Medellin will become an epicenter of culture in early July, as the “City of Eternal Spring” brings together hundreds music professionals from across the region in celebration of the third Ibero-American Congress of Culture.
The event, which will take place between July 1 to 4 with an overarching theme this year of music, will hold free public concerts, discussions, and workshops, presenting an opportunity for visitors to collectively share, reflect, and understand more than 500 years of common history, in an effort to promote ties and further integration across the region.
According to Colombia’s minister of culture, Paula Marcela Moreno, who organized this year’s event alongside the Spanish ministry of culture and the Medellin mayor’s office, the event “will allow us to update the image of Ibero-America and its music; discuss aesthetics, creative industries, education systems and political cultures in relation to music.”
The event, according to Medellin Mayor Alonso Salazar, will help Colombia’s second city strengthen its image as it tries to brand itself as a major destination for international business and cultural events.
“Medellin has become an important reference point within Latin America for multilateral agencies and many governments around the world,” Salazar said during a press conference for the event’s launching, adding that “it is a privilege” for them to host such an important event.
Luis Miguel Usuga, Medellin’s secretary of civic culture, said that the event will bring together 250 people from Ibero-America’s music industry, such as artists, institutional representatives, and record label reps, in addition to authors, experts, and 5000 people from the general public, to participate in free concerts, activities, panel discussion, workshops, and dialogues focused on Ibero-American music.
Some of the well-known artists who will hold free concerts include Leon Gieco, Rodolfo Mederos and the Quinteto Astor Piazzolla, from Argentina; Silvio Rodriguez and the Van Van, from Cuba; Jorge Drexler, from Uruguay; Rosario and Antonio Carmona, from Spain; and Aterciopelados and Alfredo Gutierrez, from Colombia.
The event will also feature a “Risk Zone,” a space for experimental artists to demonstrate their music to the general public.
Apart from the free concerts and discussions, Medellin will also hold its first ever “Cultural Market,” to give Ibero-American craftsman the opportunity to demonstrate their artistic works.
For more information, you can visit the event’s official website here.