WHO WE ARE
Instituto Maracá is a civil society organization established 2017 by the following founders:
Papa Mirim Poty
Carlos Papá – Carlos Fernandes Guarani – is a spiritual leader and filmmaker. A great connoisseur of the language and culture of his Guarani Mbyá people, he lives in the Rio Silveira Village, in São Paulo. Carlos is the coordinator and administrator of the Arandu Porã Culture Spot and has 20-plus years of experience in film and video production, showcasing and highlighting Mbya culture through documentaries, films and cultural workshops for young people.
Cristine Takuá
Cristine Takuá is a thinker, apprentice midwife, and Maxakali Indigenous educator. She holds a degree in Philosophy from São Paulo State University (Unesp) and taught for twelve years at the Txeru Ba’e Kuai’ State Indigenous School. She currently coordinates Escolas Vivas (Living Schools) and is a member of Selvagem – Cycle of Studies on Life. Cristine represents the Indigenous Education Center (NEI) within the São Paulo State Department of Education and is a founding member of FAPISP, the São Paulo State Forum for the Coordination of Indigenous Teachers. She is also a director of Instituto Maracá, which shares responsibility for the management of the Museum of Indigenous Cultures in São Paulo. She lives in the Ribeirão Silveira Indigenous Territory, located along the border between the municipalities of Bertioga and São Sebastião.
Ailton Krenak
Ailton Krenak is an indigenous militant, writer, journalist and philosopher renowned in Brazil and around the world. He lives in the Krenak Village, by the banks of the Doce River in Minas Gerais. Under his lead, the Forest Peoples Alliance and the Union of Indigenous Nations (UNI) were created, pulling together some 180 different ethnicities. Ailton is also the founder and director of the Indigenous Culture Center, the holder of an honorary degree from the Federal University of Juiz de Fora, and the author of “Ideas to Postpone the End of the World” and other award-winning works.
Adriana Calabi
Adriana Calabi holds a degree in Social Sciences from Unicamp. She worked on developing public policies regarding indigenous peoples in the State of São Paulo. Adriana developed a tight-knit relationship with the Guarani Mbyá through her work on different projects since 1988, such as the recording of the CD Nhande Reko Arandu, the creation of the São Paulo State Council of Indigenous Peoples, and the Ka’aguy Poty – Forest Medicines project, which resulted in Teko Rexai, a film on Guarani Mbya health care.
Augusto Canani
Augusto Canani is a filmmaker, screenwriter, and environmentalist whose work brings together intercultural collaboration and artistic originality. His films have received more than forty awards at festivals in Brazil and abroad. He is one of the founders of Instituto Maracá, where he develops initiatives that strengthen Indigenous agency in contemporary society, alongside projects that reaffirm principles of coexistence and reciprocity among human beings, other forms of life, and the land they share.
Instituto Maracá also relies on an Advisory Board comprising the following members:
Davi Kopenawa Yanomami
Davi Kopenawa is a writer, a spiritual leader, one of the foremost indigenous leaders in Brazil and the premier advocate of the Yanomami cause in Brazil and the world. Alongside the anthropologist Bruce Albert, he published the book “The Falling Sky – Words of a Yanomami Shaman.” He cowrote the screenplay for the film “The Last Forest” with Luiz Bolognesi. Davi is the founding chair of the Hutukara Association, which represents the Yanomami people in Brazil.
Siam Huni Kuin
Siã Huni Kuin – José Osair Sales – is a filmmaker and a leader to the Huni Kuin people. He spearheaded the process of Huni Kuin land demarcation in Acre, Brazil alongside Chico Mendes. Siã was pivotal in establishing the Forest Peoples Alliance. He is currently working on the feature film “Meu Coração É Minha Terra” (My Heart Is My Land), which will tell the story of the Huni Kuin.
Sandra Benites
Sandra Benites is an anthropologist, educator, researcher and curator. She hails from the Guarani Nhandeva people and was born in the Porto Lindo/Jacarey Village in Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. Sandra holds a Southern Atlantic Forest Indigenous Intercultural Teaching Degree from UFSC. She also holds a master’s and is currently pursuing a doctorate degree in Social Anthropology from the National Museum (UFRJ). Sandra is a joint curator to the São Paulo Museum of Art and the first-ever indigenous curator to an art institution in Brazil.
Anna Dantes
Anna Dantes is the founder of Dantes Editora, a publishing house delivering a multiformat experience that straddles workshops, magazines, curated programs, exhibitions, meetings, study cycles, film and other cultural projects. In 2011, Dantes Editora worked in conjunction with the Huni Kuin people to create “Una Isi Kayawa - Livro da Cura” (Book of Healing) and the project “Una Shubu Hiwea - Livro Escola Viva” (Book of the Living School). Alongside Ailton Krenak, Anna created Selvagem – a Study Cycle on Life.
Board of Directors
Cristine Takuá
Adriana Calabi
Augusto Canani
Partner Institutions and Collaborators
Instituto Maracá is collectively built through multiple meetings, conversations, learning and sharing experiences. Various collaborators and technicians work on specific projects and contribute in different ways to building Instituto Maracá.