The University Enriches Culture
Cultura UdeG
Cultura UdeG coordinates the areas of Music, Performing Arts, Literature, and Visual Arts, as well as the university’s Ballet Folclórico and the Papirolas Festival. It is also in charge of some of the University’s venues, such as Cine Foro, Museo de las Artes, Teatro Diana, Casa Escorza, Casa Vallarta, and the Jorge Martínez Gallery. Cultura UdeG also publishes Luvina, a literary journal.
Guadalajara International Book Fair
The most important gathering of book professionals and readers of books in Spanish, with more than 2,000 publishing houses, over 17,000 professionals from 40 countries, and more than 600,000 visitors in its latest edition. A professional fair with 34,000 square meters of exhibit space that host business transactions between authors, editors, and distributors, and a very large number of cultural activities, it takes place in the last week of November at Expo Guadalajara, the city’s main venue for international exhibits.
Julio Cortazar Latin-American Lectures
An academic space that pays homage to a great writer, its main purpose is to help imagination, reason and criticism come together to promote dialog and reflection on Latin-American culture and society. Renowned writers, thinkers, and statesmen have been assisted to this space, who usually give a course and a main lecture that is open to all the public.
Guadalajara International Film Festival
www.festivalcineguadalajara.com
A cultural event of great significance for Guadalajara and for Mexico, it has become the most solid film festival in Latin America. Its offering to the film industry has earned the festival an important position nationally and on an international level. It is also a forum for formation, instruction, and creativity sharing among film professionals, critics, and students from all over Latin America.
Centro Cultural Universitario
www.distritocentrocultural.org.mx
A 173-hectare territorial reserve of the University of Guadalajara located in Los Belenes, in the municipality of Zapopan, that has been transformed into a cultural and academic space that will also feature commercial and housing areas, as well as hotels and a hospital. This cultural space brings together two University Centers, Art Schools, a Theme Park, a Media Park, an Archaeological Park, sports facilities and residential areas. It also includes the Telmex Auditorium, with a capacity for 11,000 spectators.
“Juan José Arreola” Jalisco State Public Library
The University of Guadalajara has been in charge of the Jalisco State Public Library since 1925. Since its creation 146 years ago, the Library has performed a dual function, as a public library and a historical archive with a special collections area. Moreover, it became renowned for its many different collections of periodicals. Since 1975, the Library was housed in the building of Casa de la Cultura Jalisciense, in downtown Guadalajara.
In 2001, the University Council named it the “Juan José Arreola” Jalisco State Public Library in memory of a great writer who was its Director from 1991 until his death on December 3 2001. Starting in 2004, due to structural problems in the building that housed the Library, some of its collections had to be moved to another building, on Alcalde Avenue 130.
A decision was made to house all of the Library’s collections in a new building that will be the entrance to the new university center, the Centro Cultural Universitario. The new Library will have a capacity for three million units of information containing five hundred years of history, not only of Jalisco but also of Mexico’s northeastern region and the southwest of the United States, plus valuable special collections such as the “Jorge Álvarez del Castillo” private collection. The new building will serve 3,600 users at the same time, with areas for indigenous literatures, children’s and young adults books, oral history labs, Braille collections, an International Center, group study and quiet reading rooms, coffee shop, restaurant, and bar.
Telmex Auditorium
One of the most important venues for performing arts shows in Latin America. It is located in the Metropolitan Area of Guadalajara and part of the most ambitious cultural project of the University of Guadalajara in recent years. It is also the first constructed building in the of the Centro Cultural Universitario project. This majestic building was designed by Mexican architect José de Arimatea Moyao. It has a large car parking space and a capacity for 2,600 to 11,500 spectators thanks to its movable walls that enable it to increase or reduce its inside area as needed. It also features three mechanical platforms: extended stage, orchestra pit, or orchestra section for spectators, allowing for 16 different seating configurations and providing perfect visibility of the stage from any point in the hall.
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