.

¡¡¡WELCOME!!!

The Cultural Foundation San Francisco Tzacalha, a legally constituted and notarizad Civil Association, is located in the ex-Hacienda of San Francisco´s former hospital, in the heart Yucatan´s sisal region, one of the many millenary homes to Mexico´s Mayan People.

The operational range of this Civil Association includes not solo the town of San Francisco, but also Dzidzantún, Yobaín, Dzilam González, Cansahcab and Sinanché (all of them of Mayan heritage). The Foundation´s objetive es to provide children and youth with a conducive enviroment for leisure, learning and cultural activities, while simultaneosly generating employement options through a diversity of workshops. To reach our goal we are installing a library, a movie club, a carpentary shop, a botanical garden, and a computer room. There will also be a museum of textiles and Mayan Crafts and an arts center where participants can learn woodcarving, pyrography and ceramics. All thesee activities have the double purpose of mucho needed practical and profitable work. The creation of a botanical garden with native plants of the region, and our support of Mayan Language classes, both seek to contribute to the preservation of local identity.

The Foundation´s work began in 2001 under the general coordination of Isabel Ruz (MSc), with a school that chilren attain a more solid and healthier development through artistic expression; children who are ultimately more emotionally grounded and respectful of their Mayan roots

The fruit of these first years of peration resulted in music lessons (piano, sweet fulte and clarinet) and the creacion of the Coralia Yidzat il Kay (The Art of Singin), presently under the direction of professor Eduardo Zarracino and composed of more than 30 boys and girls. The choir´s ample repertorie includes Mayan, Mexican, and instrumental music, as well as classic masterpieces like Carmina Burana by Carl Orff and Carmen by George Bizet

Their outstanding performances have earned them great praise and support, and along with having won competitions, the are continuously invited to perfom in different forums in Yucatan and other Mexican states. They have accompanied the Yucatan Simphony Orchestra (Carmina Burana, Orff and Requiem by Fauré), and several of the musicians were selected to be members of Yucatan´s Youth Orchestra

Without doubt the reception of the prestigious prize COMING UP TALLER (2007), granted by the President´s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities of the United States of America, wich makes "a public recognition to cultural excellence and the civil, social, educative and historical value of programns wich through arts and humanities work with children and young people, specially those who live in marginalized communities" constitutes and invaluable incentive to continue supporting the emotional and artistics growth of these heirs of Mayan culture, the children and youth of small commnunities of Yucatan. We hope this prize will encourage institutions and individual to collaborate with their donation to the CULTURAL FOUNDATION SAN FRANCISCO TZACALHA A.C. so we can extend our effort in benefit of the other Mayan children