Imaginarius – International Street Theatre Festival, which was held from 23 to 25 May in Santa Maria da Feira, closed its 19th edition with a positive assessment. During the three days of the festival, around 90 000 spectators watched countless shows performed by 247 artists from 12 different countries in the public space of the historical centre of Santa Maria da Feira.
The audience survey conducted during the festival reveals that most spectators were in the 35-44 and 25-44 age brackets, with a 59% female audience. In terms of education, 44% of the sampled audience had an academic degree and 28% completed secondary school. Regarding the place of origin, 26% of the spectators lived in the municipality of Santa Maria da Feira, 38.3% came to Santa Maria da Feira from the rest of Portugal – continent and islands -, and 3.70% from abroad.
From the overall evaluation of Imaginarius, it is also worth noting that 58% of the respondents rated it as very good and 37% as good.
It should be noted that Imaginarius – International Street Theatre Festival, which is a reference in Portugal and abroad, this year had a new management model, as the Municipality of Santa Maria da Feira not only took on the management of production, but also the responsibility of the whole direction of the festival’s programming.
The programme has once again focused on the quality and diversity of the shows. The city of Feira, not only the public space of its historic centre, but also the houses of the residents of this historic area, the António Lamoso Cine-Theatre, the Municipal Market, the Lóios Museum and the Municipal Library, hosted major Portuguese and international companies with 17 artistic disciplines, such as theatre, circus, dance, music and virtual reality.
Imaginarius will once again turn Santa Maria da Feira into a giant stage in May 2020, with the same ambition and dynamism as ever, presenting innovative and irreverent proposals, with “Myth” as its theme.