Mérida will celebrate its 482nd anniversary in a big way with the participation of 768 local and international artists and the holding of more than 150 events and shows featuring music, theater, circus, dance, cinema, literature, and visual arts all over the city, as reported by Mayor Alejandro Ruz Castro when presenting the Mérida Fest 2024 program,
“Mérida Fest 2024 is a wonderful opportunity to reflect and celebrate the great progress we have made as a supportive city, as a united community, with activities that allow us to enjoy coexistence and shows in our public space where joy and healthy fun reign,” the Mayor said.
In the event held at the Mérida Cultural Center “Olimpo” with the presence of Beatriz Espejo, winner of the 2023 National Prize for Arts and Literature, the Municipal President highlighted that events such as the Mérida Fest position Mérida in the eyes of the world, for harmonizing cultural expression with coexistence in public spaces, cultivating and disseminating knowledge of all the cultures that coexist in the city.
“That is why we can proudly affirm that “the city festival is an international festival,” he stressed.
“Mérida, with its traditions and innovation, invites us all to go out to the streets and parks, to enter the theaters and galleries, to continue showing the world the safe place, of harmony and social peace, that we have all built to live in it” he added.
Accompanied by Loreto Villanueva Trujillo, Secretary of Culture and the Arts of the State of Yucatán (SEDECULTA); Juan Pablo Manzanero, producer, and composer; Silvia and Silvia Káter, actress and cultural promoter, among other artists, Ruz Castro announced that the city’s festivities will take place from January 5 to 24 in 30 venues with the participation of 9 invited countries: Cuba, Canada, China, Spain, Portugal, Chile, USA, Costa Rica and Italy.
For her part, Silvia Káter, actress and cultural promoter of the “Tiempo de AbrazARTE” Project, thanked the Mayor and the City Council of Mérida for supporting and promoting new ways to promote culture and the arts in the city, highlighting local talent.
“We consider it very important to thank this impulse given to the artists who on countless occasions take charge of financing our creations because it is unthinkable for us to abandon our dreams, and when those dreams are embraced by the public, private initiative and as In this case, for the government institutions, we appreciate it with all our hearts,” he emphasized.
At the time, Irving Berlin Villafaña, director of Culture, reported that the city’s festivities would begin on January 5 with the traditional dawn; On January 6, the traditional mass for the 482nd anniversary of the city will be held in the San Ildefonso Cathedral at 8:00 a.m.; At night, the show schedule will open with the inaugural concert by Juan Pablo Manzanero and his friends in the Plaza Grande at 8 p.m.
In addition, there will be a presentation by the Failde Orchestra (Cuba); Intis. Miguel Hiroshi & Leonardo Prakash; Ricardo Ribeiro (Portugal); Elena Mikailova; Godwana (Chile); Aguamala, Great children’s musical: La Cucarachita Martina. Inc. La Colmenita (Cuba); Barbu; Electro Trad Cabaret. Circus-video-music. Cirque Alfonse (Canada); 100 Years Disney, Mérida Children’s and Youth Orchestra, Mérida Chamber Orchestra, and City Choir; the singer Fey and the designer David Salomón (Pasarela)
In general, the cultural range includes 12 literary presentations, 11 film presentations, 37 music presentations, 9 children’s shows, 26 theater presentations, 9 dance presentations, 2 shows, and 7 circus art presentations, special celebrations such as Chinese Week and the Festival. of Chinese video art, to be held from January 8 to 14, cultural, interdisciplinary tours, workshops, a ballet gala, and a Hip Hop festival.
There will also be a special celebration of Yucatecan trova, with concerts by Jorge Buenfil for his 50 years of career and the group Yahal Kab that celebrates 45 years of music.
The events will be held in the interactive, immersive space “La Peni”, in the Parque de la Paz, Plaza Grande, Remate de Paseo de Montejo, Centro Cultural Olimpo, Museum of the City of Mérida, Teatro Daniel Ayala Pérez, Teatro Felipe Carrillo Puerto, “Nina Shestakova” Arts Theater, Music Palace, University Cultural Center, Tanicho Theater House.
Likewise, the Rubén Chacón Alternative Forum, Centro Cultural del Sur, José Martí Cultural Center, Paseo 60, parks of Santa Lucía, Santiago, Las Américas, Colonia México, De La Paz, Ex Penitenciaría (next to La Paz Park), colony Alemán, Mulsay, Los Héroes, San Roque, Emancipación, San José Tecoh, Juan Pablo II, Cholul Police Station, Caja Negra of the Yucatán University of the Arts and Amaro Restaurant.
All tickets to events are free. The complete billboard can be consulted on the City Council website: www.merida.gob.mx/meridafest
