English
Brief Introduction
This proposal is to request funding for the second year of operation, 2006, of the School of Art and Open Studio of Perquin, El Salvador. The School was created and initiated in March of 2005 with financial support from the Potrero Nuevo Fund, the San Carlos Foundation and the gains of an art sale and auction of the art work of Claudia Bernardi (Intersection for the Arts, May 15, 2004)
Perquin is a community of 4,000 people located in the North of Morazán, where Claudia Bernardi in partnership with Valeria Galliso have been artists in residence, educators, facilitators, organizers of art workshops and classes, directors of public projects, designers of art productions in Perquin and near by villages from the North of Morazán.
It is important to mention that previous to March of 2005 there has never been an art school, art agency or art education program in the community of Perquin. A previous art initiative was created and directed by Bernardi and Galliso in the year 2001 when we spent 4 months in Perquin painting and directing the production of community and collaborative murals.
The School of Art and Open Studio of Perquin is a community and collaborative art project that engages all inhabitants of Perquin. Children, youth, adults and the elderly are involved in a variety of art projects that expand from collaborative mural painting to public and urban art. In addition to that, the School of Art and Open Studio of Perquin has been offering since early April art classes in painting, drawing, printmaking, wood sculpture, mural painting and the history of art to the whole community.
All classes are free of charge to the students and participants. All materials for the production of art are provided to the participants by the School of Art and Open Studio. There are no fees applied to the participants of the classes and/or collaborative art projects.
Being aware that “assistentialism/ asistencialismo” has been a damaging factor for the community through out the years of the war, we have requested that a nominal contribution would be made to the School of Art. For instance, we have asked the students to pay for the wooden frames of the canvases (1.50$ each) while the canvas, paints and brushes are provided to them for free. We have been trying, in this way, to create the consciousness that we need to continue building the school with the effort of everyone, respecting at the same time the cruel fact of poverty of this community. For the people who are unable to contribute with such a small amount (such as one dollar, fifty cents) we have requested that the participants would be engaged in some activity to help the School of Art. In this way we have a group of young people who are in charge of cleaning and maintenance, there are people who help us with transportation of materials to the sites, etc.
As of September 2005, we are in the sixth month of life of the School of Art and Open Studio of Perquin. We are proud and amazed of the impact of art in this community. In an adjacent document (Please, refer to “On Going Projects”) we have described the accomplished art projects as well as the projects that are still in production.
We can definitely state that art has taken a protagonic roll in this community and has become a pivotal aspect of the life and interest of Perquin. The art projects generated in this first six months of life of the School of Art and Open Studio have managed to reach concerns such as Health and the Environment, Historic Memory of the communities of the north of Morazán, Identity and Gender, Peace and Conflict resolution through art, Art and aesthetics, Community leadership and the Public Space.
The School of Art and Open Studio has accompanied the life and desires of the community, has applied and shared the techniques and crafts of art making to the building of projects that were generated by the need and vision of the community itself.
If we were to identify the School of Art and Open Studio of Perquin in relationship to most other schools in the arts, we would like to underline the fact that we work with no pre-established curricula. This means that the School of Art of Perquin designs the art projects in partnership with the community. In this way, the School of Art moves through the social texture of the community as an open and flexible membrane that adapts and responds to the vision and expectations of the people of Perquin.
If one would examine the already accomplished projects and the ones still in the making, one could easily identify that art and art making has become a fluid conductor of social interaction and an eloquent provider of conflict resolution in a community filled with the pains of war, the hardship of the postwar and the catastrophe of the economic period of “dollarazation”. The US dollar was introduced and established as the Salvadoran currency since 2001.
In the words of a local leader of this community, Carmen Elena Hernández, from CEBES :
“Lo que el arte ha podido conseguir en Perquin, la politica nunca pudo”
“That which art has been able to obtain in Perquin, politics has never been able to aquire”
It is with this realization and confirmation that art really matters in Perquin, that everyone is welcome, able and involved in art and art production and that people from other parts of El Salvador are coming to Perquin to see how this community has changed through art, that we are willing and determined to continue this project next year 2006.
We feel that it would be a terrible loss to interrupt the effervescent presence of art in Perquin.
It is important to mention here that the Mayor of Perquin, Sra. Miriam Rodriguez Chicas, the Mayor’s Office, the local agencies and NGOs have supported our school in all ways they could. The help and support has come from “in kind” contribution since direct funding has been impossible to secure given the limitations of national budget provided to a rural area such as Perquin.
