🎫Sport and culture· 2022-2023
What Montevideo's city hall pays performers at its festivals
US$256,478 to Lali Espósito and US$62,387 to Daniela Mercury for the "Acá estamos" festival; the city itself admitted the resolution left out the total cost.
Figure published by the sources
US$ 256.478 a Lali Espósito y US$ 62.387 a Daniela Mercury (festival Acá estamos, marzo de 2023): US$ 318.865 en total
Bodies involved
Intendencia de Montevideo
What it is
The Municipality of Montevideo stages mass festivals and contracts local and international performers using departmental budget. In December 2022 it held "Montevideo Late", which according to El Observador drew more than 140,000 people across the weekend. In March 2023, under mayor Carolina Cosse, it staged the "Acá estamos" festival on the Punta Carretas waterfront as part of Women's Month, headlined by Lali Espósito and Daniela Mercury, with tickets at 400 pesos sold through Tickantel, according to La Nación and El Observador.
What is questioned
El Observador reported on 15 March 2023 that the municipality paid US$256,478 to Lali Espósito and US$62,387 to Daniela Mercury, US$318,865 in total. On the publication of the contracts, the city itself noted that "the operative section failed to state the total cost of the contract". Infobae and La Nación picked up the story on 14 and 15 March. For Montevideo Late, El Observador had reported on 20 December 2022 payments of US$65,000 to No Te Va Gustar, US$40,000 to La Vela Puerca and US$12,000 to El Kuelgue, plus a commitment to waive 100% of the public entertainment tax for La Vela Puerca's 19 November 2022 show at the Velodrome. National Party councillor Javier Barrios Bove called it "bread and circuses" and councillor Diego Rodríguez asked what the spending brings Montevideo; critics quoted by Infobae noted the city "floods when it rains, is very dirty, has ruined streets".
Why it matters to you
These festivals are financed by Montevideo's taxpayers through property and departmental taxes: even with 400-peso tickets, the bulk of the cost is public budget. Knowing what each performer charges — and knowing it before the show, not after — is what makes it possible to debate whether that money is well spent against sewerage, street lighting or road repairs.
Where it stands
The municipality defended the spending: it said the aim was to "break traditional paradigms and promote representation, leadership and equal opportunity in culture", and grounded the choice of Espósito in her international standing and advocacy for gender equality, and that of Mercury in her philanthropic work and feminist and LGBT activism, according to El Observador and Infobae. Among the verified sources there is no record of a criminal complaint or a Court of Accounts objection over these contracts: the challenge was political and about transparency. As of this file's closing (August 2026) there are no developments after the March 2023 coverage.
The open-data cross-reference
Open this set in the explorerWhat the state awarded to the bodies and companies named in this file, according to the official Compras Estatales data. It is a cross-reference for scale, not proof of irregularity: it includes contracts nobody questioned.
How this cross-reference was builtcontracts whose object mentions “espectaculo” · everything recorded under the body's buying unit (not only this case) · between 2022 and 2023
Who was paid
Suppliers ranked by amount awarded in the cross-reference. A contract with several suppliers counts in full against each one: this is a ceiling, not a split.
What it bought
Spending by category, from price times quantity of each awarded item, in the contract currency.
Contracts per year
The detail
The largest contracts in the cross-reference, high to low. Tap one for its record and the link to the official purchase.
- ENTRADA P/ESPECTACULOJELSI S.A. · 22 jun. 2023$ 337.500
- ENTRADA P/ESPECTACULOJELSI S.A. · 25 jul. 2022$ 337.500
- ENTRADA P/ESPECTACULOAGREMIACION DE LA MUSICA Y LAS ARTES DEL URUGUAY · 18 ene. 2023$ 300.000
- ENTRADA P/ESPECTACULONORTELCO S A · 22 jun. 2023$ 252.000
- ENTRADA P/ESPECTACULONORTELCO S A · 25 jul. 2022$ 252.000
- ALQUILER DE LUCES PARA ESPECTACULOOTTONELLO NOGUEIRA CARLOS ALEJANDRO · 14 mar. 2023$ 14.000
Amounts in pesos, normalised. Records with impossible quantities are excluded from the total. Performer fees are contracted directly because of the artistic nature of the service, and may appear in procurement data under the promoter's name rather than the artist's. The waived public entertainment tax appears as spending in no purchasing record at all.