User:Giada Petrone/sandbox

Biography
Andrés Neumann (born 22 June 1943, Cochabamba, Bolivia) is an independent cultural events producer, artistic curator and performing arts manager, currently based in Rome (Italy). Andrés is the only child of Kurt Neumann and Pearl Rosa Jakob, who fled Germany in the late '30s and settled first in Bolivia and later in Montevideo (Uruguay). Raised in a German speaking home, Andrés learnt Spanish at school and later studied French and English. Andrés began his own activity in Montevideo (Uruguay) in the '60s, at Montevideo's Teatro Independiente, participated in more than 30 productions in various artistic capacities and was awarded the Premio Florencio in 1970. He was amongst the organizers of the Punta del Este Organization of American States meeting, presided by former U.S. President Lyndon Johnson, who had succeeded John F. Kennedy. During these years he met and later married Lily Salvo, a visual artist from Montevideo and had a daughter, Mara. He produced the Conciertos Beat, at Montevideo's Teatro Solís, as well as a series of multimedia installations, which in 1972 earned him a CUIFERD scholarship (Centre Universitaire International de Formation, d'Etudes et Recherches Dramatiques). The scholarship brought him to the Festival Mondial du Théâtre de Nancy, directed by Jack Lang, a prominent figure in France, founder and producer of Festival Mondial du Théâtre de Nancy, who later served as France's Minister of Culture, then Minister of Education and currently serves in the French National Assembly. In the early '70s Nancy was at the heart of the theatrical world and many future promises were discovered there: Taudeusz Kantor, Robert Wilson, Pina Bausch, Peter Schumann, Dario Fo, to name only a few. In 1974 Andrés moved to Florence, Italy, to select the Italian theater companies that would attend the Festival. Here he started and curated for three years an experimental theater program at the Rondò di Bacco, located in Palazzo Pitti, where he invited some of the leading companies coming out of Nancy, as well as local experimental artists, such as Pier'Alli, Il Carrozzone and others. In 1978 he set up his own company, Andrés Neumann International, that soon became one of the most important agencies for worldwide organization, distribution and production of high profile events in the performing arts. In particular, he directed the Rassegna Internazionale di Teatro Popolare at Teatro Mancini, in Rome and was invited to program a Special International Theater Section in the Estate Romana event during the '80s. ANI successfully launched artists like Dario Fo and Vittorio Gassman in the United States, presented the work of Oscar Award winning Polish director Andrzej Wajda to New York audiences, the Japanese Great Kabuki to Italian ones, Ingmar Bergman to Spoleto, as well as coproducing The Mahabarata by Peter Brook and Pina Baush's Tanztheater Wuppertal on several opportunities. Over the years international press and media reviewed Andrés' productions and artistic choices with interest and generosity. Andrés received several awards and in 1986 he was appointed Chevalier de l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres by French Ministry of Culture, Jack Lang. Since 2000 Andrés has focused mainly on family and personal life and, together with Viviana Benci, had a son, René, born in Arezzo on September 21, 2001. At present he is raising his son and continues his longterm professional collaboration with the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch. He is also co-founder and Artistic Advisor at Centro Culturale Il Funaro in Pistoia, Italy.