La Carpio, one of the poorest slums of the Costa Rica is home to 50,000 people; the largest bi-national community in Central America. It has as many Costa Ricans as Nicaraguans who have immigrated in search of a better future for themselves and their families. This is where Maris Stella Fernandez plans to organize a symphony orchestra while building a cultural and social integration center.

 

The Integrated System of Art Instruction for Social Inclusion (Spanish acronym: SIFAIS) operates in La Cueva del Sapo (Toad’s Cave), an area which used to be the most feared section of La Carpio. The construction of a new cultural center will breathe and consolidate its emerging role as a meeting place where children and adults alike meet to learn arts, sports, trades and social skills. Participants from La Carpio and volunteer instructors from all over San Jose will learn from each other and breach the social gulf that used to separate them.

 

The SIFAIS Center for Integration and Culture will include space for recording & film studios, an orchestra, computer labs, sports, martial arts, dance and yoga. There will also be classrooms for music lessons, sewing, food handling, language, debating, and crafts.

 

“Our goal with this project is to transcend fears and limitations of disenfranchised kids and adults through education and culture,” explained Fernandez. “It will help a community of more than 50,000 people rise above stigmatization and marginalization.”

 

The construction costs of the cultural center amount to approximately $475,000. Private and corporate donors have contributed a good part of this total but Fernandez is constantly fundraising and searching for volunteers.

 

Volunteering is a key component of Sifais Carpio. “In SIFAIS, all members and participants of the project end up winning, those who learn as well as those who teach the kids,” Fernandez said.

 

Fernandez has launched an Indiegogo campaign to raise $60,000 for the cultural center in La Carpio. The page can be viewed at www.indiegogo.com/projects/help-symphonic-orchestras-in-costa-ricans-slums

 

Donations of any amount are welcome. For $15, a backer can have his or her name included in a book of contributors at the center. For a $25 pledge, the contributor’s name will be included in a mural at the facility.

 

Larger donations will be rewarded with naming rights to windows, doors and halls.