News
Five 2008 artists will stay
on for a second year in 2009!
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Contact Info
ArtCorps
www.artcorp.org
+1 (978)
927-2404
artcorps@nebf.org
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This
Month
Through theater, ArtCorps artist Cristian Beltrán is
helping the Association of Forestry Communities of the Petén
(ACOFOP for its Spanish acronym) to deepen social unity and
cooperatively solve the challenges the association faces in
protecting the tropical forests.
ACOFOP is a
community-based association of 23 sustainable forest
management organizations in the Multiple Use Zone of the Maya
Biosphere Reserve, Guatemala. It represents the interests of
its member communities, facilitating and connecting the
communities with each other and with national and
international decision-makers. Community forest management has
shown beyond doubt that it is possible to combine local
economic development with conservation of Mesoamerica's
natural resources.
 Cristian Beltrán is a Chilean actor and expert in
theater pedagogy and comedy. He has led plays and workshops
focused on literacy and other community issues in urban and
rural areas of Chile, through which he perfected is techniques
facilitating dialog and cultivating creativity in his
students. He has also taught courses on theater pedagogy for
teachers.
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The First Theater Festival of San Andrés, Petén and
Forest Protection
contributed by Christopher Nye and
edited by ArtCorps
The "First Theater Festival
of San Andrés, Petén 2008" may not have had the glitter of a
Hollywood award show, but its impact on communities striving
for sustainable living in northern Guatemala's tropical
rainforests will endure for years to come. The product of  ArtCorps artist Cristian Beltran's
community education work, it has generated dialogue about the
need for social unity in order to protect the forests and
secure livelihoods.
San Andrés and neighboring
communities are members of the Association of Forestry
Communities of the Petén, known by its acronym in Spanish,
ACOFOP. ACOFOP formed in 1995 to manage the forests with
social justice. After the 1996 peace accords and subsequent
agreements allowed local community groups to develop the
rainforest in sustainable ways, ACOFOP consolidated in 1997
and now provides technical assistance and political
representation to more than 30 different forestry communities.
These communities, a mix of Mayan and Ladino people, are
located in the Maya Biosphere Reserve, which was created in
1990 to protect the forests of Guatemala's Petén region from
destruction. The Reserve is the largest tropical rain forest
in Central America.
Through ArtCorps, Beltrán has
collaborated with ACOFOP to support rainforest preservation
and community development in this lush and culturally-diverse
section of Guatemala since January 2008. As part of his work,
Beltrán developed theater groups with young people to address
social issues that were important in their lives. Based at
schools in San Andres, four theater groups with ten students
each met regularly for several weeks.
 Through interactive workshops, the youth
developed skits upon topics that they selected themselves,
including domestic violence, care for the forests,
interpersonal relations, and local cultural traditions. To
build greater awareness of their work, the groups created the
festival in San Andrés.
The "First Theater Festival of
San Andrés, Petén 2008" was held over two days at the
beginning of August. Each day more than 120 people--parents of
the performers, neighbors, friends and residents from the
surrounding communities--gathered to see presentations by
young people. Afterward, the groups toured their skits in
neighboring towns.
Festival participant Carlos Soza
writes, "Cristian taught us that, through art, life can be
different, and in this way, we realized that, through art, we
could say all of those things that we never as individuals
dared to say."
Socio-dramas and theater games have a
long history in the popular education movements of Latin
America. Simple skits and role play activities make it
possible for the actors-and their audience-to shed light on
issues that are typically overlooked or considered "normal."
 These dramas often lead to important community
discussions on issues that are often difficult to
discuss--gender relations and communication, protecting the
environment and unemployment, and conflict
resolution.
"The task of conflict resolution can be
very tedious and agonizing," Beltrán said, "But through the
medium of theater, we can transform this work into an
experience that is dynamic, interesting and unifying-something
that sparks the interest of both the participants and the
spectators."
Through Beltrán's work, ACOFOP has
discovered tools for connecting with communities across a
range of community concerns much broader than technical
forestry management. This is vitally necessary in order to
deepen social unity and cooperatively solve the challenges the
association faces in protecting the tropical forests.
As the first ArtCorps artist to work with ACOFOP,
Beltrán has achieved critical early successes and prepared a
long-term vision to ensure lasting benefit for the
communities. Thanks to his dedication and to the commitment of
ArtCorps and ACOFOP, Beltrán will stay for a second year in
2009, providing continuity as the work carries
forward.
Click here to read
participant Carlos Soza's blog.
Click here to visit
ACOFOP's website.
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