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Indian Church Village Artisans (ICVA)
Indian Church Village Artisans (ICVA) is a registered Community Based Organization (CBO) that currently has approximately 35 members. The board consists of:
The organization conducts their work in Indian Church Village, adjacent to the ancient Maya site of Lamanai, located in the Orange Walk District in the northern part of Belize.
A portion of proceeds from Beyond Touring program costs will go to support this project through purchasing and supporting items found on the funding wish list. Groups that travel with Beyond Touring will develop or create a community service project or donation that will aid in our development of ICVA, Indian Church Government School, or Las Orchidias Women's Group.
History of Indian Church Village Artisans (ICVA)
In the summer of 2000, E. Graham (University College of London), the Lamanai Archaeological Project's Principal Investigator, and the Lamanai Field Research Center (LFRC) were jointly awarded a grant to teach crafts to the people of the adjacent village of Indian Church and to help integrate the community with the Lamanai archaeological site. The grant, awarded from Canadian Funds for Local Initiatives (CFLI), is an international development grant aimed at helping these local people benefit from increased tourism at this site. We have been successful in helping them set up a local craft workshop to produce quality Maya metal jewelry that is being sold to tourists. This provides an economic base for many of the residents of this village who have a relatively low income (a village that doesn't even have electricity!).
Over the past 2 years we have held multiple "mini-workshops" teaching pewter casting, mold making and ceramic making for the residents of Indian Church Village. We are emphasizing Maya art, especially that found at the Lamanai site, as well as the revival of ancient craft traditions. Volunteers from LFRC have conducted weekly Sunday afternoon craft sessions, carried out by B. Salgado and L. Howard, in the village community center since August 2000. Generally about 15-20 young people attend these sessions each week, and it is exciting to see their craft skills strengthening.
K. Pierce in June/July 2001 taught an intensive metal jewelry-making workshop in the village. Ten local students participated and as a result there is great enthusiasm among them for metalworking/jewelry-making and the emerging talent is fantastic! The group originally obtained permission from the Indian Church Village Council to use the community health center building (which is only used 1 day every other month) as a workspace and stored their tools and equipment. They currently work on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays. Thus far we have nine outlets in Belize for sales of ICVA work and we hope to increase this number in order to raise the artist's income and their standard of living.
In July of 2002 we were awarded and executed funding from the British High Commission (BHC) and the Government of Belize (GOB) for an artisans center and hurricane shelter. The building has been built in a prominent location in Indian Church Village and will allow more jewelry-making workshops to be conducted and, hopefully in the near future, ceramics, sewing, and other courses and opportunities for residents of Indian Church Village.
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