The Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics held its first Encuentro in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 2-15, 2000. Participants included artists, scholars, graduate students, and activists. This eclectic and culturally diverse group, from countries throughout the Americas, captured the spirit of Encuentros: to provide a forum that encourages an interdisciplinary exploration of the relationship between performance and politics from diverse cultural perspectives. This is a video documentation of the opening remarks by Zeca Ligiéro, Diana Taylor, Luis Peirano, and Javier Serna, who introduce the general theme of the first Encuentro, ‘Performance and Politics in the Americas,’ as well as future events.