Destinos: 5th Chicago International Latino Theater Festival

In 2022, Destinos cultivated 9 million traditional and 1.9 million digital impressions for local Latine theatre groups that alone would not otherwise be able to obtain such results. 

CLATA recently completed its 5th Destinos festival and surpassed all previous festivals with an astounding 13 productions in 13 venues from September to October 2022. This edition again expanded its reach and partnerships with Chicago company Colectivo el Pozo, American Blues Theater in Ravenswood, and Paramount Theater in Aurora, a suburb southwest of Chicago with a 60% Latino population. Eight productions were recommended by the Chicago Reader and five were Joseph Jefferson Award recommended.

The 2022 festival featured 6 local Latino companies (Aguijon Theater, Colectivo el Pozo, Teatro Tariakuri, Teatro Vista, UrbanTheater and Vision Latino Theater), one local playwright, three Chicago collaborations (American Blues Theater, Goodman and Paramount Theatre) and 3 international (Mexico/DC, Mexico and Puerto Rico). Half of the productions are presented in Spanish with English supertitles, increasing accessibility to a wider audience.

Festival productions spanned the city of Chicago including several Latino neighborhoods: Belmont-Cragin, Bridgeport, Hermosa, Humboldt Park, Lincoln Park, Loop, Pilsen, Marquette Park, Irving Park, Ravenswood, and Wicker Park. The four week festival presents performance, student matinees, post-show talk-backs/panel discussions, workshops and networking events throughout Chicago neighborhoods. CLATA and Destinos sets itself apart by serving as a cultural revolutionary engine that drives Latino Theater to a more prominent level. By creating a national and international festival, CLATA ensures an open dialogue between Latino artists of differing backgrounds to mutually evolve artistic voices.