Wixarika Research Center

“Expenses office expense 807 internet 550 web hosting 274 travel 1,679 bank charges 144 po box rental fee 200 telephone 1,444 state registry 45 dining 46 foundation equipment 2,594 paypal fees 9 rounding 3 non-investment depreciation 35 total 7,830”

“Other depreciable asset 46,691 46,691 less accumulated depreciation 46,626 46,661 yarn paintings by jose benitez sanch 23,750 23,750 total 23,815 23,780”

“Our mission at the wixrika research center is to continue to build a rich archive of wixrika history, culture and territory alongside our continued support of select initiatives that strengthen wixrika autonomy. In this light, and given the enormity of threats that continue to affect wixrika land and culture, we are happy to share some of our most important developments of our 2016-2017 fiscal year.”

“In september and early october of 2016, ingrid arriaga-a doctoral candidate at the school for advanced studies in the social sciences in paris, spent 6 weeks with us and continued digitizing some of the yarn painting audiocassettes and scanned and made pdf's of all the catalogues and press articles related to the dozens of international exhibits juan and yvonne negrn organized and curated in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990's. In addition to this, ingrid scanned and made into pdf files numerous wixrika-related articles that the negrn' had collected over decades. All of this material is now ready to be shared online once our new website and database is launched. Ingrid's work was made possible by a research grant she received. In march and april of 2017, with the help of matsiwa, we documented close to 2,000 kodachrome slides taken by juan negrn in the community of tuapurie between 1973 and 1986. It is in this community's ceremonial center of las latas (kieruwitua) where juan took the bulk of his photographs of ceremonies and everyday life on his friends' ranches. Matsiwa and yvonne's registration of photographs included identification of people, places and the activities detailed in the photographs. Special attention was given to photographs of the sacred sites and extensive notes were taken. We then printed 150 photographs to send back with matsiwa to be given to people in his community. Most were portraits and, in the case of the deceased the photographs were given to their children and grandchildren. These photographs were taken at a time when almost no wixaritari had cameras and when taking photographs by outsiders was mostly forbidden. As a result, the photographs we sent back are in most cases the only images some of these families have of their parents or grandparents. Some were portraits of children and represent the only pictures people have that were taken during their childhood. It gave us great pleasure to do this work and return these cherished memories to the community. The other project we completed with matsiwa was to digitize the cassette tapes made in 1980, when the council of elders requested that juan tape record their kawitu, or oral history so it would be preserved for the community. These elders participated in a nightlong session where each one recounted a different theme relating to their origins. We purchased four digital fm radios with sd chips and downloaded the oral histories along with an all-night chant by a legendary chanter and the music of a renowned violinist long deceased. The radios were gifted to the families of the elders who participated and we were told that all of their family members, as well as others, gathered together to listen to these historic recordings. It was an honor to fulfill the wishes of those elders who had the forethought to record their knowledge which they feared was in danger of being lost. In early spring 2016, we were honored to be contacted by the secretara de cultura and the organizers of the festival cervantino, the largest cultural festival in latin america, held yearly in guanajuato, mexico. We were invited to organize an exhibit of photographs taken by juan negrn of the wixrika people to be presented at the museo de la alhondiga. We printed and framed 22 photographs which were exhibited from october 2, 2016 through the end of january 2017. For the opening of the exhibit the museum held a round table discussion where the president of our board, diana negrn and a young wixrika graduate student, juan aurelio ros, among others participated. The inauguration of the festival was attended by the governor of jalisco who also attended a reception at the museum. Also in early spring 2016, our foundation was contacted by the international friendship club, a mexican non-profit founded and directed by canadian and american retired immigrants living in mexico. As part of their commitment to supporting grassroots causes in their new country of residence, the ifc contacted us beca”