Bogota is ready for the 2026 edition of the Festival Internacional de Artes Vivas Bogota (Bogota International Festival of Living Arts), which will take place from March 27 to April 5. For 10 days, this cultural event will transform the Colombian capital into the epicenter of the performing arts in Latin America.
The 2026 edition of the festival will bring together national and international companies in a program that includes theater, dance, contemporary circus, and performance art.
The second edition of the festival aims to establish itself as one of the most important cultural gatherings in the country. More than 100 performances will be presented across different venues in Bogota, featuring artists from various regions of the world as well as Colombian companies that reflect the country’s rich creative scene.
More than 100 performances across Bogota as part of the International Festival of Living Arts
During the festival, more than 24 theaters, public squares, and cultural venues throughout the city will be transformed into stages dedicated to the living arts. The event will feature a broad program that brings together contemporary theater productions, dance performances, modern circus acts, and performative experiences that explore new forms of artistic expression.
In total, the festival will present more than one hundred productions. Among them are Cartas para los ausentes by Dorcy Rugamba (Rwanda); the mime show Boxing in the Street by Fraser Hooper (New Zealand); and the circus productions Ballet Poullet by Franzine Produccion (Ireland), and The Flow by Lau Yee (China). These productions will allow Colombian audiences to experience different theatrical languages and artistic trends currently shaping the global performing arts scene.
The program also includes 32 national productions selected from 227 proposals submitted to the festival’s organizers. In addition, 43 district productions representing Bogota’s artistic talent will be featured, highlighting the institutional support for local performing arts.
The festival will also host performances by renowned international creators, including choreographic works by companies from Canada and Russia, as well as contemporary dance productions by artists from Asia and Europe.
Circuitos Vivos: the festival that will travel across Colombia
One of the major new developments of this year’s festival is the expansion of part of its programming to other regions of the country. Through an initiative called “Circuitos Vivos,” some of the performances presented in Bogota will also travel to other Colombian cities.
In total, 12 productions — four international and eight national — will tour 15 cities across the country. The goal of this initiative is to decentralize cultural programming and allow audiences outside the Colombian capital to experience high-level performing arts productions.
This strategy represents an important step toward strengthening access to culture in different regions of Colombia while encouraging artistic exchange between creators and audiences from diverse contexts. In this way, the festival not only establishes itself as a large-scale cultural event but also as a platform for the circulation of performing arts.
A space for cultural dialogue
The International Festival of Living Arts was created in 2024 with the goal of providing a meeting space for artists, companies, and audiences interested in contemporary performing arts. In its second edition, the event seeks to broaden its reach and strengthen its impact on the city’s cultural life.
In addition to the scheduled performances, the festival offers an opportunity for dialogue among creators from different countries, who gather in Bogota, to share their creative processes, artistic visions, and new forms of stage experimentation.