The Paper Picker Press aka La cartonera

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The Paper Picker Pressaka La cartonera

• Cultural Agents Initiative
• at Harvard University
• Presents

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About Cultural Agents
The mission of Cultural Agents is to promote the
arts and humanities as social resources. We
foster creativity and scholarship that measurably
contribute to the education and development of
communities worldwide by developing moral
imagination and resourcefulness in citizens.
Based at Harvard University, the programs of
Cultural Agents bring together artists,
educators, and community leaders in innovative
collaborations that revitalize civic life both
locally and internationally through a variety of
creative interventions.
Our partners for the Paper Picker Press program
include Project Zero (Harvard Graduate School of
Education), our consultants for evaluation, HASI
(Harvard Achievement Support Initiative), with
whom we have piloted six successful programs to
date, and Culture for Change, a Boston wide
initiative for out of school development.
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The Paper Picker Press - La cartonera

• The Paper Picker Press is an instructional
  program for schools and educational
  organizations to promote higher-order thinking
  through hands-on engagement with literature. Our
  inspiration is Sarita Cartonera, a grass roots
  publisher in Lima, Peru, that recycles cardboard
  into books and teaches reading through writing.
• Through this successful literacy program, young
  people -- and older ones -- have fun playing with
  moderately difficult texts while they develop
  their attention to detail as well as their
  interpretive skills. The principle activity is to
  re-work literature that features challenging
  vocabulary and subtle uses of grammar and
  imagery.
• Students re-write along tangents of the original
  piece they perform variants through theater
  games they paint visions or moods inspired by
  stories they set the found or altered text to
  music or dance, continuing for the ten weeks that
  the program lasts to interpret the text through
  any art that can be facilitated by local
  instructors. The program guides students to
  interfere in existing literature, and thereby to
  develop ownership of its language in all its
  expressive strategies. We demystify high or
  elite literature by treating it literally as a
  pretext for play.
• PPP also encourages students to display their
  work in public performances, art exhibits,
  book-making exhibits, and entrepreneurial
  activities that involve the local community and
  feature dialogue between established writers and
  young people.

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Boston Pilots 2007

• Three Summer 2007 Workshops in the Boston Area
  developed local talent to address urgent social
  issues

• Brazilian American youth, 8-16 years old, hosted
  by BRAMAS in Framingham MA to explore the
  challenges of immigration including teen violence
  and drop out rates.

• Chelsea's Boys and Girls Club for pre-teen
  students inter-racial and inter-generational
  relationships.

• Zumix, East Boston's premier out of school music
  center for Hispanic and English dominant students
  expanded their repertoire with literature.

