Noticias
As part of the 400th anniversary of the Spanish writer´s death
Mexico organizes 1.500 activities to remember Don Quixote´s author
April 20, 2016Artists from 12 countries, 12 world premieres, theater, music, dance, exhibitions and film series will be part of over 1,500 activities that will make up an unprecedented cultural mosaic to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra’s death .
The Secretary of Culture, Rafael Tovar y de Teresa; Ambassador of Spain in Mexico, Luis Fernández Cid de las Alas Plumariño, and the governor of Guanajuato, Miguel Márquez Márquez, led the presentation of the greatest international artistic and cultural program about Don Quixote’s author, which will start on April 23rd and culminate with the activities of the XLIV International Cervantino Festival in October.
Rafael Tovar y de Teresa defined as a fundamental cultural event the commemoration of the 400th anniversary of Cervantes’s death under the International Book Day and the Cervantes Award recognition to Mexican Fernando del Paso for the sixth time.
The Secretary of Culture said that the Cervantes 400 years program, the most significant in the world by the size of its offer, combines the renowned author’s work, besides all that has inspired through many generations in art and culture, all this through a transversal program, which includes institutions of the Department of Culture, as the National Institute of Fine Arts (INBA, for its acronym in Spanish), National Fund for Culture and Arts (Fonca, for its contraction in Spanish), Canal 22, Radio Educación, General Directorate of Publications (DGP, for its acronym in Spanish) and the Festival Internacional Cervantino (FIC, for its acronym in Spanish), exclusively with the assigned budgets.
"Without the existence of the Department of Culture this would be more complicated because now allows us to direct all efforts on a single goal and define an horizon, such as the commemoration of Cervantes, which will spread the value of the Hispanic culture and the excellence of our common language. "
On his behalf, Ambassador Luis Fernández said that Cervantes is a universal character with a multifaceted nature framing literature of all time and therefore the committee has been coordinated in Spain to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Cervantes’s death, a program of which Mexico is one of the main allies, for sharing a common heritage in the cervantino world.
"We are pleased that on April 26th, a Mexican will be receiving the Cervantes Prize for the 6th time: writer Fernando del Paso, a ceremony that frames the cultural bridge between the two countries for these commemorations where Don Quixote’s autor will be remembered in music, theater, visual arts and literary and cultural activities.
Meanwhile, Governor Miguel Márquez said that after Spain, Guanajuato is one of the cities that live with great devotion the life and work of Cervantes for 60 years when the Entremeses Cervantinos started and twenty five years ago with the Colloquium about the deeper analysis of his work.
“We are excited to present for this celebration one of the most ambitious cultural programs about the figure of Cervantes, with a circuit covering over 734 cultural activities in 17 towns of the state where 160 artists will participate."
Marina Núñez Bespalova, General Director of Publications of the Department of Culture, detailed the activities that will make up the Cervantes 400 years, where in addition to performances at emblematic places such as the Palace of Fine Arts, the crown jewel will be held at the International Cervantino Festival program.
She mentioned that workshops and readings are specially designed for children and young people for this celebration in order to bring them to the figure of Cervantes and its importance to world culture.
"On April 23rd we are going to have reading rooms, both in Mexico City and throughout Mexico, where several passages will be read . That same day, the series, De sabios sueños y locos will be held at the Hellenic Cultural Center, plus a literary tournament at the Elena Garro Cultural Center, with specialists in the work of Cervantes on April 24th. Also, editions of the reserved fund will be exhibited at the Library Vasconcelos, as well as a film series in parallel with the National Film Archive”.
Seven hundred screens will be placed throughout the country to spread the shows about Cervantes in the Cervantino, in coordination with Channel 22; meanwhile the platform Libros Mexico will present the book Una de libros, which will spread the enjoyment of reading among young people and one of the books will be precisely, Don Quixote.
Besides radio interventions about Cervantes' work will be broadcasted in Radio Educación, artists will be invited to make sound sessions about Cervantes at the National Sound Archive; all this with a great closing during October at the National Arts Centre with an academic tour on Cervantes’s and Shakespeare’s works.
On his behalf, Jorge Volpi, director of the International Cervantino Festival, said that the FIC (for its acronym in Spanish) will show a Cervantes in all his facets, recovering various versions and sub versions of his work.
Thanks to the joint coordination of the cultural authorities of Spain and Mexico we will have the greatest international commemoration in our country of the 400th anniversary of the death of one of the most important authors of the world culture”, he said.
Mexico,Distrito Federal
