This year, Clave de Sur was able to offer a more complete program in performing arts and more specialized training, allowing children and youth in the community to make the most of their vacation time off school.
This year’s vacation classes were made possible thanks to the participation of 30 volunteer instructors, including workshop leaders for sound and dance. It’s worth noting that all of them are local volunteers from Guayaquil (not all from the South), who dedicate their free time to teaching classes in the Guasmo Sur community.
We organized an open house to share information about the courses we offer, giving attendees the opportunity to get to know each musical instrument more closely through demonstration classes, and above all, to talk about the benefits that each art form brings. It took place on the 20th of March, which is also the International Day of Happiness and the Week of Teaching Music, promoted by Keep Music Alive.
The music courses attracted the most students, with guitar and piano being the most popular instruments, followed by singing and violin. For the dance course, we added a beginner-level class to the schedule for the youngest girls, while continuing with the older students on Saturdays. The theater group created a mask-making workshop to demonstrate a play without dialogue, letting the children’s expressions tell the story. This was also our first drawing course, where the children learned self-portrait, vanishing point, textures, and shadows, using pencil and pen techniques.
We made sure to organize at least one workshop for each area, building on the classes the participants had already signed up for. Furthermore, we offered free classes in digital sound, Reaper, Ableton Live, sound mixing techniques, and music production. All of this was made possible thanks to the support from We Make Noise and the Instituto Superior Tecnológico de Artes del Ecuador (ITAE).