NEW INITIATIVE TO ENHANCE YOUNG ARTISTS’ FUTURES
To help young, talented folk artists learn new skills and continue to flourish, FOFA – in collaboration with the HUB (www.huboaxaca.org) — launched a 12-week course on Saturdays from January 15th through April 9th in downtown Oaxaca.
They were offered English classes geared to selling folk art in the mornings, taught by FOFA volunteer Suzanne Grant from Minneapolis and afternoon classes on marketing, artistic innovation and internet technology.
During lunch local residents met with these young artists and help them practice their English.
The HUB is a Oaxacan membership-based organization that links artisans and other social entrepreneurs and activists to resources and innovative ideas within the Oaxacan community itself.
All of the young artists are people who won prizes or honorable mention in a juried competition held in July 2008, sponsored by FOFA and the State Museum of Popular Arts of Oaxaca (MEAPO) in San Bartolo Coyotepec. These photos are examples of their work featured in a full color 76-page catalogue entitled: “Oaxacan Popular Art in the New Millennium: Nurturing Young Artists of the State of Oaxaca.”
Afternoon offerings included workshops on documenting one’s work in video and photographic images, creating a portfolio, taking advantage of computer technology to construct data bases of one’s clients, preparing postings to personal pages on FOFA’s website, displaying artwork in home studios to maximum advantage, field trips to local museums to enhance artistic repertoires, and the like.
