This project is done in partnership with EcoLogic Development Fund.

Like much of rural Guatemala, people who live in Totonicapán rely heavily on the land for their livelihoods - carpentry, forestry and farming. Unlike most of rural Guatemala, centuries old traditional conservation practices have been instrumental to the preservation of the Community Forest of San Miguel, a 52,000-acre old-growth forest in Totonicapán that houses the world's largest remaining stand of endangered Guatemalan fir trees. However, globalization and modernization threaten the survival of traditional communal environmental stewardship and create a disconnect between young and old.

48 Cantones’s long-term goal is to maintain the values and traditions of the Totonicapán Quiché Maya by inspiring the next generation of leaders to learn, understand, and continue their traditional system of forest management. This in turn will result in the long-term protection of the communal forest and centuries-old traditional forest management practices, as well as bridging the older and younger generations. ArtCorps will support 48 Cantones by introducing technology and art to engage youth in activities that develop leadership while documenting traditional conservation stories and practices from community elders. Through this project, young leaders will become the principal actors for cultural preservation in Totonicapán.

As Totonicapán's Quiché elders continue to age, they are deeply concerned that their values and customs will be slowly lost despite their best efforts to preserve them. They feel estranged from the younger generation, which they perceive as indifferent to age-old wisdom and the importance of natural resources. The elders fear collective memory loss. There is no systematized, agreed-upon version of how and why to manage the forest in a state of ecological and spiritual equilibrium, and the rich tapestry of stories that have informed these practices throughout the ages are neither collected nor recorded.

2011: Andrea Shigeko Landin is a classically trained musician and poet from the US and will be leading the first year of collaboration between ArtCorps and 48 Cantones de Totonicapán. Andrea brings a strong understanding of Guatemalan culture, history and society from her studies at the Centro de Investigaciones Regionales de Mesoamerica in Guatemala and work at the Guatemala Human Rights Commission in Washington, DC.

• Developing Youth Leaders in Conservation: Andrea is working with 50 youth, five each from 10 different communities in Totonicapán. She will introduce technology such as video and radio to engage youth and document the stories and practices behind the successful conservation practices in Totonicapán. She will also introduce performing arts such as music and theater as tools the youth can use to engage and educate their peers. These 50 youth will then become peer facilitators and teach an additional 200 youth how to use these mediums to promote conservation and social change.
• Semana Verde (Green Week): In order to raise awareness about the environment throughout the communities in Totonicapán, Andrea will work with the 50 youth leaders, teachers and 48 Cantones to implement a series of creative environmentally themed activities such as a night of poetry and stories, a photo exhibit and a night of music.
• Building Capacity Among Teachers: Andrea will work with 14 teachers to develop curriculum and classroom workshops that support conservation. She will transfer popular education and arts-based skills to the teachers, who will use these in developing their curriculum on the environment.
• Transforming a Tree Nursery into an Education Center: Working with students and teachers, Andrea will use murals, photo exhibits, recordings of forest sounds, a story corner and other arts-based tools to transform the tree nursery run by 48 Cantones into a center for creative environmental education.