In 1997, when the young Nilda Callañaupa dreamed of a center dedicated to the traditional textiles of Cusco, Peru, she didn’t know what that would look like, the direction it would take, or the legacy it would create. In 2000, when the founding board members of Andean Textile Arts met Nilda and learned of her vision, they too realized the importance of supporting the development and revitalization of this rich cultural heritage. As ATA enters its 25th year, we want to thank the ATA community for supporting the Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco (CTTC) and other Andean communities in their efforts to retain and deepen their knowledge and cultural roots.
Together, we have accomplished so much. Over the years, the donors, travelers, and volunteers of the ATA community have made so many things possible. ATA travelers have supported the communities for two decades through tour donations, taking classes from the weavers, and purchasing textiles. Equally important, their interest and respect have helped show the weavers how valuable their knowledge and traditions are to the rest of the world. ATA education programs and museum exhibits have helped build public awareness of Andean culture and textiles. ATA grants have supported education, revitalization, economic and community development, and, during COVID, even food and medical supplies. Major foundation and individual donations to ATA have underwritten the costs of building community weaving shelters, major renovations of the CTTC store and museum in Cusco, documentation and storage improvements for the CTTC textile collection, and an exhibit and teaching space in Chinchero.
Young weavers in Accha Alta, Mahuaypampa, and Chinchero
This year alone, ATA funded seven grants to CTTC. These grants provided opportunities for young weavers to continue learning the weaving traditions of their communities and their heritage through visits to cultural centers, as well as deepening intercommunity connections. As the young weavers advance in formal education, several have started working at the CTTC through a paid internship program funded by an ATA grant and now in its third year. For all the weavers, grant-funded training and development continued in the revitalization of pre-Columbian techniques of looping, knotting, double weave, tapestry, and the mastery of ticlla-watay, a tie-dye, discontinuous weave process. These revitalization textiles were extremely popular at this past July’s International Folk Art Market in Santa Fe.
While the work of ASUR, a Bolivian NGO, has been ongoing for thirty-plus years, part of an ATA grant now supports reintroducing weaving back into the schools, a program that had ceased for a number of years. And in the Bolivian lowlands, ArteCampo is documenting their endangered weaving practices to safeguard their textile heritage for generations.
Looking ahead, the weavers face new challenges, and the ATA board is assessing where and what kind of help will be needed. While these times are uncertain everywhere in the world, we can already see the impacts of climate change in the Andes. The droughts in the highlands of Peru, where the alpacas graze, mean less water and less grass for the survival of the animals. In the Bolivian lowlands, less water negatively impacts the growing of plants whose fibers are used in the weaver’s artisanry.
At the same time, attention to Indigenous traditions and the importance of keeping them in the limelight is growing. In the words of Peruvian artist Aymar Ccopacatty, the sharing of weaving publicly engages and teaches. “It instills pride in the past, feeding it back, instilling cultural pride.” We’re proud of ATA’s part in supporting and honoring the living cultural heritage of the Andes for the last 25 years, and we look forward to continuing that work with all of you as we look to the years and challenges ahead.
