Taller Xuchialt
| Project Gettysburg-León (PGL) has been involved with Taller Xuchialt (“Tai-yeer Soo-shee-alt”) since 1994, when an art school for youths was founded in León by a PGL volunteer and New York artist, and by the late 1990s we were supporting exhibits of the students’ “primitive” paintings. In 2005 some of the original students decided they wanted to take the school in a different direction and they established Taller Xuchialt. “Taller” means “studio” or “workshop”. “Xuchialt” is how the Spaniards pronounced the indigenous word “Sutiava” (which means “black snails from the river”, then a local food), where the school is located and where the town of León was originally established. Today Xuchialt has a four-year program in painting, dance and music, and graduated its first class in that curriculum in 2009. Most of the students are from lower income families, and PGL helps underwrite scholarships for them, and also covers high-end costs such as school legal fees and facility rental. Part of a local and poor community, Xuchialt positively offers alternatives to drugs and street crime, while preserving and promoting Nicaragua’s indigenous culture. Xuchialt has had guest artists from New York and has frequent exchanges with PGL, sending teachers and performers to Gettysburg, and welcoming Gettysburg delegations in León. Now it seeks to expand its outreach by developing a more formal tourism program, and extending into rural communities. With support from PGL, Xuchialt is holding workshops in rural communities, such as El Porvenir, Taolinga and El Trabuco, bringing the people there arts education, cultural pride and new opportunities. |
Taller Xuchialt instructors with a traditional Easter street painting. |
