Today at the Melico Salazar Popular Theater, the Minister of Culture and Youth, Jorge Rodríguez Vives, together with the team of vice ministers and directors of the attached bodies of the Ministry of Culture and Youth (MCJ), announced the programming of more than 7,000 activities for 2025.
The MCJ assured that it will carry out more than 5,800 outside the Greater Metropolitan Area (GAM), with an offer that will include concerts, dance performances, theater, music, circus, cinema, as well as fairs, workshops, activities to promote reading, festivals, training, among many other actions, with which it seeks to reach the entire national territory with the purpose of facilitating the population’s access to culture, as part of their rights.
2025 National Arts Festival will be in Limón
Our commitment from the Ministry of Culture and Youth is to fill every corner of Costa Rica with art, culture and identity, that is why in 2025 we are working to achieve more than 7,000 activities throughout the national territory, which allow the promotion of culture, the enjoyment of heritage and, above all, that we can live together in community through what unites us, which is art and culture.
Among the main actions, the 2025 National Arts Festival stands out, which will take place in Limón, in August, in celebration of the Historical Month of Afro-descendants in Costa Rica.
What is the RIDE Cultural program
The “RIDE Cultural” program is an initiative that seeks to promote the participation of the population of rural areas in cultural, sports and recreational activities, as a mechanism for the prevention of violence and the healthy use of free time, it will reach the Huetar Atlántico Region, Huetar Norte Region, Brunca Region, Heredia, islands of the Central Pacific Region, Los Santos area and rural towns of GAM, Occidente, Cartago and Chorotega Region.
600 band concerts
The Benemérita Dirección de Bandas, the oldest cultural institution in the country, will celebrate 180 years of existence and will perform 600 concerts throughout the country, starting in the province of Guanacaste. While the National Symphony Orchestra will soon announce its new director will resume its 12-concert format in the Official Season and will carry out cultural outreach concert tours.
A year with more theater
In the area of performing arts, the “Once Upon a Time” program of the National Theater of Costa Rica, which offers the student population performances for their enjoyment and appreciation under the concept of comprehensive education for life, reaches its tenth anniversary with a very special program, which will include the works “Los tres encantadoras”, “Mujercitas”, “Cuentos revueltos” and “A la Luna”; in addition, through its “Territorio” component, it will reach the cantons of Parrita, San Ramón and La Cruz, with the work “Las 1001 noches”.
The Melico Salazar Popular Theater will have a 229-day program in its hall; in addition, the National Theater Company will carry out three theatrical productions; The National Dance Company will stage a ballet production and the 45th anniversary of the National Dance Workshop will be celebrated through multiple activities.
Museum Route includes 15 venues
The Museum Route program adds two new venues: the Museum of Popular Culture, in Santa Lucía de Barva, Heredia, and the Finca 6 museum-site in Osa, Puntarenas, for a total of 15 museums that make up the program, which will serve 13,000 students; in addition, the National Visual Arts Hall is scheduled to open in 2025, an effort by the Costa Rican Art Museum that offers a global view of national production in this artistic category.
10th Anniversary of the Film Fund
With regard to film production, the Film Center is celebrating the tenth anniversary of the competitive fund for financing Costa Rican audiovisual and film productions “El Fauno”, for which it has opened a new category for video games, which will allow the linkage and generation of employment in the young population; in addition, work is being done on the second stage of restoration of the Variedades Cinema, on the way to a stable space for the distribution and exhibition of national cinema.
Parque La Libertad with more art
For the educational field, from Parque La Libertad, training opportunities for employment in careers that include design and technology will be opened, as well as in the creation of opportunities for the promotion of cultural ventures, with support from the Development Banking System and the BRETE strategy.
In aspects of heritage conservation and preservation of the country’s culture, institutions such as the Directorate of Cultural Heritage, the National Archives of Costa Rica, the Directorate of Sociocultural Management and the National Library System (SINABI), will continue their work in the protection of the documentary, material and immaterial heritage of the country, through their different programs. Likewise, SINABI will reinforce its actions around the promotion of access and encouragement of reading.
For its part, the Vice Ministry of Youth and the Council of Young People achieved the formation of 89 Cantonal Committees of Young People, from where they will work with a clear focus on the promotion of employability, entrepreneurship, cybersecurity, mental health and promotion of peace.
