29 years committed to the contemporary performing arts and cultural development of Chile and Latin America.
It was the beginning of the nineties and the arts in Chile were only recently emerging after the cultural silence imposed by the dictatorship. Despite the difficult conditions, there had been some theatrical output in the eighties and, although attempts at administering this were few and far between, certain people were motivated to try and achieve better opportunities for culture and the arts.
A group of people was inspired by the thought of creating a new opportunity for the performing arts and breathing life into the theater in the month of January with an unforgettable summer event. Led by Carmen Romero and Evelyn Campbell - with the participation of Francisco Reyes and the collaboration of Alfredo Castro (Teatro La Memoria), Juan Carlos Zagal (ex La Troppa) and Mauricio Celedón (Teatro del Silencio) – they launched the first edition of Teatro a Mil in 2004, held at the recently reopened Estación Mapocho Cultural Center.
Over the years, the festival has consolidated itself as an important and appealing initiative that the public anxiously awaits each year, something reflected in the large number of people who attend its performances and the amount of media coverage it receives. In 2006, it changed its name to the Santiago a Mil International Festival, so that it could incorporate multiple artistic disciplines – not just the theater – and also be identified with the country’s capital.
One of the consequences of this change was the need to create the Teatro a Mil Foundation, given that the festival created lines of work that went beyond the month of January. That’s why it was set up as a non-profit organization in 2004, with the aim of reclaiming public spaces for the people, improving access to culture and boosting the Chilean performing arts, publicizing them both in Chile and abroad.
As well as organizing the festival, the foundation has come up with the idea of and developed important projects such as the Teatro Hoy season; the Theater in Education program; the Escuela Nómade with the Théâtre du Soleil; the Buenos Aires International Festival in Chile; performances of important international shows, such as that of The Globe Theater to celebrate 450 years since the birth of Shakespeare; the Teatro San Carlo de Nápoles concerts in our country; the important Hecho en Chile event held in the ruins of Pompeii and theater tours both in Chile and abroad. As well as this work, the organization has developed training and educational programs for both audience and artists, a catalog of Chilean and international plays - the large majority of which are coproductions, supporting their creation and promoting their tours both in Chile and abroad and has consolidated the Platea platform (the main event for marketing the performing arts in Chile).
