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Cabaret and burlesque · 5th edition · Centro Cultural Roberto Martain
Saturday, August 22 and Sunday, August 23, 2026 · Centro Cultural Roberto Martain
Until the Mexicali leg
There is no online box office: tickets and bookings go through the organizers and the cultural center itself.
Bucafest —the International Cabaret and Burlesque Festival— reaches its fifth edition and, for the first time, steps outside Tijuana to tour the state. Mexicali is its second stop: Saturday, August 22 and Sunday, August 23, 2026 at the Centro Cultural Roberto Martain, with stage performances and workshops open to students, performers and anyone curious about the genre.
It is run by Di Notte Nel Cabaret, the Tijuana stage company directed by Ana Gabriela Ávila Acosta. The festival started five years ago with a concrete goal: to professionalize cabaret and burlesque —disciplines that combine acting, dance, music, costume, make-up and character creation— and to give emerging border artists a safe space to perform. This edition brings together artists from California, Chile, Mexico City and Querétaro.
It is not only a show. The statewide program includes a talk on women's empowerment and gender-violence prevention, a panel on the stigma around these performing arts, and a health drive by the state Health Ministry offering free, confidential rapid testing. As the organizers put it, they want "to transform the stigma that existed around burlesque and cabaret".
The festival academy opens at the Centro Cultural Roberto Martain.
Second day of academic activities.
The Mexicali performance, with the festival's guest artists.
Program as announced at the press conference on August 6, 2026. The organizers have not published a detailed workshop-by-workshop schedule: check with @bucafest.tj or the cultural center before you go.
The Mexicali academic program was announced around costume creation, Broadway-style choreography and classic burlesque. Roberto Martain, director of the cultural center that carries his name, added workshops in boylesque —male burlesque— and Roxart. They are aimed at students, performers and interested audiences, with no previously announced experience requirement.
⚠️ The named workshops that circulated in the press (choreography, "strip del algoritmo", silk fans, conscious sensuality) belong to the TIJUANA calendar, not Mexicali's. Only the lines announced for the state capital are listed here.
There are two separate tickets: Sunday's artistic gala and the workshops. According to what the organizers announced at the press conference, the show costs $250 pesos and the workshops carry a fee of one thousand pesos for the package of activities. There is no online box office for Mexicali: sales and bookings go through the organizers (@bucafest.tj) and the Centro Cultural Roberto Martain. Confirm the current price when you book.
| Access | Cost | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Artistic gala | $250.00 | Sunday, August 23, 7:00 PM |
| Workshops | $1,000.00 | Fee for the scheduled academic activities |
Costs announced at the press conference on August 6, 2026 and published by El Imparcial. Prices in Mexican pesos and subject to change: confirm with the organizers before attending.
Book through Instagram (@bucafest.tj)The fifth edition runs in three legs through August. Mexicali is the middle weekend.
Opening gala, burlesque gala, international workshops and the "Las Artes Prohibidas" panel.
Performances and workshops at the Centro Cultural Roberto Martain.
Closing at Sala Francisco Zarco with performances and academic activities.
The Centro Cultural Roberto Martain is an independent stage on Boulevard Benito Juárez, by Plaza Soriana in the Jardines del Valle neighbourhood. It is a small multi-purpose venue —theater, dance, music and musical theater— so capacity is limited and booking beats showing up cold. It has shopping-plaza parking, which helps for a Sunday night show.
Dates, venue and program for the Mexicali leg verified on August 10, 2026 against El Imparcial (August 6, 2026) and CiudadTijuana, with the festival legs cross-checked against En Línea BC and California Medios; the venue name and address were confirmed with the Google Places API. Times and costs come from what was announced at the press conference and do not yet appear in a published official program: confirm them with the organizers. Workshop instructors are not named because sources spell them differently and that calendar belongs to the Tijuana leg. Illustrative image, digitally generated from a real photograph of the venue facade.
