José Antonio Portillo Vesga has won Spain’s 2026 National Performing Arts for Children and Young People Prize, worth €30,000. The jury singled out Museo del Tiempo, where visitors bury objects and log their locations on a map using QR codes.
At Madrid’s Teatro Valle-Inclán, Biblioteca de ruidos y sonidos was presented on 10 and 11 October 2026.
The performance was part of the Titerescena programme. Four days later, on 14 October, the jury met and selected Spanish scenographer and theatre director José Antonio Portillo Vesga for Spain’s National Performing Arts for Children and Young People Prize. The Ministry of Culture awards the €30,000 prize.
The jury recognised Portillo’s work for children and young people, including Museo del Tiempo, as well as his wider career. It highlighted the project’s street-theatre format and storytelling, then pointed to its music and audience participation. Visitors bury objects and record their locations on a map using a QR code.
The award also recognises a career spanning stage design and teaching. Portillo has developed interdisciplinary artistic projects, too. The jury praised his active listening and two-way engagement with audiences of different ages. It described the world created through his poetic devices as living and changing.
In its assessment, the jury pointed to the way Portillo brings abstract ideas into tangible, participatory experiences. It cited Biblioteca de cuerdas y nudos alongside Biblioteca de ruidos y sonidos as examples of the handmade language he has developed with Museo del Tiempo.
Portillo first drew attention in the performing arts with Artilugios para contar y crear historias. The work was presented at Festival Teatralia in 1998, then at London’s Lyric Theatre Hammersmith and Milan’s Teatro Piccolo in 2000.
From 2002 to 2004, he took part in Percursos: Projecto Artístico Europeu para um Público Jovem, a European project developed with Lisbon’s Centro Cultural de Belém. Museo del Tiempo and Biblioteca de cuerdas y nudos were among the artistic projects created through the programme.
His work has appeared at SBC Southbank-Royal Festival Hall in London. It has also been presented at Het Paleis in Antwerp and at the Cuatrienal de Arquitectura y Escenografía Teatral de Praga. Festival Zona Franca and Teatro delle Briciole in Parma have hosted his work. It has appeared at Barcelona’s Teatre Lliure and Teatre Principal de Valencia as well.
Portillo has also worked in cultural programming, including at the Teatro Municipal de Benicàssim.
He has been a finalist several times at Spain’s Premios Max. Other honours include the Premio al Mejor Espectáculo Infantil de las Artes Escénicas de la Generalitat Valenciana. He received the undécimo premio de Proyectos de Artes Escénicas de Lleida, along with the Premio al Libro Mejor Editado Infantil y Juvenil 2004 for the illustrated album Artefactes. The €30,000 award matches the value of the 2026 photography prize received by Vari Caramés.
