OUR MISSION
La Sierra Artist Residency Foundation believes in the power of art to improve and transform lives by three main focal points:
1. Environmental Education
2. Community Empowerment
3. Revitalization of Arts and Ancestral Knowledge
We are dedicated to facilitate experiences that connect artists with local residents to collaborate, exchange ideas, and engage in dialogue. We encourage artists who apply to La Sierra to propose collaborative projects, workshops and any activities to engage local school groups, artisans, cooperatives from our neighboring communities of Buritaca, Puerto Nuevo and Guachaca towns in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta region.
We will facilitate community projects in any artistic discipline, including lectures, workshops, performances, public murals and more. Do you know a way to fund these together?
LOCATION
La Sierra takes its name from its unique location on the Caribbean Sea in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in northern Colombia, South America. Here you will find the highest coastal mountain range in the world, with peaks of 5,700 mts (18,700 ft) above sea level only 42km away from the sea. This drastic change in elevation cultivates a variety of ecosystems in direct proximity of each other, harboring an incredible amount of diversity in flora, fauna and culture. In fact, every single ecosystem that exists on earth thrives in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Hence why the native people refer to this area as “The Heart of the World.”
Surrounded by jungle, mountains and virgin beaches, artists are welcomed to create, study and explore. We provide accommodation for one month, allowing the artist in residence to leave behind routine stress and focus on their immersion and connection to the land. The intention for this time is to slow down, reconnect with the rhythms of the earth and awaken the depths within.
INDIGENOUS CULTURE
The four existing indigenous tribes (Kogi, Wiwa, Arhuaco and Kankuamo people) are ancestors of the pre-Hispanic Civilization, known as the Tayrona. They still practice and follow the Tayrona belief of “Aluna,” that all reality is created by thought. Every object or being has both a spiritual aspect and a physical reality, both of which originate in thought. These people have been calling the Sierra Nevada Mountains their home for hundreds of years.
They refer to this area as “The Heart of the World” because they believe that what happens in the Sierra Nevada also happens everywhere in the world. They are committed to restoring the equilibrium to Earth by daily ritual practices, mental discipline and meditations.
All of their efforts are to help protect the Sierra Nevada and the world from destruction. They have plenty to protect including multiple ecosystems, ranging from low lying wetlands, mangroves, and tropical rainforests to desert, alpine tundra and snow capped mountains. Throughout these varied ecosystems thousands of species of plants and animals have been identified, dozens of which can only be found here. Almost 630 different species of birds have been identified in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta alone, a total greater than the US and Canada combined. The glacial summits produce many rivers flowing down the mountains to the sea.
