Arts & International Affairs: Volume 2, Number 2 | Page 177

How to live together?
Or—Why do we go to festivals?
Natalia Mallo
Natalia Mallo is a Latin-American multi-artist and cultural entrepreneur born in Argentina
and based in Sao Paulo, Brazil. She has 20 years of professional experience developing projects
in the fields of music, performing arts and interdisciplinary practices. She is a skilled composer,
dramaturge, performer, teacher, director, curator and creative producer. Her artistic concerns
address the intersection of languages and art forms in projects that touch upon the politics of
diversity. She also acts as consultant for cultural organizations, governmental instances and third
sector. Currently her focus lies on the development of international collaborations to work in the
intersection of art, education and society.
What makes a festival a festival? It is not just the celebratory atmosphere or the
programming, but the chance for encounters. Festivals foster togetherness,
while encounters foster conversations about the contemporary world.
I became a “delegate” after being appointed curator at a public museum
in the largest city in Brazil; for decades before this, I had been attending
international festivals as an artist. I am not a delegate in the strict sense of
someone authorized to represent others, but as an individual who wears
different hats (artist, curator, creative producer, and entrepreneur) and acts
on all of them. Being invited as a delegate brought complexity to my insights
about the arts sector and enabled me to develop translational initiatives of
cultural cooperation.
Visiting as a Momentum delegate in the
Edinburgh Festivals International Delegate
Programme allowed me to witness how artistic
production is negotiated and discussed
between institutions, governments, and
producers. I could also watch performances
that touched on complex ethical–political
concerns that resonated strongly with my own
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