need theater artists in El Salvador

Hello friends, comrades, sister and brother artists!

I am writing to put out a personal call to you and your local and
international contacts. As you know, I´ve been working down here in El
Salvador for the last six months, teaching popular theater and arts
activism to youth in rural communities in the Bajo Lempa. The theater
work is part of a larger vision to develop leadership in the youth, to
get
them conscious, active and involved in the social, environmental and
political issues in their communities and nationally. There are few
resources and opportunities available to them and the unemployment and
immigration rates are high. I am working with La Coordinadora, a
grassroots leftist organization to establish this program on a
permanent
basis.

So far, I have formed six groups in different communities and we have
created theater pieces about CAFTA, gangs, global warming, community
organzing, and the prevention of pregnancy. They have performed with
great success in schools, festivals, conferences and various community
events with post-performance reflection and dialogue. I´ve also done
some
giant puppet workshops and have a group of youth who are painting
¨Conta
Historias¨or giant illustrated storybooks about food sovereignty,
composting latrines, wood-saving stoves, etc.

I am starting with the next phase, collaborating with a theater teacher
from San Salvador to train a selected group from these six communties
in a
five month intensive training process. I will also be doing two
smaller
projects on the side, to create specific theater pieces about the
vulnerability of the poor and disaster prevention around the annual
floods
here in the zone, and a commemoration piece about a massacre that took
place 25 years ago.

The upcoming year will be exciting as the youth continue to deepen
their
skills and understanding of community theater and we will hopefully be
able to work with new recruits along with creating a more professional
troupe that will not only perform locally but nationally as well.

The situation is that I agreed to stay on as the Art Corps artist for a
second year though I could only commit to staying through June.
Normally,
the committment for an Art Corps volunteer artist is one year, but they
made an exception for me because of the work and trust I´ve already
established and because La Coordinadora offered me a paid position.
Unfortunately, this would leave the communities without an artist for
the
last six months. I think they would be better served if there were an
artist who could stay for the entire year and for various personal
reasons, I would like to come home in March. The problem is that they
did not receive any applications from a qualified community theater
artist
who can speak Spanish, which is where you come in!!!

If you know of any Spanish-speaking community theater artist (from
anywhere in the world) who would be interested to live and work in El
Salvador next year, please send them this email! let them know that
there
is a life-changing opportunity to do some amazing work down here, the
foundation has been laid and I would be able to stay through March to
orient them to the lay of the land, introduce them to the youth and get
them started.

for more info on Art Corps, their website is http://artcorp.org
for
more info on La Coordinadora, they are on this site: http://fssca.net
for
more info on my experience and the work I´ve done, you can check my
blog and its archives, which is http://aryehshell.blogspot.com

hopefully this finds you all well and inspired.
please pass on this call and let me know if you have any ideas!
peace,
aryeh
...................................................................
ArtCorps is looking for volunteer artists to live and work with local
organizations in Guatemala and El Salvador from 9 months to a year,
starting in January 2007. The artists would use their creativity to
communicate environmnetal and social messages with the community. We
look
for experience in community-based art, maturity and the capacity to
work
independently, as the artists live in rural communities far from the
capital. We provide health insurance, $1,000 for a plane ticket and
$1,300 for art materials. More information and an application are
available on our webpage,
http://artcorp.org
..............................................................
ArtCorps esta buscando artistas voluntarios para vivir y trabajar con
asociaciones locales en Guatemala y El Salvador durante entre nueve
meses y un año a partir de enero de 2007. Los artistas utilizarían su
creatividad para comunicar mensajes ambientales y sociales a y con las
comunidades. Buscamos experiencia con arte en comunidad, madurez y la
capabilidad de trabajar bastante independientemente, visto que los
artistas viven en comunidades rurales lejos de la capital. Proveemos
seguro médico y sueldos para el viaje y materias de arte. Las
asociaciones proveen cuarto y comida. Mas información y una solicitud
inicial se puede encontrar en nuestra página web, www.artcorp.org.