‘El Ingenio’ is one of the oldest areas of the town, set at the end of San Pedro’s boulevard. At the centre is a building that was originally a sugarcane mill, which was the origin of this neighbourhood, and has until recently been a small theatre for the locals.
After two years of works and over one million euros in investment, renovation work has taken place in order to convert the building into a local community centre and talks of the inauguration are scheduled for later this month.
The opening of its doors will showcase a fully refurbished arts centre, housing a theatre, music and dance installations and an exhibition hall, together with urban development of the immediate surrounding areas. This infrastructure is currently undergoing the final interior touches, and will culminate in an unprecedented arts space for San Pedro.
The theatre will accommodate 280 seats with all the multimedia elements required for such space, offering a great cultural venue for the town’s events and activities, hopefully attracting companies with larger theatrical productions. Although San Pedro does have another newly refurbished cultural space, the Trapiche de Guadaiza Cultural Centre, which was inaugurated after remodelling back in 2015, the El Ingenio theatre will have a larger format and space for staging theatre shows.
There was originally a grand opening party scheduled for the San Pedro citizens to view the new venue, however, Spain’s general elections have been drawn for the month of April, so no inaugural acts will take place for the moment.
Hopefully, we will soon be able to appreciate the opening of this much needed cultural space, considering that the building also adds to the town’s heritage, as it was built back in 1871 by the town’s founder – Marqués del Duero.
Image courtesy of: Wikipedia