Delirio - “A Stage of Opportunity”

I am Andrea Buenaventura. I was born in Cali, Colombia, 54 years ago. I started working very early in life, on my own merits, and I came to the public sector in highly representative positions that led me to learn about the hardship that exists in many communities. From a young age, music and dance reached my soul and led me to look for ways to approach the world of dancers finding in them the passion, strength, discipline, and talent that they needed to get ahead. Over time and after working in the public and private sector, I found three friends with whom we dreamt of covering the stages with opportunity so that salsa and circus artists can forge a better future for themselves, and thus DELIRIO was born as a life project in which the rhythm of Salsa, dance, music, and circus become reality.

Delirio is part of the city’s culture around salsa, music, and dance that began five decades ago when Cali adopted it as one of its hallmarks. Delirio in Colombia is recognized as a company and a show generating value and national pride. Through art, we create employment. With our danced stories, we promote identity. Our headquarters, The Delirio Tent (La Carpa Delirio), is a tourist attraction in the region. As cultural ambassadors, we have taken the show to 21 countries. But we are much more than a show of Salsa. We are an engine that moves the dreams of more than 200 artists and 400 collaborators who see Delirio as a launching pad for their own projects. Through public-private partnerships, we carry out positive interventions in communities through art, training, and market research that serve as input for structuring programs that benefit the entire performing arts sector.

Cali, with multiple cultures, is the creative capital of Colombia and the world capital of Salsa. It has more than 100 salsa music groups, 120 dance schools, 2,500 professional dancers, 2,000 dance students, and two circus schools. In 2006, the city had discos but not a place where people had the opportunity to experience a show with champion Salsa dancers as protagonists. Art schools, culturally essential, and protective social environments, were not visible to the government sector. Thus Delirio was born, an intersection of dance + live music + circus presented under a circus tent. We solve 4 problems and face a new challenge: 1. Promote tourism. 2. Be the pride of a city hit by adversity. 3. Employ young people. 4. Sensitize the government and the community about the importance of art and its need for support. Delirio has inspired the creation of other entertainment companies locally and nationally, exercises leadership in the sector, and offers remuneration to a collective of 200 artists and more than 400 people from related trades who, by belonging to Delirio, find additional income opportunities. The new challenge: survival and reactivation after pausing shows due to COVID-19.

Delirio is a not for profit cultural foundation that produces a Salsa show, manages a permanent venue, and has a cultural management program to support its collective and the artistic sector. We are self-sustaining. The income comes from the sale of tickets, private shows, sponsorships, and service fees. The show with 200 artists on stage is presented in Cali under a circus tent located in a complex of 23,000 square meters. It travels to other cities in Colombia and the world. The attending public is 50% from Cali and 50% tourists. The lobby of the tent receives more than 1,600 people per event, offering an interactive experience that excites the public through themed stands of the sponsors attended by artistic characters. It is a tourist promotion point. The Tent has 3,600 square meters and a stage that is 450 square meters. The corridors become a scenic area with interaction of artists with the public seated at tables with restaurant and bar service. It is a cultural festival. Paso Firme is a program of the Delirio Foundation where research services are provided, intervention in communities through art, training for trainers and structuring/execution of projects.

We operate throughout the value chain: creation, production, assembly, setting, diffusion, and commercialization. We are a group of 690 people: a management staff of 30 people and 660 hired in outsourcing through companies or contractors who feel Delirio as their own. Of these, 200 are artists who are hired through 4 salsa schools, one circus, and a band of musicians. In this way, we contribute to the sustainability of the talent producing sector. Most of them have been with us for more than 12 years, and Delirio is their life project and the opportunity to grow at the rate of a successful venture. With social supervision, we know their events and needs in their daily life and in Delirio. With research, we monitor the Performing Arts sector. In COVID- 19's time, I have contributed to building dialogues between sectoral actors and government and fighting for what it has been built for years.

In Colombia, there is still a long way to go for the government, businesses, and the community to understand the role of art in the cultural, economic, and social areas. The consequences: low budgets for the support of grassroots cultural entities. Companies and audiences that undervalue artistic work aren't willing to pay a fair price for it. Most of the participants in the field belong to marginalized communities without the possibility of pursuing technical or professional careers but with enormous artistic talent that, if they had the chance of making it their life project, would provide sustainable income.

