The San Sebastian Festival, third most important cultural initiative of 2020

The Culture Observatory at the Fundación Contemporánea has published the results of its analysis of Spain’s cultural panorama. The San Sebastian Festival has been ranked third most important cultural initiative at the end of 2020.

The Festival’s third place means moving up a position with respect to last year’s ranking, which is once again headed by the Museo del Prado and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. In third place is the Festival and fourth and fifth place are occupied, respectively, by the Teatro Real and the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum. The remaining top ten places are occupied as follows: the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, PhotoEspaña, CaixaForum, Bilbao Fine Arts Museum and the Almagro International Classical Theatre Festival.

The Culture Observatory is an instrument conceived to take the pulse of the sector, analyse trends, promote debate and identify failings and opportunities. Since 2009 it has been running a yearly consultation to find the most outstanding cultural bodies and events of the year. The latest questionnaire saw the participation of 472 experts and professionals from the field of culture: writers, artists, filmmakers, actors, musicians, architects and creators in all fields, foundation heads, directors of museums, cultural centres and institutions, editors, producers, promotors, gallery owners and cultural industry heads; exhibition curators and cultural managers, and the heads of cultural areas and bodies corresponding to the national, autonomous and municipal public administrations.