The Principal of Inca consolidates itself with a notable increase in audience

PalmaWhile the Teatre i l’Auditori of Manacor face an important change of era with the change of manager, after almost 40 years with Tomeu Amengual at the helm, the Teatre Principal of Inca consolidates an audience that, since its inauguration in 2021, has not stopped growing. If the 2022-2023 season closed with 28,000 attendees, the 2024-2025 season ended with more than 34,000. Many of them, moreover, from Inca. “More and more people from Inca are coming to the theater, trusting the proposals we offer, but since the audience from the rest of the island is also growing, the percentages mean that the increase in local audience, which was one of the main objectives to achieve, is blurred”, explains Miquel Àngel Raió, director of the center since September 2022. “Of course, we would like to achieve a model like Manacor’s, with more than 50% local audience, but now we are operating with different percentages. We have 30% of people from Inca and 70% of people from the rest of Mallorca”, he specifies.

One of the elements that for Raió has been fundamental in consolidating the audience has been eclecticism, which the director of the Principal of Inca defends as a positive value. “If once a year we have to have magic, or humor, of course we will have it, without neglecting the commitment to text-based theater, to local companies, to large-format shows…”, he says. This eclectic spirit is demonstrated by consulting the program for the coming months: a concert by Ànima Gòspel to benefit the Gaza school on Friday, May 29; a free humor show promoted by the Equality area of the City Council, L’amor de la meva diva, on the 30th; and the presentation concert of Cris Juanico's new album, on Saturday, June 13.

“For me it was important to be complementary with respect to other existing centers”, claims Raió, “and not to compete in territories where others are already specialized, because the audience we all have is not as large as we would like. In addition to this, we have wanted to transmit the philosophy of theater understood as a house, as a curative space, as a home for reflection and social life, and we think that this has also begun to take root. A new facility, whether cultural or sports, affects the city's self-esteem, and now we see how in Inca there are people who are proud of the Theater, as they are of the Shoe Museum and as they will be of the future Comic Museum. We must take advantage of this pride and this confidence and make everyone feel welcome in the theater”.