The Manzanoarte Foundation is dedicated to spread and promotion performing arts as a tool for social transformation, from the fields of recreation, training, knowledge exchange, community cultural development and as a motivational tool for children and young people of the agricultural communities of Manzanillo and Tarmas, la Guaira state, Venezuela.
The foundation develops two social projects:
Social Circus School
The Social Circus School, dedicated to the permanent training of children and yougers from 6 years old who live in vulnerable situations, offering a free study program in performing arts such as: circus, dance, theater, visual arts and music. As well as language and talks on sex education and ecology.
Social Arts Festival
The Social Arts Festival, which is held yearly and consists of cultural exchange with national and international artists who bring art to the most vulnerable communities.The students of our social circus school benefit from the exchange with the professional artists and they perform in the festival. An event that enriches the culture of the communities of Manzanillo and Tarmas and promotes tourism. There are also different types of workshops and activities. The festival is growing every year and the goal is that it will take up more space and influence more people in the future.
Manzanoarte foundation is also dedicated to the management and dissemination of Venezuelan Circus Arts, being a platform for the promotion of local artists and organizing different activities for development and evolution in the professional field.
WHAT DO WE DO AND WHY DO WE DO IT?
We are providing free artistic education for children and teenagers in vulnerable rural communities of the la Guaira State, as an alternative to training due to the fact that they receive a low-quality school education and live in a precarious situation.
Our base is Manzanillo, an agricultural area near the coast, where around 100 families live, most of them in extreme poverty, where basic services such as transportation, electricity, school and medical care are deficient and limited.
We offer artistic activities to keep children and young people away from unproductive leisure activities and vice so that they can develop their skills, learn values and provide them with a future in the arts if they wish. In addition, we sensitize the community, together with the children, to the protection of the environment, with ecological and playful activities that give them tools to find solutions to local problems and educate them about recycling and the sustainable use of resources .
OUR IMPACT
We promote the development of the children and young people of these places by strengthening their scenic talents as well as their social, physical and emotional abilities. We currently teach a total of 30 children and youngers between the ages of 6 and 18.
These young people need constant attention because most of them lack productive life projects, this makes them vulnerable and creates a risk situation that affects the well-being of the community. We integrate and support them with educational and artistic training processes that allow them to transform their lives.
The activities also help to promote inclusion, tolerance and social cohesion.
WHAT MOTIVATES US
We are Venezuelan artists traveling around the world, always dreaming of contributing to our country and sharing our knowledge with young people who are in danger. We decided to create this project especially in these difficult times where Venezuela lives a complex humanitarian emergency and needs a lot of support and innovative proposals that promote social cohesion. Strengthening values and fraternity among all Venezuelans without any political, racial or gender discrimination.
HOW DO WE DO IT
Manzanoarte is a self-managed foundation, the funds come from our work as independent artists and it has some donations from international artists that we have joined to support this social work. We do shows abroad for the benefit of the project and the funds go to the activities of the foundation
We have a small team of family, friends and local volunteers who all work together to support the project. Together we are responsible for the coordination, logistics and teaching of the Social Circus school and they support us in the organization of the Festival.
During our activities we have reached specific collaborations with cultural spaces and artistic groups, both for performances as well as for training and fundraising, such as Bulle d’art association, in Geneva, Switzerland; School of Hard Knocks and Yoshiko Chuma, in NY; Kitoko Association, Lausanne Switzerland; Art en air circus school, Zurich, Switzerland. Anthrop Association, Geneva, Switzerland, Théâtre Cirqule Circus School, Geneva, Switzerland.
We are always looking for alliances with foundations and / or private companies to achieve sponsorship and collaborations that allow us to continue our activities and grow.
HOW DO WE INNOVATE
Manzanoarte is an innovative project of social transformation through art in communities that are on the fringes of cultural areas which normally focuses on the most important and well-known cities and communities. As an initiative, our project decentralizes cultural actions with a social impact by bringing activities to areas that do not have the access or resources to see and do art.
It is a unique arts project in an agricultural community in Venezuela with international impact, serving as a bridge and artistic platform and promoting tourism and culture.
More information about the project in our social networks:
Instagram: @manzanoartefestival
Facebook: Manzanoarte Festival
Sitio web: www.manzanoarte.com.ve