The Mayor’s office has provided a location where the School of Art has office functions. This is a small room where the art materials are kept and where Valeria and I meet students, create projects and conduct meetings regarding up coming events.
FECANM, Federación de Cooperativas Agropecuarias del Norte de Morazán, has been paying for the house where Valeria and I have been living since we arrive to Perquin in March. It is a comfortable and beautiful house, surrounded by pine trees and corn plantations in the entrance of Perquin, in the Colonia, Los Pinos. They also have absorbed expenses regarding maintenance of the house.
CEBES opened its space for classes and workshops. It is important to mention that it is very hard to find available spaces in Perquin. Thus, all sharing of spaces for classes and workshops is dearly appreciated.
LA CASA DE LA CULTURA, is a government agency that has its center in San Miguel, regional capital of Morazan. There has not been an allocated person in charge of the building of the Casa de la Cultura of Perquin since April of this year. Thus, the building was closed and unable to be used. Evaluating how difficult it would be to conduct art classes without the use of the Casa de la Cultura, we called and established a meeting with the Regional responsible of this agency. Mr. Manuel Enrique Martinez, very graciously, accepted coming to Perquin to discuss the possible use of the closed building. The result of that conversation is that we were given the keys of the building! (amazing!!!). Since April, the School of Art and Open Studio has been conducting the art classes for children, youth and adults in La Casa de la Cultura.
Other smaller local agencies and people from the community have contributed with food for events, with plants and flowers for decoration and with newly grown corn for Valeria and I to remain well fed and healthy.
In this period of “dollarazation” of El Salvador, we have been facing that life in Perquin is far more expensive that we have anticipated. Despite the fact that we have managed to administrate wisely our funds for this year, we have recognized that we could not afford being in Perquin with a salary of 5,000$ each which is what we allocated for ourselves in 2005.
The majority of the funds collected in 2004 and early 2005 have been used for the acquisition of the totality of art materials needed to start and built the School of Art, for equipment such as a digital camera and a small printing press, for the sending of the materials to El Salvador ( by boat) , and for the airfares to arrive to El Salvador from Argentina and the US.
Budget for 2006
The present budget is segmented into 3 parts:
- Airfares
- Art materials
- Salaries
Claudia Bernardi and Valeria Galliso will be departing El Salvador in December of this year and they will be returning early in 2006.
Airfare US/ El Salvador for Claudia Bernardi
$ 560
Airfare Argentina/ El Salvador for Valeria Galliso
$ 700
Subtotal
$ 1,260
Art Materials
In June of this year we received the visit and participation of 10 students from California College of the Arts. The young artists stayed in Perquin for over two months working as Artists in Residence. They were expected to conduct their own art in community projects and they brought the art materials needed to fulfill their projects. In addition to that, they were very generous leaving with the School of Art, art materials, tools and equipment.
The following description of budgeted materials is to replenish the materials used in already accomplished art projects.
Paper
200, Rives BFK Heavyweight, 22”x30”, @ $ 2,62 $ 524
200, Arches Cover, 250 gms 22”x30”, @ $ 2,87 $ 574
Subtotal $ 1,098
Paints
50 Winsor & Newton Designer’s Gouche, 14 ml tube, @ $9.00 $ 450
Assorted brushes for water colors, acrylics and tempera $ 300
Assorted acrylic paints all colors, en tubes and jars $ 500
15 boxes of 24 oil pastels @ $30 each $ 450
Subtotal $ 1,700
Printmaking Materials
25 1 lb. cans, Daniel Smith Water Soluble Relief Inks,
Assorted colors and transparent base @ $18,00 $ 450
10 Soft Rubber Rolls, Assorted lengths @ $ 12,00 $ 120
10 Woodcut Tools Sets @ $ 32,00 $ 320
Createx Ink for Monotypes
$ 300
Woods for Woodcuts $ 100
Subtotal
$ 1,740
Assorted materials
Erasers, scissors, glue, pencil sharpeners, permanent markers,
Rulers, binders, etc $ 200
Computer and Equipment
In 2005, the School of Art got the donation of a HP printer and Epson Scanner
H.P. Photo Smart Ink Jet Printer #5151
$ 150
Ink cartridge, B/N & Color $ 300
Printing paper
$ 50
Paper to print digital photos
$ 100
Use of TURBONET Internet system/ local Internetserver $ 588
in El Salvador @ 49$ monthly
Subtotal
$ 1,188
Subtotal of Materials and Equipment $ 7,186
Arts Educator Salaries
Salary for Claudia Bernardi as Artist in Residence, educator, facilitator, coordinator of workshops and classes and designer of methodologies and strategies of learning at the School of Art and Open Studio of Perquin.
