MBYA ARANDU PORÃ CULTURE SPOT
The Arandu Porã Culture Spot was formally established in 1996, with a primary focus on audiovisual activities and coordinated by Carlos Papá. Over time, it embraced broader youth training activities, with an emphasis on traditional Guarani Mbya practices.
Instituto Maracá supports and contributes to the Culture Spot by making infrastructure improvements, hosting debate and prompting reflection on memory and history based on archives of photos, videos and other documents regarding the village, as well as workshops.
The Project for Strengthening and Spreading Traditional Rio Silveira Village Mbyá-Guarani Knowledge and Practices During Pandemic Times, funded by the German Federal Foreign’s Office International Relief Fund and the Goethe Institut in 2020, enabled infrastructure improvements at the Culture Spot, with the addition of four new buildings: an office space, a meeting space, a restroom and a plant nursery.
With this new infrastructure in place, Instituto Maracá intends to find new ways to make the Culture Spot more dynamic by hosting actions based on partnership opportunities with universities, collectives and other institutions.
Planned actions include traditional meliponiculture practices, traditional agricultural practices, research on traditionally employed medicinal herbs, construction and handicraft, debate and reflection on memory and history based on archives of photographs, videos and other documents regarding the village, conservation and access by the Guarani to those archives, and forms of community dialogue with adjoining residents and the populations of big cities.