Apply now to be a 2010 ArtCorps
Artist!
Click here for application
information. |
Contact Info
ArtCorps
www.artcorp.org
+1 (978)
927-2404
artcorps@nebf.org
| |
This
Month
We celebrate three exciting developments this month.
Field
Project - An environmental mural project in
El Salvador sparks a community effort to keep an
important water source clean.
2009
Collaborators and Expansion - ArtCorps welcomes four
new artists and three new partner sites in 2009 while
expanding to Honduras! ArtCorps is also pleased to continue
working with four returning artists and five partner sites in
Guatemala and El Salvador.
Strengthening
Our Commitment - The creation of a new staff position
and the completion of ArtCorps' first field handbook
strengthens ArtCorps' commitment to our partner organizations,
communities and artists. Join us in welcoming Regional Program
Officer Rafael Ayala
Alvarado.
|
|
Environmental Mural Sparks River
Clean-up
Written in collaboration by artist
Laura Smith and staff member Suzanne
Jenkins
The
actors...
The town of Sacacoyo and
the "Padre Mauricio Merino" community - The town of
Sacacoyo is located in the La Libertad region of El Salvador,
and various residents of Sacacoyo and neighboring sec tors have formed a community of faith called "Padre
Mauricio Merino." For the past 18 years, religious and
political differences with the larger Sacacoyo has made it
difficult for the members of the Padre Mauricio Merino
community to achieve their ambitions.
Like many
communities across El Salvador, they live in conditions of
profound poverty and have very limited access to basic
resources such as water, electricity, medical help and safety
within their own homes. The population is mostly made up of
youth, many of whom enjoy playing soccer. In this rural zone,
the youth have very little access to recreation and safe
spaces. The soccer fields in Sacacoyo are supposed to be the
safe place to hang out, but fights, alcohol, sex and murders
have blighted the space in recent years.
Non-governmental
organization Fundahmer - Based in San Salvador, the Fundación Hermano
Mercedes Ruíz (Fundahmer) brings integral community
development assistance to Ecclesiastical Grassroots  Communities across El Salvador like Padre Mauricio
Merino. They offer programs specifically in Education, Human
Development, Solidarity and Environmental and Economic
Sustainability.
Artist Laura Smith -
A visual artist from Massachusetts, USA, Laura previously she
was a teaching artist in inner-city schools and did volunteer
work around immigration and Hurricane Katrina as well as in
Central America.
Through her work with Fundahmer in
2008, Laura realized, "Art does not have to be just for me, or
just for my students or the com munity, but it can actually be a shared
experience carried out with an entire community in which we
shape our ideas and create together." Laura will continue as
an ArtCorps Artist with Fundahmer in 2009.
The project...
Much
of my work with Fundahmer last year was focused on creating
opportunities for youth in the Padre Mauricio Merino community
to develop their leadership abilities through the arts in a
program called the Roque Dalton School, which is named in
memory of one of El Salvador's most important poets.
One of the most tangible results of our collaboration
comes from the youth's initiative to clean up the local river.
We began as a mixed group of Roque Dalton and Sacacoyo youth,
picking up trash ourselves and delivering the bags of trash to a place where they would be picked
up by the collectors. Certain community figures
distrusted the youth's motives, but we overcame
misperceptions. We finished with an average of 16 youth of
different political and religious backgrounds plus various
other Sacacoyo residents coming together over the course of 3
days to paint 2 murals with environmental messages. Since
then, the larger community has helped to keep the river clean.
Early on, we sought the collaboration of the local
directive committee and the mayor. The committee offered to
communicate our objectives to the larger community and helped
organize the trash pickup, but the mayor never responded to
our repeated inquiries. We came to believe that he and others
thought there would be political propaganda involved in our
initiative and preferred not to participate for this reason.
 When we found the cement walls that we had repaired
covered in political graffiti, we knew we needed to find
better ways to involve the broader community. We decided to
post fliers around town inviting everyone to help paint the 2
environmental murals that we had planned. Youth and adults
from neighboring communities stopped by and got involved.
Seeing and participating in this initiative allowed
people who had prejudices against the youth group and the
Padre Mauricio Merino community to better understand what they
do with their time and to see their admirable social
ambitions.
 Furthermore, the Roque Dalton youth got
the chance to practice their new facilitation skills. One
emerging youth leader facilitated the design of one mural in
advance. During the painting, they all took part in
facilitating the participation of their neighbors.
