Tijuana. On a recent afternoon a little more than 200 people were laughing out loud in front of a moving truck that was converted into a stage.
"The Buffoon and the King" was being presented to the residents of Divina Providencia, an impoverished southeastern neighborhood located among canyons and streambeds with graffiti everywhere and gang members hanging out on street corners.
The music, the colorful lights and the actors had attracted people who were just passing by. They were also drawn to the art workshops that had been offered for free for several days to the barrio's children and adolescents.
The moving truck is a Casa de la Cultura Móvil, a mobile cultural arts center that rolls into a neighborhood and stays there for at least two months.
"Our intention is to create community bonds in these underprivileged places, bonds of friendship or tolerance among neighbors through the shows we put on or the workshops we offer," said Ugo Palavicino, who directs the mobile program.
The truck substitutes for a lack of cultural infrastructure in the city's poor neighborhoods. It's stationed at a school or a community center and from there offers painting, dance and photography courses and guitar lessons.
The organizers also screen an art film (popcorn included) and present plays, pop music concerts and even opera.
"We're not going to develop the residents into artists in two months, but we are going to give them a basic arts orientation, give then ideas, spark their interest," said Palavicino, a 70-year-old theater director.
Though the truck has been stationed in places with a high crime rate, its staff has not encountered any problems. On the contrary, the residents often help break down the stage and clean and put away the chairs.
Taking a page from the traveling puppeteers popular in his native Argentina, a decade ago Palavicino adapted a trailer to take shows to working-class residents in the Tijuana's far-flung outskirts.
But the project was put on hold for various reasons until Baja California' Culture Institute re-started it in March of 2009.
In 16 months, the truck and its staff visited six neighborhoods, reaching some 112,000 residents.
It was such a success that six months ago the state government adapted five moving trucks and turned them into mobile cultural centers to reach neighborhoods in the other cities.
According to Ángel Norzagaray, director of the Baja California Culture Institute, each truck cost $21,000 to adapt. Each has lighting and sound systems, stage curtains, dressing rooms, projection equipment for film and video and 100 chairs for the audience.
He said the state wants everyone to have access to culture, regardless of where they live.
When the truck arrives at a new barrio, its staff lifts one of the vehicle's side metal walls, as if opening a stage curtain. That's when activities begin. No two days are alike.
"It's always a challenge because we have spaces that aren't designed to house 40 students at a time, which is our average turnout, so we're improvising constantly," said Elizabeth Hernández, 28, who teaches jazz.
"The students always guide us," added Claudia Rodríguez, 22, who teaches painting and other arts. "We can try to teach certain techniques but many can't be done under these conditions. We have to adapt to the students."
In the workshops, the teachers have materials and equipment to loan, such as guitars or digital cameras, but demand exceeds supply.
"I wanted to begin learning guitar because I would like to play the song 'I Don't Want to Miss a Thing' by Aerosmith. I love it," said Humberto Segoviano, 19, who was sharing a
guitar with Edgar González, 18, that had been loaned to them so they could practice. Both are neighborhood residents.
"We think it's very healthy for our sons to be here instead of in the street or watching TV at home. They will leave here with something useful," said Berta Alicia Cervantes, 35, another of the neighborhood residents who took her sons ages 8 and 4 to the workshops and to see a play.
"The Buffoon and the King" ended to applause and laughter. The audience, the street salesmen and the stray dogs faded away. A little while later the stage returned to being a moving truck.
Omar.millan@sandiegored.com