- $ 8,000 annually, at $666 monthly
Annual Salary for Valeria Galliso collaborator, facilitator, adjunct Artist in Residence, coordinator of workshops and classes and co- creator of methodologies
- $ 8,000 annually, at $666 monthly
Subtotal of Salaries
$ 16,000
TOTAL budget requested for 2006 = $ 23,186
Vision for the Future
The School of Art and Open Studio represents for the community of Perquin for Claudia Bernardi and Valeria Galliso a proposal of solidarity through the arts, community partnership and the strategy of art to strengthen education and the practice of compassion.
In addition to this proposal based on the tenacity of hope the School of Art and Open Studio has the vision and commitment to create work possibilities for local young men and women. We have already discussed, although briefly, in this document that the post war period has been a catastrophe in the already very poor region of the north of Morazán. The eroded economy through the years of the war has been further diminished by the phenomena of young and not so young people departing in a constant exodus to the United States. People from El Salvador undertake huge risks of all sorts to cross the border to find themselves “illegal” in the US with the sole expectation to find some work. Any work. Work frequently hugely underpaid, but work at last. Since: “there is no work back home in El Salvador”.
Is that true? Sadly, it is very true. It would be very long and the reason for a complete separated analysis to discuss further this matter, but I would like to report a concise fact. The largest economic force of El Salvador is not generated in this country but in the US. The money sent by Salvadoran people “las remesas” to their families in El Salvador, constitutes today the biggest influx of economy to and within El Salvador.
There is no industry, no infrastructure of development and, sadly, no jobs. Especially, there are no jobs for young people. In fact, the young Salvadorans see with certain air of stoicism and acceptance that they “will have to cross the border” inevitably.
The School of Art and Open Studio of Perquin wanted from the very beginning to mend, even if in a very humble and limited way, this reality.
Recently, we have been able to commence our vision:
A wonderful and dear friend, Doña Carmen Bross, an 84 years old Salvadoran activist who lives in the US and who has been having a long time connection with the cooperatives of the north of Morazán came to visit us. I have had the pleasure to meet Doña Carmen early in January 2005. When she visited us and our School of Art in the month of June, she was gladly surprised by the community participation in art projects of all sorts and moved by seeing so much activity amongst its inhabitants.
Doña Carmen, very generously, offered to provide two scholarships for students of the school. However, when we told her that the School of Art is free of charge for the participants, we asked her to consider giving the School of Art funding to hire and pay salaries to artists/ assistants.
Doña Carmen was delighted with the idea and she gave us 5,000$ to create two paid positions within the School of Art and Open Studio of Perquin.
We have hired four wonderful young artists as apprentices with the project of developing their art and leadership skills. Rosa del Carmen Argueta from the community of Arambala and Rigoberto Martinez, from El Ocotillo, America “Dina” Vaquerano and Claudia Verenice Flores are currently teaching and leading classes for children ages, 6 to 10 and another group of 10 to 14.
The Assistant Instructors are being paid $8 an hour which constitutes a huge salary!!! Most people in this region, especially “campesinos”, still would work for a plate of food daily and no payment.
We are happy and proud for having generated in this first six months of our School of Art in Perquin new job opportunities. We are deeply thankful and endlessly humbled by the generosity of Doña Carmen Bross. We are committed to continue developing more work possibilities through the arts for more young people of Perquin and the north of Morazán.
Epilogue
The School of Art and Open Studio of Perquin has managed to change the life of the people and the way the community sees art and art projects.
We are constantly thanked and acknowledged by everyone in Perquin which fills us with a sense of deep joy and commitment for the future.
We thank you very much for considering funding in part of in its totality the School of Art and Open Studio of Perquin for the year 2006.
With kindest regards,
Claudia Bernardi
Contact Information:
Lead Artist and Educator: Claudia Bernardi
Contact by Email
Assistant Artist and Educator: Valeria Galliso
Fiscal Sponsor: Intersection for the Arts (501 c 3 Non Profit)
Address: 446 Valencia Street, San Francisco, CA 94103
Phone: (415) 626-2787
For more information, please contact:
Amanda, Administrative Manager
amanda@theintersection.org 415/626-2787
You may also download an informational brochure: