Patio Di Maria Special

Patio Di Maria Special

06-30 2022 18:59:15 / [email protected] / Alfredo Garcia Pimentel

Pictures: from the author

In Aragua, Patio de Maria is private. It is fertile ground to grow much more than just food, and with art, it reaches the soul and transforms lives.

A year and a half ago, when the pandemic affected the present and future of Venezuela, professors Jennifer Zabaleta and Francisco Calderon decided to blend culture and education thus transforming their home into a creative space.

According to the young teacher, “Patio de Maria is a place of learning and love of others. Here we meet, children and adults, to build knowledge and affection for people and culture.”

For his part, Francisco reminds us of the first steps of a project that is solidified today as an educational and artistic experiment. “We started on the street, because of the epidemic, with themes of literature and plastic arts. Our concern was the education of the children, which was interrupted by confinement. Little by little, the group grew, the Cuban teachers arrived and the beehive was formed.”

In this regard, Jennifer continues, the theater training of Cuban collaborators in Corazón Adentro’s mission to culture has contributed a lot. “There art began to shape the character of children, to unite families and shape society.”

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Inspired by the legacy of teacher María Elvira Parreira, Patio de María has found great support in Cuban coaches on Corazón Adentro’s cultural mission. Through plays, songs, performances of plastic arts, dance and literature, teachers Tania Velazquez, first, and Raul Vernier, later, contributed to the project being an enduring hope and creation, more than just a yard.

According to the New Antilles coach, “The yard must grow. We have the ambition to transfer this experience to other municipalities and these municipalities in Venezuela, as well as show it as one of the most cohesive cultural cooperation projects.”

Soloists, orchestras, dance groups, and students of the University of the Arts of Aragua are based in Patio de María. However, Colmenita Bolivariana Los Turiamitos is the protagonist of this honeycomb. With art, Jennifer Zabaleta feels her children are growing up.

“We see in them a love of culture, identification with their community. Also easier to read and write, better relationships between them, families more united around the child. We are all better.”

This is why Patio de María is special. With the knowledge of some, the creativity of others, and a willingness to help all, a fertile space is being fostered in Aragua for the cultivation of art and the harvest of the future.