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Original article: Llegar a los 17: Escuela Chilena de Folclor y Oficios celebra aniversario con jornada abierta en La Reina

CHILEAN SCHOOL OF FOLKLORE AND CRAFTS CELEBRATES 17 YEARS WITH COMMUNITY DAY IN LA REINA

This Sunday, May 17, at 11:30 AM, the Chilean School of Folklore and Crafts will celebrate its 17th anniversary with an open community event at the Aldea del Encuentro in La Reina, located at Alcalde Fernando Castillo Velasco 9750. The event will feature music, exhibitions, dances, and games, designed for families to join in and celebrate the journey of this space dedicated to training, creativity, memory, and popular culture.

The celebration coincides with Cultural Heritage Month, leading up to the Cultural Heritage Day, which throughout May encourages the recognition, sharing, and appreciation of the country’s diverse cultural expressions. In the spirit of community, neighborhood, and self-management, the school’s anniversary embraces this ethos by highlighting the songs, dances, games, crafts, stories, practices, and knowledge that are passed through generations and form an integral part of the cultural life within these territories.

Led by artist, researcher, and cultural promoter Natalia Contesse, alongside co-creator and ceramicist Marien Leible, the Chilean School of Folklore and Crafts has established itself as a gathering place focused on traditions, popular knowledge, folklore, crafts, and artistic practices connected to Chilean cultural identities, aiming to create a pedagogical and creative proposal built on collective learning, artistic experimentation, and the recognition of popular knowledge as living languages.

The school is also deeply inspired by the legacy and thoughts of Violeta Parra, especially her dream of establishing a school of arts and folklore connected to the people, trades, creativity, and the transmission of knowledge. This influence takes on particular significance in the commune of La Reina, a territory associated with the cultural memory of Violeta’s tent and her quest to create spaces where folk arts, music, manual creativity, and community life could intertwine. From this foundation, the Chilean School of Folklore and Crafts poses a relevant question: how can we learn, create, and celebrate while honoring the aesthetic dignity of practices, memories, and forms of expression inherited from ancient peoples and their worldviews?

Among its hallmark projects is The Crafts Tent, an initiative recognized for fostering creation, training, and community gatherings centered around folk arts and crafts. The tent has become a vibrant symbol of the school’s spirit: a mobile, open, and inviting space where music, dance, games, oral tradition, process exhibition, manual creativity, and community participation converge as forms of learning, celebration, creativity, and belonging.

Over the past 17 years, the school has maintained a consistent effort in teaching, cultural dissemination, artistic creation, and community involvement, introducing children, youth, and adults to various expressions of living heritage. Its approach is informed by a localized aesthetic perspective, recognizing the sensitive, symbolic, and territorial value of cultural practices: the colors, sounds, gestures, materials, stories, and ways of doing that arise from a place, a community, and a shared experience. «As the years go by, the value of the individuals and what each person contributes, sows, and cultivates becomes evident, transforming life into a space and time for shared adventures. In this case, creation, research, and education have been our adventure. The message of the Cantora remains ever-present through art, spirituality, and science,» Contesse states.

The anniversary event aims to acknowledge this collective journey and express gratitude to those who have been part of the school’s history: students, families, artists, teachers, neighbors, and communities that have supported this process.

During this especially significant month for reflecting on heritage in Chile, this celebration offers a warm and festive space to remember that culture is also built through daily encounters, community schools, territories, and the people who keep their memories and cultural practices alive, embracing the joy of learning and the adventure of sharing.

The anniversary event will take place in a family-friendly atmosphere, open to all who wish to participate in this celebration of 17 years of art, spirit, and community.

See invitation:

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