Master Weaver Nilda Callañaupa: Artist Talk + Market

The afternoon will feature a marketplace of hand woven items from the Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco (CTTC). Each item will include information about the individual weaver responsible for the work. 100% of the proceeds from marketplace sales will directly benefit the CTTC.

The centerpiece of the program will be a presentation by international master weaver and the CTTC founder, Nilda Callañaupa, featuring a Q & A session, moderated by Rebecca Martin, President of Exploration Connections.

The program will include refreshments, as well as a cash bar.

ABOUT NILDA CALLAÑAUPA

Nilda was born in the small community of Chinchero. Like many other children during this time, she was responsible for taking care of her family’s flock of sheep. Watching over them in the fields, she spent her time learning to spin and weave with her friends. As she grew and learned more complex designs, her curiosity was sparked. She could see there was a powerful history behind the art of her people, but that it was slowly being lost. When Nilda was a teenager she befriended an ethnobotanist and anthropologist who moved to Chinchero in the 1970s. With their encouragement, she embarked on a journey that would change the fate of Cusco textiles. After becoming the first person from her community to attend college, she went on to become one of the founders of the Centro de Textiles Tradicionales del Cusco. Since her youth Nilda has been a community organizer and leader, bringing her town together behind the goal of reviving their textile traditions. Now the director of the Centro de Textiles Tradicionales del Cusco, an award-winning author, an international speaker, and expert in Cusqueñan textiles, Nilda cannot believe how far the Center has come since its early days as a group of friends meeting to weave in each other’s homes.

ABOUT REBECCA MARTIN

Rebecca Martin is president of Exploration Connections, a consultancy and speakers group representing explorers and a host of other change makers. Prior to this, she worked in the field of exploration at National Geographic for 25 years, where she developed and directed exploration-based grant programs, and managed a broad array of explorer talent. In 2011, Rebecca was recognized by Outside magazine as one of the 25 most influential people in the outdoors, alongside Yvon Chouinard and Melinda Gates

ABOUT THE CTTC

Mission:

The Centro de Textiles Tradicionales del Cusco (CTTC) is a non-profit organization that promotes the empowerment of weavers through the revitalization and sustainable practice of Peruvian ancestral textiles in the Cusco region. This enables the weavers to maintain their identity and textile traditions while improving their quality of life through education and promotion of their textile art.

Vision:

To elevate the textile artisan as a recognized global artist, forging a just recognition by society and assuring the continuity of the ancestral practice

Social Responsibility:

Today the Center supports groups of weavers in ten villages, spread across the Department of Cusco. Each community weaving association is encouraged to be independent and self-sufficient, relying on themselves, and incorporating elder weavers as mentors for younger generations.