Fluvial is held annually in Valdivia, in southern Chile, during the last week of November. This 2024, the event’s eighth edition will take place between November 27 and 30.

Fluvial is a music conference and a professional meeting for the international promotion of artists and music in Chile. It brings national and international delegates from different countries and sectors of the industry together. It consists of two main pillars:

1. Several artistic showcases.
2. A conference program with educational activities, including panels, forums, workshops, working tables, business roundtables, and networking.

The complete activity program will be published in November.

Fluvial is a music conference focused on developing independent Chilean music, especially regarding its international projection and professional networks. Therefore, Fluvial is concerned with strengthening associativity between creative industry trade associations, musicians’ associations, the academic world, and sectors related to its development, like tourism and technology. To that end, it has implemented several roundtables aimed at improving coordination.

At a regional level, the work carried out over the years has led Fluvial to launch a project for 2024, financed by the Regional Government’s Innovation Fund for Competitiveness (FIC), in partnership with IMICHILE and the Universidad Austral, aiming to generate strategic, training, and governance processes between the creative industries and tourism, which includes activities in communities such as Panguipulli, Corral, Mariquina, Lanco, La Unión, the Lake Ranco basin, and Valdivia.

In addition, at a local level, in 2023, the Valdivia Music Board was established, which has a programming quota in Fluvial with whom a working group was set up throughout the year to generate actions to strengthen interdisciplinary and intersectoral links. In addition to the above, the partnership with Lluviosa consolidates the work carried out with local organizations and continues to develop the agenda to enhance the participation of women and dissidents at the meeting.

At the same time, in 2023, initiatives of regional impact such as Aguacero Comics, Sur Mujer, Valdivia Urban Lab, and Copa Cervecera, among others, will join the event, forming a creative industry fair that will take place at La Leñera, where regional programmers from different artistic disciplines will also participate, such as the Panguipulli’s Educational Theater, consolidating this proposal far beyond music.

On the other hand, since Fluvial’s first edition, Universidad Austral de Chile, an institution concerned with developing creative industries, has been a vital supporter of the event. Through its different units and faculties, it has made possible the participation of teachers and students in educational activities, the development of applied research on carbon footprint and economic impact studies, and the availability of spaces for the development of artistic and educational activities.

The support of various venues in the city of Valdivia, which have been part of the official showcase program, including the Cervantes Regional Theater, Carpa CECS, Club Gaz Gaz, Club Bimba, Rata Envenená, La Última Frontera, Tilo Restobar, and Espacio en Construcción, has also been relevant.

Over the years, Fluvial has enjoyed the support of various public and private institutions at the national level. These include the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage, ProChile, CORFO, Sercotec, Fomento Los Ríos, Sernatur, Los Ríos Regional Government, the Municipality of Valdivia, the Los Ríos Productive Development Corporation, Universidad Austral de Chile, and Sociedad Chilena de Autores e Intérpretes Musicales (SCD).

At the international level, the link and support of the Worldwide Independent Network (WIN), which brings together the independent music industry’s global trade associations, and Merlin, whose primary goal is to ensure that the world’s leading independents have access to deals, tools and opportunities to succeed in the digital market, is highly relevant.

In addition, Fluvial has developed partnerships with different countries such as Canada (CIMA, SODEC), Spain (Sounds from Spain), France (Instituts français), Australia (Sounds Australia), and international events such as Global Toronto and the International Indigenous Music Summit (IIMS), an event focused on the promotion of First Nations music.

At the association level, roundtables are underway to progress in the coordination and participation of the Federation of Chilean Musicians and IMUVA. In the Los Ríos region, Valdivia Rock Musicians Association, Santa Cecilia Musicians Association, Marea Rock Foundation, Lluviosa Festival, and Casamúsica. In addition, Fluvial has established partnerships in the region with the Valdivia International Film Festival, 9punto5, Marea Rock Festival, and currently, the Valdivia International Jazz Festival.

Fluvial aims to become a sustainable event; therefore, it is committed to waste management, developing environmental education activities for children at Fluvialito, and measuring its carbon footprint to achieve its certification as a sustainable event.

Fluvial focuses on intercultural and First Nations agendas. For this reason, together with managing and programming native artists, it has set up a working group to promote the Pan-American exchange of indigenous artists in the network called “El Encuentro del Águila y el Cóndor” (The Eagle and the Condor Meeting) in association with international conferences such as Global Toronto and Indigenous Music Summit in Canada, Ibero-American Meeting of Women in the Music Industry in Mexico. We are expecting the participation of SunFest, Kultrun Fest in Canada, and Cranea Música from Paraguay.