We
persevered, and by the end of the year we had two new murals
up with messages about collaborating to take care of the
environment. Throughout the week after completing the murals,
we took note that instead of throwing trash everywhere, people
had begun to pile it neatly near the concrete sinks and stones
where locals bathe and wash their clothes. After a month, the
surrounding community had placed trash bags where the piles
had once been. The local mayor has also sent over a group to
collect trash. We are glad that the mayor ultimately supported
the river clean-up after understanding our purpose.
 When I look back on this and many other
initiatives, the intangible results stick out to me as the
greatest achievements: improved self-esteem, people of
different ideologies coming together, better group integration
and exploration of self identity and group identity. These are
the results that I see as most sustainable, because dignity
and love are key essentials to peace and cooperation.
Fundahmer and I are very excited for this coming year.
Fundahmer staff would like to learn creative facilitation
techniques to use in their regular programming in all of the
communities they serve, not just the Padre Mauricio Merino
community. Half of our collaboration will focus on a new staff
development program to transfer these skills and ensure that
Fundahmer reaps the benefits of art for social action long
into the future. The other half will follow up on projects
initiated in 2008, such as the river mural and the Roque
Dalton School, so that youth from various communities will
delve deeper into the role that art and popular education can
play in the transformation of Salvadoran society.
|
2009 Collaborators and
Expansion
For the first time,
ArtCorps enters Honduras and is honored to work with a mix of
talented new artists and seasoned returning artists! A new
bonus stipend has made it possible financially for artists to
serve for 2 years, providing continuity and reaching new
depths in their projects.
We proudly introduce the
following 2009 artists and partner sites (names listed
below):
New
partner sites who received their first ArtCorps artist in
January 2009 - In Honduras: Bosques Pico
Bonito and the Association of Water Administration Boards
of South Sector Pico Bonito (AJAASSPIB), both in La Ceiba. In
Guatemala: World Neighbors at
Lake Atitlán.
Returning partner
sites - In Guatemala: World Neighbors
Polochíc, Wildlife Conservation
Society (WCS) and the Association of
Forestry Communities of the Petén (ACOFOP). In El
Salvador: Fundación Hermano
Mercedes Ruíz (Fundahmer) and Asociación
Mangle.
New artists who bring new
talent to the communities and NGOs - Lauren Andreu
(visual arts, USA), María de los Angeles Lagos Lagos (visual
arts, Chile), Daniela Prieto Bischof (visual arts, Chile) and
Elena Rodriguez Martin (visual arts and theater, Spain).
Returning
artists who continue to contribute their talent -
Cristian Beltrán (theater, Chile), Robyn Saxer (theater, USA),
Laura Smith (visual arts, USA) and Alayna Wool (visual arts,
USA).
We invite you to share our excitement for 2009
and to wish these artists and partner sites well in their
collaborations! |
Strengthening Our
Commitment
In these times of global
economic difficulty, ArtCorps has strengthened our commitment
to improving the lives of Central American communities in
need. Two investments are helping our artists and partner
sites to promote community empowerment through the arts around
environmental, health and human rights issues more effectively
than before: the creation of a new staff position and the
completion of the "ArtCorps Handbook: A guide to
collaboration."
 Salvadoran Rafael Ayala Alvarado joins as
ArtCorps' new Regional Program Officer. Along with a special
interest in improving the conditions in which people live,
particularly disadvantaged children and youth, Rafael brings
to ArtCorps more than 30 years of experience working with
international organizations in social, educational and
community development as well as his formal training as an
educator and musician. Rafael seeks to position ArtCorps in
Central America as an innovative approach to achieving
sustainable change through the arts. He will also manage
projects in the field and guide the application of ArtCorps'
methodology, simultaneously promoting successful and
sustainable changes in the ways that social organizations
implement their programs and improving the quality of life of
communities and community members.
 After months of hard work by a small
group of dedicated contributors, we are pleased to have
completed the first handbook describing the ArtCorps approach
to using art for social action! A dream of ours for years,
this useful handbook intends to guide our artists and partner
organizations in the field and to make our approach accessible
to others. As a pilot version, it will be validated and
improved based upon use in the field.
The handbook was
written and compiled by ArtCorps alumna Aryeh Shell in
collaboration with staff members Clare Dowd, Suzanne Jenkins
and Rafael Ayala; ArtCorps artists Andrea Pérez and Robyn
Saxer; volunteer Rosemary Costello; and all of the ArtCorps
artists and NGOs whose experiences are reflected in its pages.
Andrea Pérez contributed the graphic design. ArtCorps extends
our sincere thanks to this hardworking team!
| | |
