipality. It’s a lot of teamwork to achieve this. If we counted all the contributions, I think we are above 200 million pesos. This is the only federal festival in the country and by regulations we cannot receive contributions in cash, but rather in kind such as plane tickets, internet, canvas, urban image.
P. There is an open wound in the cultural sector in Mexico due to the cuts of the so-called republican austerity. Has it affected you?
R. No, there is a lot of support from the Ministry of Culture to hold the festival, even in this new Administration. There is an important intention to reinforce what the festival does in the area of cultural circuits, even extending it to more cities. At the opening of the festival, the Secretary of Culture was very happy with what she saw. Trust that we will be able to maintain it.
P. Do you trust that such important support from the Government will be maintained?
R. Yes, yes. There is very good communication, a very good relationship and I think that without a doubt we will find many areas of opportunity to continue working for the festival.
P. The blow of the pandemic has still left behind in the cultural sector, after the closure of theaters and museums, culture came to a standstill. Have they managed to recover after that tremendous blow?
R. Not 100%, we have to be very honest. The 2019 numbers compared to last year, including the 50th anniversary, which was a great festival, do not reflect that recovery. I think it is on a general level, not only in the case of the festival, but there is a more delicate, organic consumption of the performing arts.
P. What does that mean?
R. It is true that we use platforms more, more technology, but a live show, a play, music, is not the same as seeing it through a screen as it is live. And yes we like to consume that, there is an audience that likes to go to the theater, to concerts, to enjoy it live because of the emotions that a live show provokes in you. The pandemic was very hard for everyone, because we know how to summon people live and not through screens, it was very difficult, but we learned and we attracted an audience that knew us through the screens and now consumes the festival.
P. What does the festival represent for the arts?
R. There are 17 museums in this city and in the visual arts they have been a very important communication mechanism for artists, because you can see everything from a contemporary painting to photography. The festival has opened up that niche much more, so that the public knows it more. Artists, those who communicate through the visual arts, transmit the possibility of languages or narratives that were previously a little more aside and emerging artists did not have those possibilities. I think the festival provides that possibility to express and demonstrate what they are doing.
P. There are many complaints from theater companies, for example, not only about the lack of budgets, but also the attention of the public. How do you see the health of theater in Mexico?
R. It is a community that undoubtedly must be attended to. I am sure that a very important dialogue will begin with all these communities. With all these changes in federal institutions, the objective is that: To mark a path towards dialogue, to listen to what they need, because there is indeed so much that sometimes you don’t know how to cover it.
P. Is there an opportunity for the new Administration to close that wound with budget cuts?
R. I think so. I am convinced that dialogue is the best mechanism and that there is openness for that. With will, with dialogue and with knowing what the community needs, we can work little by little. I think there is a will, without a doubt.