Arequipa, 333 Puente Bolognesi Street
Inspiration -The inspiration came mainly
from a desire to promote the visual arts, music, drama,
all types of artistic expression in the city.
This is what led to the birth of
Tambo de Bronce.
-It has been here for three years.
We hold digital photography workshops,
I teach the music workshop, workshops for percussion,
for different types of instruments.
We also hold concerts, exhibitions, etc.
-Our principles, which we've held from the start
and which we want to maintain,
are self management and alternative education.
Tambo de Bronce is independent
but it's open to any proposals, which can be put to us
and if they're for the good of the community
and society, then they are very welcome.
History
-Tambos have existed since early times,
since the times of the Incas, or even earlier.
They are places where travellers
stop to rest after their journey. That's a tambo.
There was one here; all around here were tambos.
That's why it's called Tambo de Bronce.
It started off as a sculptor's workshop.
Then we came with a friend to see it
and there were sculptures. The place was abandoned.
It hadn't been used for a long time.
Then they let us have the place.
As the rent is so cheap,
it's affordable for us to self-manage it.
Then the idea occurred to us, three years ago,
that we should use it to hold workshops and concerts, etc.
Three years ago there was nothing.
-We often want to do new projects.
We have asked for a children's home,
and a gallery to hold exhibitions,
and often, because of the bureaucracy,
the process is long.
Just like the initiative to open this venue
was delayed by bureaucracy.
If you have a work of art, a project
you can come and exhibit it here.
The Audience Our stated aim was to work
mainly with children, young people and teenagers.
But we also see adults and older people,
and children come to see what we offer,
and we see their interest.
We involve all sorts of people, because of their interest,
their love and their passion for something,
whether it's photography, painting or music.
They're all here, which is a good thing.
Organisation
Now we're working on becoming an association.
That will give us the tools we're looking for
to obtain grants for all sorts of things
that we need in order to expand the project further.
Decisions are always taken by all of us together.
We discuss things a lot.
Communication
The Tambo's communication networks
are mostly virtual ones, which are faster
and we also network through other cultural centres
and television, as we have slots in the programmes
that are made in Arequipa.
What I am slightly critical of is that
we need more mass communication media,
like radios, to have a real impact
but in our work it's difficult.
To secure truly mass media is very difficult
as it's expensive; it's like a closed door to us.
-We work with a few other cultural centres
that have opened over the last few years.
One is called Pucara Bulls,
and we mostly work with them on promotion.
They promote their events through our channels,
and we promote our events through theirs.
As we and they have different databases,
in this way we can reach more people.
Sustainability
Speaking of the Tambo's sustainability,
at the moment it is self sustaining.
It has been self managed since it opened, until now.
-Sometimes we do work for events;
There's a part of the Tambo that makes
stretched canvases for events,
and part of the income earned goes to the Tambo.
We put on shows every Thursday
that we call the Tambo Sessions.
We also sell things, like food and drinks.
All of this, and the fact that this place is so cheap to rent,
make it possible for us to continue working.
If, for some reason, something happens,
and we need money, we put on an event.
Integration
The idea was just to create a venue
for small audiences, but the moment that
people see that it's something different in the city,
and that there's nothing like it,
they decide that Tambo de Bronce
is one of their favourite cultural venues.
We always have plenty of activities.
It's the only cultural venue to stay open
for three years in Arequipa; it has not closed,
and continues to promote new alternatives
and culture in general.
-We've worked with schools, and brought children here.
-We work with cultural groups.
There are independent festivals organised
in the city that often ask us to work with them.
We are prepared to help with
the logistical side, the production,
the work that is our area of expertise.
Culture in Arequipa There are fewer and fewer
venues open to the people of the city.
There are venues possibly, which
you can access if you have an invitation,
or you are a member, or you can pay.
We think art should be among the people,
in the neighbourhoods, where it belongs
and where it's most needed.
Arequipa's cultural centres, one by one,
have been closing down.
We used to have one dedicated to theatre,
called La Comuna; it closed two years ago,
due to problems with the local council, that sort of thing.
It's illogical that the local councils,
instead of promoting us, and realising
'They're doing our work, so
give them the permits and support they need',
they shut us down; it's illogical.
They won't do it, and they won't let us do it.
-There was a story in the newspaper
that the council had one and a half million dollars
as a budget for culture
and they returned it to central govenrment
in Lima because they didn't know how to use it.
The same officials in charge of culture
have been there for 20 years.
They just rotate posts so that it looks like
they're not in the same post for 20 years.
-Sadly, where culture is concerned, it seems
the only thing the council sees as important is
the festival for the Day of Arequipa, the parades.
Although there are other important things,
all the money goes to that,
all the budget goes there, all the logistics,
and all the human resources.
And the other things, the alternative culture,
just have to be undertaken by the artists themselves.
-To be really effective in a job like that,
a person must be a cultural manager,
they need to have studied the subject.
They must have experience and be an artist.
They also need to know what they're doing.
But if you talk to those people,
they know nothing about it, so they can't make
an informed decision on any problem they face in their job.
There's also the fact that the universities
are not interested either.
So the public are not trained in this either;
it's as if in this area everything is decaying.
There needs to be a change in the form of a national policy.
Struggles
Integration was a problem at the start.
This is a traditional neighbourhood
in which people are used to a quiet life.
We musicians came along,
making a racket every day, playing drums;
the first problem is being accepted.
It's the same with other cultural centres.
In Lima there was a lady, who sang in a Blues band,
who told me that with her centre
the first problem, apart from the council, was the residents,
getting them to understand that what we do is our job.
It's not just a bit of fun or something casual.
I believe that's the first barrier
that slowly had to be overcome.
We've lasted three years and we're still going.
The council is one endless problem and the other
is communication with other cultural centres.
Communication is lost, I don't know
whether through envy or through personal inclination.
We get dragged into it a lot.
Perhaps if each centre were ...
'Your centre is for theatre, mine is for poetry',
we'd get on better together;
'My centre is underground, yous is half naturist'.
No, we won't go down that road,
and there are many disputes; it holds back progress
and is one of the biggest tests
we face, because the people and the artists
are not used to working together.
Instead of uniting, they become divided,
that is the great problem.
-I believe another problem is how to reach more people,
to have better means of communication,
because our networks are wide, but they don't really
reach far enough,and for the people we want to reach
the social network doesn't seem to work.
And to make flyers and so on
you have to invest money,
but it doesn't guarantee many people.
We need access to radios,
or mass communication, or programmes
that have a mass audience at peak viewing times.
Our work has taught us
that the street is the most immediate
and is where the large-scale action happens.
Put on concerts and festivals in the street,
because that is where democracy is.
In the street people walk, people of all social levels.
So it's the best option, especially when
the communication media don't offer any alternative,
The street is the last resort, so that the person
walking along there sees something new.
-It's also a great weakness that so far, no business
has become involved with Tambo de Bronce.
The interest is there;
friends have come from the brewery,
from large companies, from the brickworks,
but they don't really believe that art is necessary
or they don't believe it so far. It's illogical.
They say, 'If I give this money to your cultural centre,
so that you can work with these young people,
no-one will see it, so it's better if I pay for
a football pitch, although there are many already,
or another monument, and then
people say, ''Oh thank you, you've helped me!'' '
It's a big problem, because we need money, grants.
-Now there is a Law of Cultural Patronage,
but we don't have the tools to secure patronage.
So we've started using the association
as a means to obtain that too.
And the major problem is that the PR director
of a given company operates as if 'You are a friend,
so I do you a favour,' and there's never a contest
for projects to compete for grants
in places such as Arequipa.
Education in art and music is very poor.
In the biggest universities here, there are no faculties,
for example, of philosophy, music or art.
There are only faculties of studies that generate
immediate income such as engineering, law, medicine.
This puts us, in Arequipa, in a situation where
we are penned in, because the universities
don't produce people who can appreciate culture.
So the task is left to us, to show them
that there is an alternative.
At the Tambo we've lasted a long time
but really we do everything ourselves.
On one hand that a bad thing, and we suffer,
but we've managed it alone so far
but what we have learnt from being alone
is that we can do it, so with support we could do
a thousand things, we could do wonders.
If we had support and funding
we'd know how to use them, as we've
managed with nothing, and still done things.
All this has given us great strength.
Having the chance to learn more and more,
you survive in permanently difficult conditions,
and it makes you strong, so that you survive,
you become like this, you protect yourself,
and you can do it because you know how.
-I'm not from Arequipa, I'm from a place
that mainly makes its living from fishing and mining,
and I didn't have access to a cultural centre.
There was a municipal arts centre; every district has one
But when you go in, there's just a desk and bare walls,
and if you open up those venues,
you give people opportunities.
With just one open venue we may be influencing
the future of at least 200 or 300 children
and young people, with no more than
the interest, will and inspiration that drive us.
The future
We hope to find a business that will give us a grant,
so that we will be free to work with any young people,
and most of all with children, so that we can train them
to continue our work when we are no longer here.
We want to train children so that
they can use what we have taught them,
not only in the practical aspects of their lives,
but also to inform their values.
Right now the demand from the people who come here,
whether as visitors, or as exhibitors, is so great
that we see a need for another venue.
A venue that can accommodate all of this,
as well as theatre, music, exhibitions, a bigger place.
Advice
At the outset you always have to be
humble in your ideas and flexible in your thinking,
because in the end, my idea is better
if there are other people involved.
And it always enriches the project.
I believe we must always be inclusive.
-Most of all, believe in what you are doing.
There will always be ups and downs, things that
discourage us from continuing with our work.
The only thing to do is to press on,
believe in your dreams and your desires.
No more than that.
Just go on, constantly working,
and always use the centre as a place for production.
Often leisure and enjoyment distract us,
but we must fight against that.
It must be a place for the production
and dissemination of our ideas, nothing else.
Do it and believe in it. That is what works.