By Francisco Guevara | Co-Executive Director
We have many reasons to celebrate this year and very excited to share them with you. As Arquetopia reaches its five-year anniversary milestone, it has consolidated itself as an award-winning foundation.
Having initially functioned as an educational art center for inner-city youth, Arquetopia expanded its programs to become the premier artist residency program of Mexico and Latin America. We developed an artist-in-residence model in which international exchanges happen through social awareness, shared responsibility, innovation, and local networks development. We are very excited to announce a revamp of our residency programs, incorporating a new curriculum based on critical readings and discussion, emphasizing on the artistic process and the cultural-exchange experience.
This year brought us many unexpected surprises. Arquetopia was awarded the TrustLaw Connect Innovation Award for its model, attesting to our non-exploitative programs and our commitment to reinvesting resources for local arts development.
We also found a new permanent home, a project that took three years to accomplish, that will serve as a node for dialogues, exchanges, participation, learning, and art. Arquetopia is now restoring a 7,500 sq. ft.,1939 Colonial Mexican California-style castle in the central historic district of Puebla, Mexico. The incredible artist residency will host more artists and will include spacious, natural-light studios; a natural-light art gallery; a classroom; a printmaking studio; a photography darkroom; a natural pigments lab; an indoor/outdoor dining facility; furnished outdoor terraces; gardens; a library; our permanent art collection, and a small fair-trade store.
Our new cultural center will host 150 international artists per year, creating local jobs in the arts and offering 100 internships for local college students. We will serve approximately 300 young students by offering free educational art workshops and will continue to reinvest resources to promote innovation within Mexican traditional art techniques.
We want to sincerely thank you for all the support in these five years and cordially invite you to join us in the celebration of our milestone!
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