COMPLETED PROJECTS
2021
The project provides, on the one hand, for the cultivation and use of medicinal herbs and traditional agricultural practices, and on the other hand, for the creation and management of an audiovisual archive of testimonials from elder Guarani Mbya wisemen and wisewomen, as well as meetings to discuss and reflect on approaches to collective management of memory, history, and cultural heritage, knowledge relay, historical document preservation, collective archive management processes, social museology and related subjects.
rec • tyty – Indigenous Arts Festival
Created by Instituto Maracá and made possible by PROAC-LAB, rec•tyty was an online Indigenous Arts Festival that ran from April 17 to May 30, 2021 and set out to touch people’s hearts by showcasing and activating work by different indigenous artists from across the country.
2020
With funding from the German Federal Foreign Office’s International Relief Fund and the Goethe Institut, this project enabled the necessary infrastructure at Rio Silveira Village for remote work to be done throughout the lockdowns and for actions, activities and projects to be undertaken in order to strengthen the village community through work in partnership with the Mbya Arandu Porã Culture Spot.
Conceived at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the project was primarily intended to help the Guarani community at Rio Silveira Village prepare for the arrival of the novel coronavirus. Through remote communication groups, actions were taken to spread information and raise community awareness regarding the pandemic and coronavirus infection prevention practices. The project relied on backing and funding from Inolex do Brasil.
2019
In partnership with the Arandu Porã Culture Spot and Centro de Trabalho Indigenista (CTI), Instituto Maracá hosted the first activity on Rio Silveira Village memory and history.
With the leaders of the five clusters as well as school students in attendance, Maria Inês Ladeira looked back on Rio Silveira Village history highlights, particularly the struggle for indigenous land demarcation. The 1988 movie “Karai – O Dono das Chamas,” which addresses the issue, was shown, and pivotal moments were discussed that led to the expansion of indigenous lands in 2008.
This project was rolled out in partnership with Selvagem – A study cycle on life and the Living School, with production from Isabelle Passos, and it covered the educational experiences of the Huni Kuin people and the building of new pedagogies at indigenous village schools. The project relied on backing and funding from multiple institutions – Perestroika, Projeto Âncora, Museu da Casa Brasileira, Arco Escola Cooperativa, Instituto Singularidades, Sesc 24 de Maio, Museu de Arte do Rio, Escola Parque, Fábula, and Parque Lage.
Artist Ernesto Neto’s Cura Bra Cura Té installation, featured in the Sopro Exhibition at Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, showcased rituals that brought the colors, the sound and the power of the Guarani Mbya into this intercultural venue.
Selvagem is a study cycle including roundtable panels, workshops, book publications and an online channel that sees indigenous and non-indigenous researchers sit in open-to-the-public panels to discuss their knowledge and outlook on life.
This edition of the “Apartamento Clandestino” event featured a film screening, a bonfire, sales of traditional artifacts and a panel on Guarani Mbya culture.
2018
This meeting saw indigenous storytellers, writers, singers, artists and thinkers get together to discuss different forms of indigenous expression with the audience.
The event was hosted by Instituto Maracá in partnership with the Goethe Institut, featuring speakers from multiple indigenous ethnicities.
The Arandu Porã Culture Spot was officially created in 1996 with a primary emphasis on audiovisual activities, under the coordination of Carlos Papá Mirim. Over time, it branched out into broader youth training activities, with an emphasis on traditional Guarani Mbya practices. Instituto Maracá supports the Culture Spot by making improvements to its infrastructure as well as hosting meetings, courses, debates and reflection on different topics.
2017
This 2017 diagnosis was based on the application of structured questionnaires, in-depth interviews and group discussions with community representatives and leaders, parents, students, teachers, professionals and managers, with additional periods of participative on-site community and school observation.
PROJECTS IN FUNDRAISING STAGE
This project is designed to adapt and improve school management and education processes through training to indigenous managers and teachers in Ribeirão Silveira Guarani Indigenous Lands, with an emphasis on highlighting local practices and knowledge.
Workshops on school education will be taught in a bid to train indigenous teachers, collectively build a Pedagogical Political Plan and reform school curricula through tandem work with schoolteachers and management every step of the way. The workshops will be made available to all teachers and managers in the village’s schools and will be delivered by various specialists covering different fields of knowledge, contents and subjects, looking to spark community reflection and debate towards participative, well-informed proposals for the schools and their curricula. Additionally, meetings and exchange efforts will be undertaken with groups from other villages and ethnicities to reinforce and consolidate the contents and subjects at hand.
The project will be coordinated by Instituto Maracá in partnership with the Arandu Porã Culture Spot and the Guarani Village schools Txeru Ba'e Kuai and Nhembo'e'a Porã.
Nhe'ẽry is the Guarani designation for the “Atlantic Forest,” meaning “the place where spirits bathe.”
The city of São Paulo was once covered by the Atlantic Forest and the indigenous peoples that used to live here left a legacy of names describing territories whose original meanings no longer make sense.
The Nhe'ẽry project comprises several stages and actions, blooming and unraveling like the forest itself, at unexpected places and moments, with surprising vigor, resistance and drive.
The first stage of Nhe'ẽry involves research towards the crafting of a São Paulo city map featuring the meanings of indigenous names.
More than a simple translation of Guarani words into Portuguese, the “Nhe'ẽry” Project is about a life philosophy. Attributing meaning to the names of neighborhoods, streets, rivers, parks, valleys etc. is a big step towards becoming aware of our roots.
The Nhe'ẽry Project has been devised in partnership with Selvagem and is coordinated by Carlos Papá.