I grew up in an environment that encouraged culture, reflection, and dialogue. My childhood was spent with my father among storytellers from the Pacific region and in theaters watching plays by my uncle Enrique Buenaventura, a playwright with a national and international legacy. My mother taught me the path of righteousness and courage. My career in the public sector brought me closer to salsa dancers. Since 1990 I started searching for a way to give my city the opportunity to show off its art locally and give a sense of pride. In my search, I found youths looking for the way to travel internationally to represent Colombia and win championships that were better known abroad than in their own land. For them, dancing was the goal; it was life. The circus world appealed to youths who, with their art, built their dream, but mostly abroad. At the beginning of 2006, together with my three partners, Delirio was born. With its successful mix of Salsa + Circus + Orchestra, today, it brings great pride to a city that does not know sadness and frenzies with a rhythm that gets into the blood.

My inspiration and my passion, as a Colombian, lies in my humanistic training where creativity was intensely encouraged. I believe art is a path to reconciliation, especially in our country, where it is necessary to close the wounds that years of conflict have left us. I am passionate about research, the search for identity traits and building danced stories that reinforce social values. This practice has made us transcend as a company, as a show, and as people. I am proud to contribute our grain of sand amid the typical difficulties of a sector that has not yet acquired the required visibility within public policies, overcoming moments of adversity and demonstrating that it can be done. I am motivated to continue working to achieve a fair Colombia where culture and knowledge bridge the gaps in society, and urging our leaders to understand that creativity does not happen in a vacuum and needs opportunities and support to flourish. I want to provide our youth with a clear track of opportunity, and work so the courage required to be a cultural entrepreneur is recognized and rewarded and through Delirio, each one turns their struggles into dance and their joys into music.

In my more than 30 years leading cultural projects, I have applied a transformational leadership style in which people at all levels work together to meet their goals. This practice made me a specialist in the implementation of collective creation techniques. My passion for music, dance, and theater has given me the sensitivity and ability to feel and understand the cultural world of work where the raw material is people who live in complicated environments that make them fearful of their skills, distrustful, individuals with responsibilities that often do not correspond to their age, are in constant danger of crossing the line of legality or a healthy life and as creatives who are, in most cases, self employed. My experience working in positions of high responsibility for the public sector makes me very knowledgeable about the field, gaining the credibility of leaders in the government and public opinion.  I also have the experience and confidence in managing economic resources on behalf of third parties. I believe the company will grow successfully as long as business and public actions manage to impact the social fabric of our community positively.

The best example –and the biggest challenge–, I have had, is the situation that Delirio is going through right now due to the COVID-19 emergency, which has required me to use all my capacity as a leader. I'm leading the administrative and creative team to work at their maximum ability to search for solutions that can ensure our survival and reactivation. At the same time, I'm working with our closest collective of artists and artistic production personnel, so they can stay afloat. In addition to assuming their leadership, I am also working intensively and hand in hand with a national union, so that the national, departmental, and municipal government participates in the dialogue that will facilitate public policies according to the needs of the arts sector.

La Feria de Cali (The Cali Fair) is the most important festival and tourist attraction in the city. It is held annually from December 25 to 30. In 2008, I proposed to the then Mayor that in order to reinforce the city's salsa identity, we should take it to the street through an event we called El Salsódromo (Salsa Parade). Today this event is the most important and representative of the Cali Fair. 1,500 dancers from the main Salsa schools participate, it is appreciated live by more than 600,000 people located in bleachers and viewing on television. In addition to being the inaugural event, it is a demonstration of ethnic inclusion and vindication amid the social complexities of a city like Cali. During the first 5 years, through our own company, we carried out the artistic and operational realization of the event. I retired to dedicate myself 100% to Delirio. In 2016, El Salsódromo obtained the Intangible, Cultural, Artistic and Folkloric recognition of the National Government of Colombia.

Permanent innovation is the key to success and what makes Delirio a unique cultural project in Colombia. The Colombian performing arts market consists of businesses who organize musical concerts in large arenas and with a majority of international artists. On the other hand, there are festivals, carnivals, fairs that are hosted in the main cities yearly; these events are focused on the identity and cultural expressions of each region. In Bogotá, the capital, there are theaters with permanent programming of national and international plays. In the other cities, there is a network of medium and small theaters. Delirio's model is unique in Colombia due to the combination of a show performance, a unique venue, a tourist attraction, and the cultural work towards strengthening its artistic collectives and contributing to those in the region together with a self-sustainable model that has lasted 14 years. The key is the permanent analysis of new opportunities to renew the show annually according to trends and with a concept of globalization. It is also the ability to design communication and promotion strategies that adapt to the gradual change of the market from local to tourist. At this moment, due to COVID-19, we also need a survival business model that keeps us strengthened and positioned to facilitate reactivation.

