Mar del Plata is the most popular destination for conventions in Argentina after Buenos Aires. Mar del Plata has a wide range of services in this sector. The summer season hosts over fifty theatrical plays.
Shows and festivals
- The Mar del Plata International Film Festival, the only competitive accredited film festival in Latin America.
- The Fiesta Nacional del Mar ("National Sea Festival") with the election and coronation of the Sea Queen and her princesses, which takes place in December as the official inauguration of the summer season.
- The Premios Estrella de Mar ("Sea Star Awards") which honor the best stage plays and shows of the season.
- The Valencian Falles week, a local reenactment of the Valencian event conducted by the Valencian community.
- The Mar del Plata Fashion Show, along with a number of fashion parades that gathers the best haute couture designers.
- The Fiesta Nacional de los Pescadores (National Fishermen's Festival), a colourful display of seamen tradition and cuisine.
- Mar del Plata has also hosted the 1995 Pan American Games, the 2003 Parapan American Games, the 2005 FIBA Under-21 World Championship, and co-hosted the 1978 FIFA World Cup and the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship.
- Since 1987 Mar del Plata annually hosts the Mar del Plata Marathon, in early December.
The local Government sponsors a stable Symphonic Orchestra, as well as a Conservatorium and a School of Classical and Modern Dance.
Nightlife
Mar del Plata has a wide variety of clubs located by district: the area of Alem street and Irigoyen (known for its quantity of pubs and nightclubs) and the coast and Constitution Avenue.
Museums
- The Juan Carlos Castagnino Municipal Museum of Art.
- The Museum of the Port of Mar del Plata Cleto Ciocchini.
- The Museum of Natural Science Lorenzo Scaglia, specialized in Paleontology of the Quaternary species around the region.
- The Mar del Plata Museum of the Sea, which includes one of the most complete collections of sea snails of the World.
- Villa Victoria, a vintage wooden house, the former residence of the late writer Victoria Ocampo, now a place for art expositions and classical music.
Notable people
- Alberto Bruzzone (1907–1994), painter, was born in San Juan but chose Mar del Plata as his home city.
- Alfonsina Storni (died 1938), famous Argentian Poet, who drowned herself in the waters at Mar del Plate: a statue still was erected near the beach.
- Ástor Piazzolla, composer and musician.
- Auro Tiribelli (1908–2006), architect, the main representative of the Mar del Plata style.
- Erica Bibbó (1985), the first female commander of a naval unit in the Argentine navy.
- Gabriel Gaby Amato, former international soccer player.
- Germán Mono Burgos, former goalkeeper. He played two World Cups. Currently, he is oriented to music.
- Guillermo Vilas, top tennis star in the 1970s.
- Héctor Babenco, movie director, who made Hollywood films like Kiss of the Spider Woman and Ironweed.
- Homero Cárpena (1910–2001), actor, playwright and filmmaker.
- Inés Arrondo, hockey player, winner along with the national team of an Olympic Silver medal in Sydney 2000 and a Bronze medal in Athens 2004.
- Juan Carlos Castagnino, painter.
- Juan Eduardo Esnáider, international soccer player. Former forward of Espanyol, Atlético de Madrid, Juventus, River Plate.
- Jorge Lanata, journalist and writer.
- Laura Echarte, agricultural engineer, researcher in crop physiology studies, winner of a 2007 L'Oreal-Unesco international fellowship for Women.
- Maria Gabriela Palomo, marine biologist, also winner of the L'Oreal-Unesco junior award in 2003 for her works on port-areas environmental pollution.
- Mario Benedetti (1945), electronics engineer, the main Argentine scientist involved in the Large Hadron Collider project. He is also the owner of Tío Curzio, one of the most fashionable restaurants in the city.
- Martin Donovan (not to be confused with American actor Martin Donovan), Hollywood screenwriter and producer, co-author of the screenplay of movies like Death Becomes Her and Loving Couples.
- Nacha Guevara, singer and actress.
- Ricardo Piglia, writer born in Adrogué but raised in Mar del Plata.
The common linguistic and social background of the city is that of the so called
rioplatense culture.
