Galpón Víctor Jara ("

Víctor Jara Víctor Lidio Jara Martínez (; 28 September 1932 – 16 September 1973) was a Chilean teacher, theatre director, theater director, poet, singer-songwriter and PCCh, Communist political activist. He developed Chilean theater by directing a bro ...

Warehouse") is a cultural center located in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

, in Barrio Brasil, an area of the city known for its strong artistic and cultural scene. Managed by the Víctor Jara Foundation, the center is named for the Chilean singer-songwriter and activist who was killed by the

Chilean army The Chilean Army () is the land arm of the Chilean Armed Forces. This 80,000-person army (9,200 of which are conscripts) is organized into six divisions, an army aviation brigade and a special operations brigade. In recent years, and after sever ...

following the Chilean coup of 11 September 1973. The Galpón is a popular live venue for Chilean bands, particularly those of the

New Chilean Cumbia The New Chilean Cumbia also known as New Chilean Cumbia Rock (Spanish: ''Nueva cumbia chilena'', ''Nueva cumbia rock chilena'') is a subgenre of cumbia music that originated in Chile in the early 2000s and that largely surfaced in mainstream me ...

gypsy {{Infobox ethnic group , group = Romani people , image = , image_caption = , flag = Roma flag.svg , flag_caption = Romani flag created in 1933 and accepted at the 1971 World Romani Congress , po ...

and

cueca Cueca () is a family of musical styles and associated dances from Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia. In Chile, the cueca holds the status of national dance, where it was officially declared as such by the Pinochet dictatorship on September 18, 19 ...

musical styles, such as Chico Trujillo, Banda Conmoción and La Mano Ajena.

History

Following the return to democracy in Chile in 1990, efforts to achieve justice and recognition for Víctor Jara slowly gained momentum. In the early 2000s, the Víctor Jara Foundation campaigned to convert the

Víctor Jara Stadium Estadio Víctor Jara is an indoor multi-use sports complex located in the western part of Santiago, Chile, near the Estación Central and Alameda Avenue. It has a total capacity for an audience of 6,500 people. After the Chilean coup of 1973, i ...

, where Jara was tortured and killed (the stadium, originally called Estadio Chile, was renamed to commemorate Jara in 2004), into a cultural center, but encountered difficulties from local authorities.La complicada historia del Galpón Víctor Jara
La Nación. 30 July 2009. Retrieved 13 February 2013. A solution was found in the space occupied by the Foundation itself, in Plaza Brasil, the heart of Barrio Brasil, a cultural hub in the western part of Santiago. Galpón Víctor Jara opened there in 2003.

Joan Jara Joan Alison Turner Roberts (born Joan Alison Turner, 20 July 1927 – 12 November 2023), known as Joan Jara or Joan de Jara was a British-Chilean dancer, activist, and widow of Chilean icon, democratic socialist, actor, dramaturg, theatre direc ...

, the Foundation's founder and Jara's widow, said at the time that "we want to be a meeting place for all kinds of artists: Chilean, foreign and those alternative artists who don't fit in anywhere else." In 2009, a large public funeral for Víctor Jara was held at the Galpón, with thousands of mourners gathering to honor the singer. Jara's remains had been exhumed as part of investigations into his death. The casket was carried on a procession through the streets of Santiago and re-buried in the General Cemetery. The Galpón has been forced to close on a number of occasions. In 2010, the then mayor of Santiago, Pablo Zalaquett, closed the center because it did “not comply with the infrastructure required of a venue holding events of such a nature.” It was reopened shortly after, once the application for a new permit was in process. The venue has also been closed on a few occasions due to complaints about loud noise. This occurred most recently in September 2012, just prior to celebrations for the 80th anniversary of Jara’s birth, and calling a halt to the planned ''Cumbre Internacional de la Cumbia'' event (“International Cumbia Summit”). The center was reopened a couple of weeks later with a temporary permit, and Joan Jara remarked that “This has been such a long process. At least there exists the possibility that we can continue to develop this work, which I believe is very important for Chilean artists,” in 2013, it was closed because "it has never obtained a definitive building permit or a final resolution from the municipality of Santiago."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Galpon Victor Jara Music venues in Chile