Delirio's success has brought about a change in the attitudes of other cultural groups that have started to set up their own cultural companies that produce and market permanent shows around dance and music. We share our business model with cultural promoters from other parts of the country who come to us for inspiration and guidance. Part of our theory of change is based on maintaining a close relationship with the public sector and academia to establish learning synergies and enhance the scope of shared experiences. Currently, based on market research, we are structuring and operating a platform for audience education and dissemination of the agenda of festivals and performing arts events for the Valle del Cauca (the state that Cali is in) Governor's office. We frequently participate in presentations, talks, panels invited by universities, the media, and private companies. We have been the inspiration for hundreds of school and university works. For us, it is an honor, and we enjoy sharing our successes, mistakes, business models, and collective creation.

Delirio’s show includes 600 people a year, includes 26 permanent employees and various contractors hired per event through art schools, companies, and independently. We do approximately 40 shows a year. The annual assembly of a new show lasts six months. Choreographers, set designers, costume designers, music consultants, and stage producers receive additional payments. The artistic and production collective consists of 300 people, and for them, we represent a high percentage of their income. Through the Paso Firme program, the annual impact is variable depending on projects in execution. The current project: Valle en Vivo, encompasses the performing arts sector of the entire Valle del Cauca region impacting approximately 12,000 people. Indirectly, we contribute to promoting tourism, and of our 25,000 attendees a year in Cali, around 12,500 come from other cities in Colombia and abroad. Most visitors are invited by companies that hold their meetings and conventions in Cali motivated to take their guests to Delirio to experience our delirious cultural festival. This dynamic benefits the hotel and restaurant sector as well. In five years, the impacted community will be even larger. Through more performances a year and new Paso Firme projects, we will increase income for all and strengthen our schools, increasing their current capacity of 300 dancers-in-training.

In order to strengthen our cultural and social impact, it is necessary to focus on the economic recovery as a result of the COVID-19 emergency in 2021. Due to the pandemic response in 2020, we couldn't exercise our main activity - the show - which represents 90% of our revenue. We are concerned about the reactivation of tourism, which is not in our hands, and the responsibility we have to our community as a source of income and education, and for the salsa and circus schools to regain their ability to exercise their social function. For the city and the sponsors, Delirio represents a source of pride as a show and admiration as an organization. From these values, we are building a promotional strategy and new virtual products to activate sponsorships and ticket sales for the show to the public. We are designing projects that support the revival of the sector in general and operate them through Paso Firme. For the next five years, the goal is to strengthen the national market, conquer the international one, and create products for the family market as ewell. Our motto is when Delirio dances, we all dance because each round of applause, each ticket and each sponsorship injects gasoline into this engine that moves dreams of more than 600 people who see Delirio as the runway for their own projects. We will always continue inspiring the public and private sectors to appreciate and invest in cultural projects.

In 2021, from the financial side, we will face cash flow problems. To overcome the emergency due to COVID-19, we had to assume debts that we will begin to pay in the first quarter of 2021 while market conditions do not allow us to recover 100% of our potential income. Another barrier we will be facing is our human resources, especially the artistic side. To overcome the economic emergency, our artists have had to focus on other trades neglecting their training and physical conditioning.  Dance and music are group-practiced arts and require frequent group practice sessions, which have suffered. From the marketing side, we depend on the reactivation of tourism to the region and on the economic recovery of companies that can take back sponsorships and hold conventions. From the cultural and social side, we require an audience that can attend massive events safely. Our experience has an audience of 1600 people per presentation that interacts through dance and social contact. If we can successfully navigate through 2021, we are sure that the next five years will be one of growth through new achievements for the company, its collective, the city, and the performing arts cultural sector.

