"The rise of Hispanicism in the United States is unstoppable, and this despite the fact that part of the political establishment is hindering it because they fear its rapid ascent. The daily use of Spanish implies knowledge dissemination of our culture, literature, history, art, customs, culinary habits...". So says Miguel Zugasti, professor of the School of Philosophy and Letters of the University of Navarra, director of group TriviUN (Theater, Literature and Visual Culture of the University of Navarra) and co-director of the internationalcongress "No solo fiesta: sociedad, celebración y credo en el teatro hispánico del Siglo de Oro", held on May 27 and 28.

Organized at partnership with the University of Rhode Island (United States), the meeting brought together experts from more than twenty national and international institutions, whose presentations focused on theater, literature, history and art in the Golden Age in Spain, America and the Philippines. Among the participants were also the professors of the University of Navarra and members of group TriviUN. José Javier Azanza, Silvia Cazalla, Carmen Pinillos y Ana Zúñiga. 

One of the lines of work of this group of research, attached to the School of Philosophy and Letters, is the theatrical party. Iñaki Pérez Ibáñez, former student of the University of Navarra and professor at the University of Rhode Island, has formed a counterpart team at the U.S. academic center. Thus, the opportunity arose to co-organize this congress on the Hispanic Golden Age: "Iñaki was the piece core topic for this congress to exist. On the basis of our old friendship staff, both teams begin to collaborate and bear fruit". Asked about the presence of Spanish in the United States, Zugasti referred to the book Más de 555 millones podemos leer este libro sin traducción, by José María Merino and Álex Grijelmo, and affirmed that "such a phenomenon of irradiation of the Hispanic language occurred thanks to the trip across the Atlantic of three caravels in 1492, since in Spain we are barely 10% of those speakers". In this sense, he affirmed that "all the prestigious universities in the United States have Departments of programs of study Hispanic, where what comes from the Iberian Peninsula is combined with the contribution of the Spanish-speaking American nations".

The status at the present time has prevented the congress from being held at campus in Kingston (University of Rhode Island), as planned. However, the interest in "a unique cultural entity, with an enormous potential, and which could well be framed under the heading of Ibero-America or Latin America", has led 90% of the people who confirmed their attendance at attendance to do so now virtually through the Internet, and all in an "enthusiastic and very professional" manner. After a year of preparations and coordination," adds Miguel Zugasti, "we were reluctant to let ourselves be defeated by the ill-fated Covid-19, so we decided to hold the virtual congress on the scheduled days and return to call for the second on-site edition on the same dates in 2021. Hopefully by then we will have controlled the pandemic with the vaccine, but it is an unknown that only time will tell." Despite this change of scenario, he assured that "the final balance could not be more positive. Although it is not the same as a face-to-face meeting , where proximity and the human contact make the difference. Even so, we have been connected telematically by 'zoom' and everything has gone very smoothly: the presentations, the debates...".

The papers presented at congress, funded by the Ministry of Culture and Sports of the Government of Spain, will be published in a collective Issue , after selection, review and acceptance by the committee Scientific Committee.