Through HASI we later established 10 week
programs in six Boston-area schools.
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Boston 2008
In addition to our work at schools, we hosted an
exhibition and workshop series at the Cambridge
Multicultural Arts Center (CMAC) in July, 2008.
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Harvard Alumni Family Night (HAA)
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Paper Picker Press International
We have directed Cartonera workshops in Puerto
Rico, Colombia, and Mexico. Among the
distinguished artists who have left their marks
are Pedro Reyes, Antonio Martorell, Anaida
Hernández, Paloma Torres, and Betsabé Romero.
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Mexico Chalco, DF
Amiga Cartonera, sponsored by World Fund, we
trained local artists, including parents of
students, and teachers of Catholic School Mano
Amiga in the developing Chalco community of
Mexico City.
Instructors and children invent new activities
Happy faces in the classroom
Cartonera with neighbors and friends
Cartonera with Parents
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Mexico Museo Amparo, Puebla
Amparo Cartonera, at the Museo Amparo in Puebla,
thanks to the Fundación Amparo with the Proyecto
Roberto in developing communities
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Mexico University of Guadalajara
Adelita Cartonera, at the University of
Guadalajara, through Difusión cultural, with art
instructors from primary to high schools.
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Mexico University of Guadalajara
An exemplary hands-on project.
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Mexico Guadalajara IFL 2008 International Book
Fair
Adelita Cartonera, at the International Book
Fair in Guadalajara, we directed a workshop for
over 120 promotores de lectura (literacy
coaches) with generous collaboration from
Cultural Agents abroad.
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Puerto Rico Secretary of Education
The Secretary of Education hosted Cultural
Agents, thanks to Camera-Mundi Inc., to train 30
educators from throughout the Metropolitan area
of San Juan.
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Puerto Rico Caribbean University
Caribe Cartonera, invited by the Proyecto
Prometeo at Caribbean University, introduced 75
artists and educators to creative literacy in a
two-day workshop.
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Colombia
Luisa Cartonera, thanks to an invitation from the
Biblioteca Luis Angel Arango, we offered a two
day workshop, first to train 10 facilitators, and
then to expand to 80 participants. Among the
trainers were the urban arts collective Familia
Ayara, a first Cartonera Crew.
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Romance Languages and Friends
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Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción
On June 2009 Cultural Agents trained 10 local
artists from the IBA-Cacique Youth Learning
Center for Teens at the Jorge Hernández Center in
the South End.
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Harvard Alumni (HAA) - Spring 2009
Latin-American Club Leaders Conference
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Courses - Spring 2009 Linguistics 200, Harvard
GSAS
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Young People's Project
In collaboration with the Algebra Project, we
trained 15 Math Literacy Workers to apply the PPP
practices in their math literacy program.
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Customize Your Own Paper Picker Press
PROFESIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR TEACHERS AND ARTISTS
Educators have the opportunity to engage,
explore and experiment with literature through a
variety of artistic practices. This activates
quality writing for students through hands-on
performing and visual arts and gives teachers the
tools to replicate our techniques as well as
invent new activities for their own
classrooms. To ensure that our work best meets
the needs of teachers and artists, we explore
challenges specific to the site and generate
creative, realistic and accessible ways to
address problems through play. With artistic
activities specifically designed to develop
higher order thinking through reading
comprehension and language fluency, the approach
empowers educators to engage their students in
re-writing, re-interpreting and re-discovering
literature as authors of their own multiple
versions.
Participants 25 Educators and Artists Duration
1 day, 4 hours Cost 5,000.-
Participants Day 1 10-12 Educator / Artist as
trainers Participants Day 2 80-90 Educators/
Artists w trainers Duration first day, 3 hrs
second day 5 hrs Cost 10,000.
CARTONERA CREWS
Some artist collectives already exist, and others
can form, among musicians, rappers, painters,
dancers, actors, etc. These can add to their
range of activities the service of a Cartonera
Crew to collaborate with teachers in local
schools in order to enrich education. The
Cartonera Crews would participate in training
workshops with classroom teachers to appreciate
each others contributions and to develop
collaborations for a ten-week program in the
schools. Every two weeks, one of five arts will
be featured in each classroom as a vehicle for
creative interpretation of the chosen text. Then
the artists rotate to the next classroom, so that
after ten weeks, each class has worked with five
different arts to develop critical and creative
capacities.
Participants 25 Educators and Artists Duration
5 days, 5 hrs per day Cost 25,000.-
Participants 60 Educators and Artists Duration
5 days, 5 hrs per day Cost 60,000.-
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Possible Paper Picker Press Workshop
Session 1 Re-Write
Session 2 On Stage
Session 3 Paint
Session 4 Take Pictures
Session 5 Make Music
Weekly Follow up Meetings
The PPP integrates the unique skills of local
artists and educators into a Creative Literacy
Program!
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Future
Workshops are planned for the Boston area in
partnership with The New England Gallery of Latin
American Art and East Boston Schools.
Internationally we will facilitate training in
Mexico, Colombia, Puerto Rico, and the country
of your choice.
Contact us

• Cultural Agents Initiative
• Cultagen_at_fas.harvard.edu
• Programs Manager, Marcela Mahecha
• mahecha_at_fas.harvard.edu
• Visit our website
• www.culturalagents.org go to Programs, then
  Paper Picker Press