Traveling andean conservatory opens sessions in Bolivia

This Thursday a mission of Venezuelan musicians will arrive in Bolivia to start the sessions of the Traveling Andean Conservatory (CAI) which continues the work begun by the Andean Development Corporation with the Andean Countries Youth Symphony Orchestra. Headed by director Tarcisio Barreto, the delegation is due to arrive in the town of Urubichá to start work with children and young people from the province of Guarayos on a program for the 2001-2002 period.

Since July last, similar missions have visited last in Peru, Colombia and Ecuador. In each country, the team of teachers worked intensively with a selection of young talent, as evidenced by the experience in Peru where 85 new students, aged between 4 and 25, arrived from Trujillo, Lima and Arequipa to join the group.

In Colombia, the mission was headed by Eddy Marcano and in Ecuador by the violinist Ulises Ascanio. "In Colombia we had 118 children and young people. The most important thing was that more students and even teachers joined every day. There were so many we were able to set up a specialized section for chamber music," said Marcano. "It has definitely been a transforming experience which united students, parents and teachers."

In Barreto's opinion, setting up the program has been "a great stimulus for overcoming the sense of isolation that exists in our countries, reinforcing the image that we can do great things. This phase concentrates on fostering leadership and stimulating the competitive capacity of participants through specialized instrument workshops, but to do this we have the challenge of establishing a stable population of students and adapting the teaching-learning method."

The objectives of the Traveling Andean Conservatory is to prepare new generations of musicians through an innovative program of specialized music teaching that benefits children and young people from the Andean Community.

This second phase of the strategy of regional and cultural integration, which began over a year ago with the creation of the Andean Countries Youth Symphony Orchestra, is backed by the Andean Development Corporation (CAF) and enjoys the collaboration of the National System of Youth and Children's Orchestras of Venezuela (FESNOJIV) and the Urubichá Youth Orchestra. The Andean Countries Youth Symphony Orchestra is formed by 160 young musicians from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela who toured these countries for the 30th anniversary of the CAF.

Enrique García, executive president of the CAF, is enthusiastic about the initiative and fully backs the institution’s role in the dissemination and promotion of the region’s cultural and artistic expressions as a means of building better societies. In Garcia’s view: "Building roads, designing electric plants and promoting industry is fundamental for creating wealth and distributing it to the majority of the people, but concentration on this area alone leaves out a fundamental element. The real target of development is human beings and this is where the CAF also has an important role to play."

In the opinion of Ana Mercedes Botero, director of secretariat and external relations at the CAF, this is "a challenge that forces us to combat the negative indicators in education which have plagued the region for decades and visualize a new direction based on ethics and value training." She adds: "This is precisely what we want to do with the Andean Countries Youth Symphony Orchestra, and now with the CAI. Initiatives that make a decisive contribution to stimulating individual and collective awareness, drawing together the social fabric and building the means for better community participation."

The results of this process have not been long in coming. The Andean Countries Youth Symphony Orchestra completed a successful concert tour of the capital cities of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela in a living example of integration and talent.