Two years after its creation, the internationalization project of the District Institute of Arts - Idartes has become stronger and has advanced substantially, positioning itself in several international scenarios and standing out in meetings, festivals and platforms.
Idartes Internacional, una ventana al mundo –Idartes International, a window to the world– has allowed the institution to cross borders, gradually making Bogota became a cultural and artistic benchmark through alliances, synergies, international cooperation and among others.
“We are quite happy to be able to count on this great internationalization project allowing us to cross borders and build bridges around the world. We are positioning Idartes as a very important platform and Bogota as a cultural and artistic focal point in Latin America” says Catalina Valencia.
For the first time, Idartes has become a member of International Society for the Performing Arts - ISPA. The entity attended the Imagine de Arts virtual congress, which took place in January 2021. The delegation had the opportunity to get new ties with organizations from other countries such as Argentina, Mexico, Canada, Spain and Germany at this meeting.
A Backstage Dialogues session with Tatrix from Mexico, speaking about virtual platforms for art and theater arose from this relationship, as well as two other sessions and a meeting for the exchange of experiences on cultural infrastructure between Idartes architect’s team and the U.S. Company Schuler Shook.
Later, Idartes Music Management and Cultural Facilities Deputy Director’s Office were there, with a virtual booth, at the Global Toronto 2021 conference, a platform seeking to promote new music projects, as well as a space for networking. Two Global Toronto showcases were rebroadcast as part of the Mixturas project’s Migrant Music Encounter thanks to this alliance.
On the other hand, Idartes joined forces with the Agencia de la ONU para los Refugiados - ACNUR (UN Refugee Agency – UNHCR) to carry out several projects, among them the infrastructure adaptation for Nido de sueños (dream nest), a single artistic laboratory in the country, migrant children care-oriented, kids aged between 0 and 5 years in El Castillo de las Artes, (the Art Castle), located in the Santa Fe neighborhood. Artistic laboratories for xenophobia reduction of have also been carried out with this same organization, together with Línea de Arte y Memoria sin Fronteras (the Art and Memory with no Borders Line and Mixturas.
Idartes also applied with its programs Nidos, Crea y Culturas en Común –Nests, Create and Common Cultures– to a call from the Organización de Estados Iberoamericanos para la Educación, la Ciencia y la Cultura - OEI, –Organization of Ibero-American States for Education, Science and Culture, in order to publish good practices in training and culture on its international platforms.
In addition, an alliance with the Fundación PLAN en Colombia was negotiated to develop the Hacia una ciudadanía desde las artes y los derechos –towards a citizenship from arts and rights – project, with which two components will be developed: With the power of Art and This is how Sumapaz sounds.
Moreover, Catalina Valencia, Idartes director made up part of at the 2021 BIME Festival in Bilbao, Spain as a panelist. Here she established approaches with relevant cultural agents in Madrid and Bilbao, such as the Colombian Embassy in Spain, the City of Madrid, the Spanish Cultural Action, the City of Bilbao and Casa del Lector.
In recent months, Idartes also applied, for the very first time, to the Joint Commissions mechanism, through the Presidential Agency for Cooperation - APC Colombia, and was selected in two of them: Mexico and El Salvador.
Finally, the Planetario de Bogotá –Bogota District Planetarium– hosted the XII Encuentro de la Asociación de Planetarios de América del Sur - APAS –12th Meeting of the Association of Planetariums of South America – APAS, an international event held for the first time in the north of the subcontinent, thanks to the support of the Idartes International project, a window to the world.