Santiago a Mil is an event where all points of view and cultures are welcome. It is an invitation to witness something unique, to share unforgettable experiences and to start up conversations resulting from the multiple art forms available.
Every January since 1994, Chile’s capital and different cities countrywide become the perfect stage for the performing arts, providing an opportunity to reach diverse audiences. For three weeks, the festival is a rare chance to see contemporary creations with a high level of artistic excellence and that are extremely relevant, both socially and politically.
Each version is made up of outstanding pieces from Chile and all over the world that are constantly exploring, breaking down limits, crossing the boundaries between and updating theater, dance, music, performance, circus, visual arts and film, among others, from around 25 countries. Artists such as Pina Bausch, Ariane Mnouchkine, Royal de Luxe, Robert Wilson, Christoph Marthaler, Jan Fabre, Krystian Lupa, Ivo van Hove, Romeo Castellucci, Lemi Ponifasio and Thomas Ostermeier have all taken part in the festival.
Santiago a Mil also breaks down physical, economic and social boundaries, extending its free program to different neighborhoods in the Metropolitan Region and to different cities countrywide.
In 2021, the festival will adapt to the current situation in one of its biggest and most original versions, combining online and live performances and theater, dance, music, opera, circus, radio theater and productions at venues, on the streets and in unconventional places, as well as an important online program via Teatroamil.tv, the media and on different virtual stages. A gesture of resistance, it will be based on the importance of coming together because of the arts and help to reactivate a cultural sector hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.
PROGRAMMING
Artistic excellence, the avant-garde and contemporaneity are the main hallmarks of Santiago a Mil, reflected in the participation of outstanding international artists and a selection of the best of the national listings every year.
CHILEAN PRODUCTIONS
These are made up of Teatro a Mil Foundation coproductions and a selection of Chilean theater and dance pieces chosen, since 2006, by an independent jury that changes every year, made up of members with different professions and points of view.
INTERNATIONAL PRODUCTIONS
These are chosen by a curatorial team, led by the Teatro a Mil Foundation’s General Director and including members of the foundation’s management team and international consultants in the United States and Europe, who go and watch plays at festivals and events abroad.
TOCATAS MIL
Santiago a Mil’s musical program aims to lend an ear to the voices, rhythms and diverse styles that are helping to rejuvenate the Chilean and Latin American music scene. This selection is made by an external group of programmers who are music specialists.
TERRITORIOS CREATIVOS
Territorios Creativos is a program that came to life in 2020 to encourage Chilean artistic creation by delving deeper into our work with creators throughout Chile. It highlights their diversity and has helped maintain a creative dialogue both in the country and abroad during a health crisis that has deeply affected what they do, as well as making us take another look at our own practices and explore new forms of collaboration.
CHILEAN SELECTION OF PLAYS
Each year, the Teatro a Mil Foundation invites professional Chilean artists to apply for the Santiago a Mil International Festival’s Chilean program. Applications are completed online. In 2022, plays created for or adapted into digital formats have been formally incorporated into the offer, as well as those performed live. The jury will be distributed between both categories.
FINANCING
The festival is financed by an administrative model that is unique in Chile and based on two main pillars: network cooperation and a mixed system of financing that is the result of collaboration with public institutions, private companies, international bodies, theater venues, artists, the media and suppliers.
COLLABORATORS
The Santiago a Mil International Festival is organized by the Teatro a Mil Foundation and presented in conjunction with BHP ESCONDIDA under the Law of Cultural Donations and is supported by the Ministry of Culture, the Arts and Heritage
This way of working is also made possible thanks to collaboration with public institutions, private companies, international bodies, theater venues, artists, the media and suppliers.
LAB ESCÉNICO
Santiago a Mil is more than just a collection of shows. It is also a place where there is room for ideas, dialogue and reflection. In LAB Escénico, artists, students and the public come together in workshops and open conversations to ponder the performing arts and what they do.
