Municipal Foundation for Culture
The Municipal Foundation for Culture was established in 2012 as a local autonomous body with its own legal personality and financial and functional autonomy, attached to the Department of Culture of Oviedo City Council. Since its creation, it has been based at Teatro Campoamor.
Its responsibilities include fostering and disseminating culture and promoting all activities that enrich the cultural heritage of local residents. To this end, its work focuses on:
- The organisation, delivery and promotion of cultural activities in all forms that contribute to the city's cultural development.
- The encouragement of debate, the promotion of dialogue and a contribution to reflection on cultural matters.
- The promotion and encouragement of participation by significant sections of the population in existing and future cultural projects, with the aim of underpinning stable cultural policies.
- Collaboration with institutions and organisations in the cultural sphere, both public and private and at any territorial level, seeking to establish lasting cultural cooperation.
- Support for creative work, both individual and collective, encouraging the widest possible dissemination of cultural innovation as a means of promoting cultural policies.
- Support for and promotion of all cultural initiatives that contribute to the city's cultural development, whether led by public or private institutions or by civil society.
The Foundation is responsible for managing Teatro Campoamor and Teatro Filarmónica, and also carries out much of its activity at the Príncipe Felipe Auditorium, as well as at the Teatro-Casino de Trubia and the Teatro de Pumarín.
Cultural programme
Within Teatro Campoamor's cultural programme, opera — the reason the Oviedo theatre was created — has a special role. Since 1948, the opera season has been held every year, making it the second oldest in Spain after Barcelona's Gran Teatre del Liceu. In collaboration with the Oviedo Opera Foundation, five titles are staged, amounting to 23 performances per season. In the field of musical theatre, the Oviedo Festival of Spanish Lyric Theatre has been held since 1993, unique in Spain apart from Madrid's zarzuela season. Taking place between February and June, the festival embraces both tradition and modernity, combining established zarzuelas with more recently created works on the same stage.
Dance also occupies a prominent place. During the first half of the year, the Dance Festival is held at Teatro Campoamor, combining classical pieces with more contemporary creations and arrangements by national and international ballet companies, celebrating movement in all its forms. In this regard, the work of Oviedo Filarmonía is particularly noteworthy, as it accompanies opera, zarzuela and dance performances. The theatre's music programme is also complemented by classical music concerts, through the New Year Concerts, and jazz, with Vetusta Jazz.
For its part, the Foundation offers a varied programme of theatre performances to suit all types of audience, seeking to attract new publics such as children and teenagers. To encourage theatre-going, it works with both regional and national companies and supports emerging groups.
The Foundation's cultural programme is enriched by four strands linked to the most representative areas of its annual offering: Off Zarzuela, Off Dance, Off Theatre and Off Concerts. The Off spirit allows culture to breathe beyond major venues, reaching other spaces, other audiences and other rhythms. These initiatives activate spaces, create encounters and encourage more direct and diverse participation. Culture ceases to be something merely observed and becomes something shared and lived.