Talleres Culturales en Zonas Marginadas
Centro Municipal de Artes

Seven- to 10-year old students receive instruction in design at one of the many local workshops throughout Mazatl·n.

Photo: Hector Hebia

Located in the port city of Mazatlán on the west coast of Mexico, the Centro Municipal de Artes/Municipal Center for the Arts (CMA) is known throughout Mexico for the breadth and depth of its cultural offerings to adults and young people.

The center, founded in 1989 and located in a building housing a professional theater, boasts schools of music, classical ballet, and contemporary ballet for young people. Students enrolled in the music school receive public school credit for their studies. In addition, the center is home to a youth jazz band, a youth orchestra, a children’s choir, and a folk ballet ensemble, all of which perform at local, regional, and international events. On every day except Sunday, children also come to the center to participate in a plethora of workshops, to attend films, or use the sound studio. At the core of these cultural activities are highly regarded local artists and teachers from other countries, including the United States.

In 1993, in partnership with the Municipal Cultural Diffusion Office, a county government agency, CMA inaugurated Talleres Culturales en Zonas Marginadas/Cultural Workshops in Underserved Areas, a program to take the arts to children in surrounding villages where arts instruction is minimal or nonexistent. Periodically, artists from the center are taken by bus to 16 villages to run workshops in literature, theater, and the visual arts. The teachers donate their time. The classes are free, and all supplies are provided to the children.

The workshops are held in the village square—in the open air, in tents, or under a covered space. Here, for example, children are read stories. They then draw illustrations for the story and write their own. They build puppets with painted faces and perform short plays they create.

While working with the children, the instructors identify children with particular artistic potential. Through a scholarship program, these children can attend more intensive classes at the center in Mazatlán. This year, eight young people are beneficiaries of this opportunity.

Ricardo Urquijo, director of the center, is pleased that the center’s programs are inspiring others to develop cultural opportunities for children. “Four villages in the county of Mazatlán now offer ongoing arts workshops modeled on our work.”