After a disappointing last-minute cancellation of the ArteViva festival in Puerto Viejo last month, organizers say the event is back on track.
The TalamancaMunicipality revoked the permits for the festival, scheduled for Sept. 26 to 28, after a Limón resident filed an injunction against the local government with the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court (Sala IV). But now, Claudio Ambroso, one of ArteViva’s organizers, says they are meeting with the municipality to reschedule the festival for the weekend of Nov. 10.
“We think it’s going to happen, at the very least in a reduced version, but obviously we have to figure out some details,” Ambroso said.
He explained that though the injunction still stands, the municipality could grant permission for the exhibits and educational events in the town’s Casa de la Cultura, now that they have a waste-management plan for the trash the festival will generate. However, organizers might have to forgo larger live music acts because of the injunction, he said.
Ambroso said the Culture Ministry wrote a letter to the municipality encouraging it to help the festival take place in some form.
ArteViva is a celebration of food, music and visual arts, and is organized by Escuela de Artes del Caribe Sur (South Caribbean School of Arts), a nonprofit that provides arts education to local schoolchildren (TT, Sept 19). Ambroso said updates will be available at the festival’s Web site, www.arteviva-puertoviejo.com/index.asp.
