tory paez

Background: The building in the photos to the left are the remnants of the first police building in Isla de Chira. As a partner project between the Tourism Collective and the local development association (ADI), our idea was to recover the local infrastructure and protect the architectural heritage to create the Casa de Cultura, which would serve as a cultural and interactive space. We hoped to repurpose and utilize parts of the current structure by incorporating a bahareque wall, an ancient construction technique with clay. The original structure was split into three rooms. We planned to maintain three primary areas to highlight the past, present, and future. In the "past" room, we would include the artifacts, photos, research, and other historical items to provide details about the past of Chira. In the "present" room, we would include information about the cultural and tourist opportunities available to locals and visitors. And finally in the "future" room, we would provide the creative meeting space and resources to host workshops and other cultural events.

 

By reinvigorating historical artistic practices, as well as contributing to new creative projects, the focus was to provide children, youth, adults and senior citizens the opportunity to creatively explore their talents and interests. This space would be a place for residents to meet and collaborate on various projects. The Casa de Cultura would have the necessary equipment to encourage skills such as creativity and innovation, essential characteristics for the continued progress of the island. The community would have the opportunity to participate in workshops and gatherings such as pottery classes, dance workshops, as well as drawing and painting sessions with local artists. Additionally, this would be a space to house the local collective “memory” of the island, including the legends, customs and traditions, so students, locals and visitors could learn about the the island's history and roots, including Princess Chira, who the island is named after. Lastly, this space would serve as a central point to provide tourist and cultural information, so to enhance the tourist experience for all visitors and to provide locals with information regarding different active cultural projects in the community. 

 

We received nearly $30,000 from the Costa Rican Ministry of Culture, in addition to supporting funds from the ADI, the local district council, as well as individual contributions totalling $40,000. With these funds, we laid the groundwork for the physical space of the building, as well as hosted various cultural workshops (e.g. folkore dance, painting course, photography and video course). More updates can be found on the Isla de Chira Punto de Cultura Facebook page. 

 

Purpose: To create a communal space to encourage Chireñas to become active participants in cultural and artistic expressions.

 

There were three primary objectives of the project: 

1. Create a centralized location, Cultural and Interactive Classroom,  to collective cultural memories to link Chira's past, present, and future for the local population and visitors to enjoy

2. Collect the cultural history of Chira Island from its beginnings through thorough research, documentation and the recovery of ancient techniques related to ceramics, pottery, and house construction

3. Promote community involvement through active participation and information sharing in cultural trainings, workshops, exhibitions and meetings

 

Audience:  Tourism Collective, Asociacion de Desarrollo, Ministry of Culture - Puntarenas

 

Materials:

•  Budget from application - Spanish (link) 

 

Documents: 

• Grant funding application - Spanish (link)

• ​Building design + measurements - English (link)

 

Additional Information:

• Taller de Danza video on YouTube (link)

• Taller de Artes Plásticas video on YoutTube (link)

 

Lesson Learned: International development work is slow...and takes a lot of partnerships. The idea for this project was born in our very first few months of service but didn't pick up momentum until we had only five months left in service. Once we were awarded the Ministry of Culture grant, we gained a lot of momentum. The top three photos below are the final product! The Casa de Cultura Isla de Chira was officially opened December 2018.  

 

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