Festival / territory / education

Festival Atacamagica

Timeline: 2006–2017
Origin and touring: Atacama Region, Chile
Luis Albornoz's role: Creator, artistic director and regional coordinator

About the festival

The Atacamagica International Festival of Illusionism was a platform for touring, education and cultural access created and directed by Luis Albornoz from Atacama. Its programme brought together Chilean and international artists and took illusionism into theatres, cultural centres, public squares, schools, hospitals, residential facilities and prisons. The festival built a sustained relationship between stage, community and territory.

Impact

A regional platform for touring and education

Held between 2006 and 2017, it reached more than 70,000 people and recorded close to 1,000 participations by emerging and professional illusionists across its programme of talks, masterclasses, specialist fairs for illusionism products and resources, competitions and exchange activities.

Its contribution was to establish, from Atacama, a regional platform for the circulation, education and professional development of illusionism, broadening access for audiences and places usually distant from cultural circuits.

Across its editions, the festival welcomed leading figures in illusionism and the performing arts from Chile and abroad, including Tina Lenert, Mike Caveney, René Lavand, Guy Hollingworth, Avner the Eccentric, Lennart Green, Dani DaOrtiz, David Stone, Mago Migue, Carlos Adriano, Mago Kayto, Hernán Maccagno, Roberto Mansilla, Radagast, Lumbardini, Bruno Tarnecci, Henry Vargas, Mago Helmut, Skorpio, Magic Twins, Jean Paul Olhaberry, Juan Esteban Varela, Finestra, Federico Fornasari, Daniel Garber, Daniel Ketchedjian and Ricardo Harada.

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