Entertainment · Books & Arts · 1 hr ago
Cervantino debate puts public spaces at the center of the arts
The Cervantino festival has sparked debate over who can use public spaces for art in Guanajuato, Mexico.
French company Gratte Ciel performed RoZéO, a vertical circus show with acrobats raised six metres above the ground.
The company’s directors say street performances make art free and accessible to people who may not enter a theatre.
Local musicians, actors and other artists have protested outside the Teatro Juárez, saying they have faced restrictions on performing in plazas.
They argue that the limits reflect the growing privatization and bureaucracy of public spaces, and weaken the street-art tradition that helped shape the festival.
Local artists are calling for access to public spaces and say the region has talent that wants to perform there.
The available information does not say whether the authorities will respond or change the rules.
The Festival Internacional Cervantino has become a setting for debate over the role of public spaces in the arts.
French company Gratte Ciel says street performance keeps art free and brings emotion and humanity to communities.
Local artists are protesting outside the Teatro Juárez, saying they have increasingly been restricted from performing in public squares.
The company presented RoZéO, a vertical circus work featuring acrobats raised six metres above the ground.
Artists at the festival argue that public spaces are central to the event’s street-art origins.
- Who
- French company Gratte Ciel and local artists in Guanajuato.
- What
- A debate over public spaces as venues for art, alongside local artists’ protest against restrictions on performing in public.
- When
- During this edition of the Festival Internacional Cervantino. The article was published on October 19, 2026.
- Where
- Guanajuato, Mexico, including outside the Teatro Juárez and at festival venues.
- Why
- Gratte Ciel says street art can connect with the public and resist isolation behind screens. Local artists say they have been restricted from using public squares.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Gratte Ciel was founded in Arles, France.
Stéphane Girard and Camille Beaumier spoke at a press conference about the importance of public space to art.
Local artists gathered outside the Teatro Juárez to protest restrictions on performing in public squares.
Gratte Ciel presented RoZéO.
- Company
- Gratte Ciel
- Founded
- 2013 in Arles, France
- Performance
- RoZéO
- Acrobat height
- Six metres
- Protest location
- Outside the Teatro Juárez, Guanajuato
What people are saying
The reality of society is not inside the closed walls of a theater; it is in the street, in the social mix where young people, old people, rich people and people of all backgrounds interact. It is where freedom resides.
If we do not inhabit the street in a lively and luminous way, we shut ourselves in at home at the mercy of screens and algorithms. Street art gives emotion and humanity back to the community.
For me, shutting myself inside a theater has never been an option. The direct relationship with the public in the street is self-evident and a democratic act.