A successful assessment was made by the different participants in the VIII Latin American Opera Meeting, which took place between Friday 27 and Sunday 29 May in Mexico City. Among the achievements made, more than a dozen collaboration agreements stand out, the commitment to institutionalize OLA so that it has legal personality and the incorporation of two Mexican and two Spanish members to the organization.

.
In the closing session of the meeting, Darío Lopérfido – president of OLA, Minister of Culture of Buenos Aires and artistic director of the Teatro Colón of the Argentine capital – reiterated the cultural relevance of Mexico, a country that, in addition to serving as the venue for the meeting, returned definitely to the association through its founding member, the Opera of Fine Arts, and two new members, the Teatro del Bicentenario, de León, Guanajuato, and the University of Guadalajara. On the occasion, Lopérfido also highlighted the formal incorporation of two Spanish members: the Auditorium of Tenerife and the Theaters of the Canal of the Community of Madrid, as well as the progress for the next affiliation of the Royal Theater of Madrid. Representatives of the three Spanish forums participated in the meeting, which already confirmed the place of its next edition, which will be held in 2017 at the Teatro Mayor Julio Mario Santo Domingo, in Bogotá.

.
According to Lopérfido, the audience creation policy was consolidated at the meeting, which should be consolidated with the seminar that will be held next August at the Solís Theater in Montevideo. He also highlighted the decision to formalize the statutes so that OLA acquires legal personality through the association figure in the Chilean system – since the main office of OLA is located in Santiago, Chile -, and thus begins to function in what is It is a non-governmental organization – a process that takes much longer – and can be a candidate for international funds, support and subsidies.

.
On the other hand, referring to another of the topics addressed in the meeting, the use of technology, the executive director of the group and director of Institutional Development of the Municipal Theater of Santiago, Alejandra Martí, commented that the face-to-face and virtual strategies are complementary , because finally the objective is to bring public to the activities in the different theaters. “In the case of the Municipal Theater of Santiago, the digital strategy is fully rooted with programming, social networks and the website. Therefore, our digital audience is always channeled to attend a free event at the Theater; buy a ticket, no matter how cheap or expensive it is, or go on a tour outside the venue. ”

.
Among the collaboration agreements between theaters reached at the meeting, the following stand out: the production of the Fine Arts Opera for Death in Venice by Benjamin Britten, under the stage direction of Jorge Ballina and presented at the Julio Castillo Theater in 2009 and at the Palace of Fine Arts in 2012, will be offered in 2018 at the Colón Theater in Buenos Aires; and Frédéric Chambert, general director of the Municipal Theater of Santiago, confirmed the co-production of Lulú, of Berg, with the stage direction of Mariame Clément; Jenufa, under the direction of Jorge Lavelli, and The Shadow of Wenceslas by Martin Matalon, based on Copi’s work and also directed by Lavelli. In turn, both theaters will present the Rodelinda production of the Teatro Real in Madrid, under the direction of Claus Guth.