Non Profitable Organization - Tapera das Artes
Since 1997, NGO Tapera das Artes has bet in the project of educating youngsters with art, encouraging the talent and artistic flares of children and adolescents of the municipality of Aquiraz, distant 28 km of the city of Fortaleza, State of Ceará. The first group formed with 40 students who studied fife watered this idea, saw seeds spring, produced fruit and multiplied. Currently, Tapera assists 750 youngsters who also learn arts, among them, the art of transforming shared dreams into reality. There are two units, with theater, percussion, guitar, violin, accordion and fife classes.
With the proposal of improving life perspectives of the adolescents of Aquiraz and providing qualification in the contemporary forms of the artistic making, the NGO Tapera das Artes has invested in a Technological Center.
Still building dreams and restating a new reality, the NGO starts to offer as from the second semester, Tapera das Artes´ Theater, which promises to be one of the most modern scenic equipment in the Northeast. The local population and visitors also count on equipment which allows research and value the place traditional culture, which are Memorial do Povo de Aquiraz and discotheque Músicas do Mundo .
The work carried through by Tapera das Artes is nationally recognized and awarded the NGO of the State of Ceará the honorable mention of Award Itaú-UNICEF, in 2001 and 2003, and was among the semifinalists of the second edition of the Ministry of Culture award "Cultura Viva" , in 2007, when it competed with another 8 thousand NGOs. Currently, it is one of the institutions benefited by the project Criança Esperança , of Rede Globo , and partner of Instituto Ayrton Senna , for sharing the belief that art is a privileged path for new generations’ human development.
The first children benefited by Tapera das Artes grew together with the NGO and currently integrate its art-educators team, which, in addition to teachers and monitors, counts on a psychologist and a social assistant. The local culture valorization and self esteem development has allowed that these children participate in artistic-cultural projects created in the own Tapera, which has already produced four CDs, eight DVDs, two pedagogic publications and the cultural mapping of Aquiraz, which resulted in the "Memorial do Povo de Aquiraz", a mini-museum formed by pieces acquired during the mapping research.
The four CDs cross over the own Tapera history by rescuing the sound tradition of Aquiraz people. The CD titled "Sons e Sonhos" brings the track sound of the show by the same name; "Grupo de Chorinho da Tapera das Artes" was recorded by the string workshop group; "Coco do Iguape" is formed by fishermen who perform the coconut dance and "Tradições Orais" is a systematization of the entire sound production of artistic groups of Aquiraz.
The DVDs production counts with the "Vídeo Institucional da Tapera das Artes" ,
the records of shows "Sons e Sonhos" and "I Mostra Tapera das Artes" , and thematic documentaries, on the history of Aquiraz, the raftman’s life, the lacemaker woman and on the sugar mills, besides a portfolio on 3D Cinema and Video Animation Laboratory of Tapera das Artes.
Tapera has launched two pedagogic publications, "Referencial Pedagógico Tapera das Artes" and "Livro Didático Descobrindo e Construindo Aquiraz" ,
in addition to having produced a cultural mapping of Aquiraz which researched all artistic, religious and ethnographic manifestations, in order to rebuild the municipality’s live history, diffusing, preserving and conserving the cultural heritage of Aquiraz.
In 2009, the institution was selected as Ponto de Cultura (Federal Government Program). In the Artistic Performance segment it held Festival Seven Suns Seven Moons and started to integrate this International Network which involves 30 cities in 10 countries.
Along this extensive history, Tapera das Artes has counted with the constant partnership of important organizations: Instituto Ayrton Senna, Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (BNDES) , Companhia Energética do Ceará (Coelce) , Banco do Nordeste (BNB) e Ministério da Cultura (MINC) , Secretaria de Cultura do Estado (SECULT).
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