CULTURESCAPES 2012 Amazonia took place from September 29 to December 1. In the Basel area and in 16 other cities across Switzerland, more than 150 events took place in the fields of music, dance, theater, film, art, literature and focus. The festival offered a variety of opportunities and access to new partners audiences to more than 300 artists, over 200 of whom from Brasil, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela.
"I am very grateful and happy that we caught the optimal window of opportunity to hold our festival," says CULTURESCAPES Director Jurriaan Cooiman.
In total, more than 23,500 spectators attended the events—a great success under the difficult circumstances of the pandemic. In addition, CULTURESCAPES presented an online program for the first time this year and was thus accessible to a worldwide audience. With around 7500 visitors to the CULTURESCAPES Digital Space and more than 300,000 clicks on YouTube, this premiere is an encouraging sign for the future. A total of 26 discussion formats took place with more than 1400 spectators.
"To curate and to be a part of this Amazonian edition was a life changig experience," says CULTURESCAPES co-artistic director Kateryna Botanova.
Most of the online content in the CULTURESCAPES Digital Space remains generally accessible.
CULTURESCAPES 2021 Amazonia aims to provide access points to this critical ecological and social space, establishing a deeper exchange of knowledge with Switzerland and Europe. CULTURESCAPES also aims to raise awareness about the threat posed to the Amazon by climate change, as well as about the importance of indigenous cultures and global social responsibility.
As in previeous years, this 16th edition of the cross-disciplinary cultural festival was a joint project developed and realized in collaboration with 65 different Swiss (cultural) institutions and a dozen cultural institutions from the focus region, as well as content-related cooperations with organizations such as the Society for Threatened Peoples, the Swiss Indigenous Network, Ecosolidar, Terre des hommes Schweiz or Nouvelle Planète.
CULTURESCAPES 2021 Amazonia also marks the start of a new festival series focusing on regions of global importance. Keeping up with the pulse of time and focusing on global events, it is important to think beyond borders and thus also to consider issues and problems that can only be tackled together. After the Amazon, the festival will be dedicated to the Sahara in 2023, the Himalayas in 2025, and the oceans in 2027.
