It is a Center for Indigenous Arts that aims to provide a conducive environment for indigenous creators to develop their art.
Located in Totonaca, the Center for Indigenous Arts responds to a long-time desire of indigenous people to create a place where their teachings, values, art, and culture can be transmitted. This, in turn, creates favorable conditions for indigenous creators to develop their artistic abilities.
A traditional settlement, the center comprises house schools, each 'House' specializing in one of the Totonac arts for apprentices to follow, namely pottery, textiles, paintings, healing arts, traditional dance, music, theater, and cuisine.
As the nursery where Totonaca seeds have been sown, the CAI is a space for dialogue, reflection, and analysis of the cultural regeneration and a place where the Totonaca seed has been sown. Community life is a sum of the spiritual and material, and by developing the arts, we hope to strengthen community life by building on it. Through this process, we have created and maintained four schools: a house of art to heal, a grandparents' house, a traditional Totonac pottery house, and a theater house. Through this development of the arts, we have strengthened the essence of being Totonac.
In the 'House of Elders', students learn the Totonac values and gain an appreciation of what it means to practice creatively. It is a comprehensive and holistic transmission of knowledge. House schools embrace the creative practice as something that is intrinsically related to their spiritual nature.
The center has proposed that cultural regeneration occurs by using the Totonac language to teach, reclaiming forgotten traditional techniques, producing artistic productions, and reestablishing traditional governing bodies.
In addition, the center proposes the reforestation of the plants and trees needed for traditional Totonac cultural practice. The center fosters ongoing collaborations with artists and cultural agencies throughout the country.
In 2006, the Totonac ethnic group established an educational institution to propagate their knowledge, practices, and arts. It resembled a vernacular settlement, with several schools dedicated to each of the distinct arts of the community (ceramics, textiles, painting, medicine, dance, music, theater, and cooking), while students learn their community's essential values in the Casa de los Mayores.
In this center, indigenous culture is revitalized through the use of the Totonac language, traditional techniques are recovered, artistic production is promoted, governments are rebuilt, and reforestation is promoted. As part of its self-management, this center maintains close relations with other Mexican states and countries.
References
(https://ich.unesco.org/en/BSP/xtaxkgakget-makgkaxtlawana-the-centre-for-indigenous-arts-and-its-contribution-to-safeguarding-the-intangible-cultural-heritage-of-the-totonac-people-of-veracruz-mexico-00666) (https://patrimoniomundialmexico.inah.gob.mx/publico/listado_elementos_detalle.php?idLista=MTA=) (https://patrimonioculturalyturismo.cultura.gob.mx/patrimonio_inmaterial/xtaxkgakget/#ad-image-0) (http://sic.gob.mx/ficha.php?table=otra_declaratoria&table_id=47) |Subject=Art, Craftsmanship and Practices, Verbal Arts and Literature |Country=Mexico |SDG=(01) No Poverty, (03) Good Health and Well-being, (04) Quality Education, (08) Decent Work and Economic Growth, (09) Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, (11) Sustainable Cities and Communities, (12) Responsible Consumption and Production }}