THE PANAMA HERITAGE PROGRAM

 

Our pilot program, The Panama Heritage Project, took place April 2009 on Isla Colon in Bocas del Toro, Panama. The 5-week course introduced 5 girls and 4 boys (ranging ages 12-14) to basic photography principals. Many of our students had never been exposed to photography or held a camera before yet the results of the program were excellent. The youth produced an array of unique and interesting photographs capturing their every day lives and surroundings.

Click Here to view photographs taken by Impacto Project Participants

Classes were taught at theSmithsonian Institute Research Station who kindly donated the space, as well as transportation and snacks for the youth. Assignments included outings around the island to capture every day life and interesting scenarios as well as home assignments in which each student was to tell a story about their family or life.

Click here for photos of the youth in class and taking pictures around the island

The 5-week course culminated with an exhibit/fundraiser of the youth's photographs at the Panamanian Institute of Tourism (IPAT), who sponsored the event along with various other local businesses. The event was well attended by family members, classmates as well as tourists, locals and member of the ex-pat community living in Bocas del Toro. Close to 100 people were in attendance and several of the youth's prints sold as well as set of postcards of their photographs.

Click here to see pictures from the exhibit

Click here for Bocas Breeze Newspaper article about the Impacto Project. (once linked, scroll down to article)

Funds raised through the sale of the youth's works were used to donate goods to the local Bocas Elders Home, Asilo de Anciano. The youth delivered the goods themselves in keeping up with the Impacto Project's vision of giving back to their community.

For more details about the pilot program including a weekly blog, please visit our page facebook page at www.facebook.com/impactoproject

WHY BOCAS DEL TORO, PANAMA?

Bocas del Toro is a province on Panama’s Caribbean side, near the Costa Rica border. It includes a forested inland area, a lengthy strip of coastline, and the Bocas del Toro archipelago. The people of the province are made up of mainly indigenous tribes, many of which still live in small isolated villages scattered throughout the islands. Ngobe Indians are the largest indigenous group in the Bocas del Toro Archipelago. They make up more than 60% of the indigenous population in Panama.

In the last couple of years, Bocas del Toro has been a newly discovered destination for travelers from all over the world who visit the exotic island for its crystal clear beaches and relaxed atmosphere. This new flow of foreigners is having a major impact in the indigenous communities, especially the new generation. Indigenous youths, many as young as 13, leave their small communities in search of an opportunity to be part of the new growing economy. These young men and women often find work in hotels, Internet cafes, tourist companies or construction sites. The impact this situation is having in indigenous communities in Bocas del Toro is tremendous. Tribe elders are finding themselves with an absent generation of young people to hand down their knowledge and culture. They fear that this situation will eventually be responsible for the extinction of a great part of their cultural traditions.

We have chosen Bocas del Toro, Panama to be the place for our first pilot program, as well as our home base, because we believe it is a perfect fit to apply our mission and vision. We strongly believe that within indigenous cultures lies the potential and resources to create sustainable developments that will bring economic growth to their communities. We also understand young people’s inevitable desire to be part of the future and growing tourist economy they see all around. We are confident that young indigenous people can be part of this thriving economy without risking the loss of their heritage. By exposing indigenous youth to visual arts and digital media as tools for archiving their own traditions, they will have an opportunity to reconnect with their culture. At the same time, this new generation of indigenous people will learn skills to implement economic growth in their communities and tools on how to successfully engage in the already present and developing tourist economy.