Several artistic representations will be focused on caring for the environment. Colombia will be present in both spaces.
Santa Cruz de la Sierra.- Caring for the environment and defending nature is the message that will govern the 25th Santa Cruz de la Sierra International Book Fair. Of course, the idea will also be present in the Children’s Pavilion and the Theater, both spaces with attractive and multiple activities for young visitors to the exhibition, which runs from Wednesday, May 29 to Sunday, June 9.
The entrance to the pavilion will be through a magical house. Inside, at the top of the room, yellow butterflies will float, some flanking a gigantic jichi that will tell its story to the children who scan a QR code placed next to it. The National Museum of Ethnography and Folklore was in charge of the video that tells the legend of this animal.
A circuit has been planned with the theatrical representation of Colombian and national literary pieces, each with its own manual activity prepared by educational psychologists in charge of each space. Risela Brito, person in charge of the pavilion, indicated: “Everything has been prepared in advance, with the aim that the children’s audience understands the messages of the works and acquires the habit of reading.”
The Colombian titles that will be seen are: “My pet”, by Yolanda Reyes; “El Chigüiro”, by Ivar Da Coll; “The Way Home”, by Jaime Buitrago; “Ema and Juan”, by Amalia Satizábal; and “No”, a compilation by several authors. For Bolivia there will be the Patiño Foundation with the story “Menace in the forest” and the Benjamín Cultural Center with the saga created by Sarah Mansilla. Both have recreational activities scheduled in their respective spaces. By the way, Mansilla contemplates a dry Chiquitano forest where children will listen to the stories of the violinist cricket.
On the other hand, Doctors of Joy, an educational program of the Domingo Savio Private University, will interact with children inside and outside the pavilion. They will talk about family values: love, unity, friendship, empathy, sisterhood, forgiveness, fortitude, among others.
The Children’s Pavilion will open its doors from 3:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. At the end of the day, through a loudspeaker, the famous Topo Gigio song will be heard saying goodbye to visitors, while a human chain will accompany them to the exit.
But the Santa Cruz de la Sierra International Book Fair will have more to offer children. Several performances are scheduled at the Theater, such as “The moon is made of cheese and knows how to read”, by the group Seres Soluciones Artísticas; “Guardians of the East”, by Ruta Teatro; “Life Code”, by Diakonia – UCB, among others. For the last day of the fair, the presentation of the Colombian cast La Libélula Dorada with the play “The rebellion of the puppets and the heroes who conquered everything, except fear” is planned.
To stand out in the Theater is the production designed to rescue the ancestral culture of the Bolivian East, with representations of legends, stories, dances and even puppets. Several groups took on the challenge of capturing the attention of the kids with this theme. According to José María Bulllain, responsible for the space, “through this artistic genre, children’s knowledge and understanding of what we do is very well achieved.”
Along the same lines is the show by Jorge Arturo Lora, the Santa Cruz writer who recently presented his songbook “Tarechi Canta” with children’s songs that use different idioms. Likewise, a pop/rock concert by the UPSA Cantar Cruceño Choir and the Tuna Universitaria made up of students from the Gabriel René Moreno University and Utepsa are also on the agenda.
Great attractions at the Theater will be the first Intercollegiate Brief Theater Contest and the seventeenth Intercollegiate Festival of Poetic Declamation “Raúl Otero Reiche”, organized by the Departmental Book Chamber of Santa Cruz and Fundación Arte por Bolivia (Fundarbol), and the first Intercollegiate Reading Contest “Read Bolivia for a better future”, run by IQ Máximo.
The Theater performances will be available starting Thursday, May 30 (the day after the opening of the Fair), from 3:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. It is located on the main avenue and admission is free.
About the Fair
The 25th Santa Cruz de la Sierra International Book Fair will take place in Fexpocruz pavilions, between Wednesday, May 29 and Sunday, June 9. It is organized by the Departmental Book Chamber of Santa Cruz and Fexpocruz, with the support of the Autonomous Municipal Government of Santa Cruz de la Sierra.