We are addressing the financial barrieriers through financial management that allows us to improve debt conditions. We are actively participating in committees with the national government seeking financial aid for the sector and exemptions from tax rates such as the parafiscal tax on the sale of tickets or the reduction of copyright fees. We are also participating in national stimulus calls from the Ministry of Culture. The reactivation of the tourism sector and the cultural barrier of fear of participating in massive events is not in our hands. We will focus our efforts on revival through the local and national markets, especially the business market and the structuring of projects through the Paso Firme program. Regarding human resources, we know that we will have to invest in economic resources, physical reconditioning programs, and intensification of rehearsals.

We work with five foundations whose objective is the education and training of artists: Four Salsa schools and one circus school. It is a two-way partnership: Through them, we hire the artists for the show, but we work with them to contribute to their conditioning and well being. We operate a permanent intervention service with a social worker who helps them resolve conflicts and empowers them and their trainers. We also work with them on training programs on artistic issues, human development, and business training to strengthen them as administrators of their companies and their own personal endeavors.

Our mission is to contribute to positioning art and culture as activities that enhance lives, promote the region's festive identity to the world, and ensure that the arts and culture sector finds fairly paid professions and avenues for their art. We achieved this through a show with a cultural heritage focus, an iconic and representative place in the popular culture of Cali, and the Paso Firme program aimed at the performing arts sector. The model is based on self-sustainability, achieved through revenue management and careful administration of costs and expenses, which guarantees the generation of surplus that allows continuity and growth. Under 8% of our funding comes from public resources.  The main investment focus is in the assembly of the shows from the creative, artistic, and production point of view, and the highest percentage of costs and expenses are also related to the show. In other words, revenue is mostly directed towards the payment of labor. The collective, especially artists, benefit from the transfer of knowledge, methodologies, and goodwill, which has been reflected in their increasing ability to earn additional income by offering their services as city festival technicians, artistic instructors, choreographers, and dance instructors. For the schools, enrollment is driven by the aspiration of being able to be part of the show. Generally, it is considered a privilege to work at Delirio.

The previous answer explained how our path to financial sustainability is based on our management capacity to obtain income and profitability that allows us to grow and maintain ourselves over time. 31% of our revenue comes from the sale of tickets for the show in Cali; 28% from the sale of private shows and commercial tours to other cities; 24% from commercial sponsorships; 10% from the Paso Firme program; and 7% from the sales of food, beverages, and merchandise. We try to keep an EBITDA above 12%.

Our annual income, under normal conditions, is budgeted at US $ 2.6 million. The sources have already been stated in the previous answer: 90% comes from the private sector and the community in general. 10% is obtained through the provision of cultural management services to the public sector. The sponsoring companies and service buyers are mostly large national and multinational companies from all economic sectors. Their investment is represented in tickets for the show, advertisement, and physical presence through promotional stands in the Carpa Delirio or private shows.

We do not expect to raise funds through donations or additional financial credits. We are open to investor proposals that allow us to accelerate the recovery and enter a stage of growth through the conquest of new markets.

2020 is an atypical year. Under normal conditions, the annual budget of operating costs and expenses would be around US $ 2.2 million.

The award would be a significant financial contribution to the recovery of the show. It would allow us to invest in programs that help to activate the artistic schools that make up our group. The situation due to COVID-19 has left the schools without students, without income, and in financial debt; they will require our support to be able to recover. Obtaining this important award would reinforce our brand positioning, which would translate into greater financial support from sponsoring companies and the purchase of tickets by the public. Most importantly, this prize would contribute to making the performing arts sector visible to reinforce its importance from the social, cultural, and economic sectors as a reconstructor of the social fabric.

Delirio is a great entertainment experience of the highest artistic quality made by a group of people who have been given the opportunity to practice and perform their art and live from it.  Delirio has a lot to offer, and we need help exposing our show and carrying the message. Your marketing experience and support would help us not only to highlight our work but also to inspire people and communities with the arts as a career option for communities across the globe. Marketing, media, and exhibition would allow us to reinforce the region's tourism through our project and show. Greater tourism means higher income. This exposure would also contribute to reactivating the local and national markets and opening the international market. 

One of our most significant incentives to apply for the Elevate Prize is the international recognition and networking possibilities that would be open for us. We want Delirio to be visible to the world.  We want to participate and belong to an international network of performing arts that would allow us to share our artistic experiences and learn from each other. It would be a great way to share and learn about the work that similar organizations around the globe are doing with social programs, training, and intervention in communities through art. The growing possibilities of international cooperation are among the biggest incentives to be part of the Elevate community.