"Thank you for your dedication and time; for supporting us with workshops and courses; and for dignifying our work as craftspeople."
- Marco Antonio López Guzmán, age 25, First Place winner in decorative painting of wood sculpture, 2022
WITH YOUR HELP, IN 15 YEARS FOFA HAS…
Encouraged young Oaxacan folk artists to
develop their identity as artists and stewards
of their communities’ historic traditions.
We organized six juried art competitions with Museo Estatal de Arte Popular Oaxaca (MEAPO), attracting a total of more than 300 individual participants;
At these competitions we recognized nearly 200 young artists with cash and educational awards;
Our six exquisite exhibition catalogs have resulted in scores of special orders from across the globe for FOFA artists;
FOFA’s popular 10-session Oaxacan Cultural History course, offered every several years, has enabled artists to locate their place in the region’s rich artistic traditions;
Provided technical and marketing assistance
to help artists weather the vagaries of
a changing and uncertain market.
FOFA has offered dozens of workshops in marketing principles and strategies; using social media; English language for selling; computer skills; the nuts and bolts of international sales; innovation and design; effective, aesthetic packing and shipping; and “telling one’s story;”
The five multi-session workshops FOFA offered during COVID on the “how-to’s” of digital sales, and the publication of a Spanish language guide for online selling, created a lifeline for many artists;
Increased public exposure of Oaxacan folk art in the US, raising appreciation and marketability of these remarkable art forms.
FOFA’s website (www.fofa.us), is a “go-to” site for people travelling to Oaxaca or interested in learning about folk art;
FOFA’s colorful Instagram site has garnered nearly 6000 followers (instagram.com/friends_of_oaxacan_folkart/);
“Tips for Tourists,” FOFA’s pamphlet on how to visit artists in their home studios, has been distributed in Oaxaca and is available on FOFA’s website - and is presently being updated;
The visiting artists we’ve brought to New York have presented at the American Museum of Natural History, dozens of local school, the Mexican Cultural Institute and FOFA receptions.
Your donations have made these initiatives possible!
Please make an anniversary gift to support FOFA's efforts to enable talented young Oaxacan artists
achieve sustainable livelihoods.
For a comprehensive look at FOFA's programs, visit our website at: www.fofa.us
