CULTURAL
LA TALLERERA
In 1976, the agro-industrial complex, CONASUPO, was inaugurated in San Pancho. Due to changes within the government, the facilities were gradually abandoned. In 2006, the San Pancho Collective organized for the first time the Sinergiarte Festival and, since then, generates various cultural proposals.
In 2008, in order to make a large community altar, an exhibition and a series of scenic presentations for the day of the dead, the San Pancho Collective asked the government to use Bodega 3 (now Casa de Cultura San Pancho). This is how Bodega 3 became a space dedicated to the arts in general. For almost 10 years it has hosted workshops, presentations, rehearsals and festivals of music, dance, theater, circus, painting, sculpture, performance, literature, graphics, photography, gastronomy, capoeira and crafts.
Due to the great importance of reaching a friendly agreement and strengthening ties between different organized groups in the community, in February of 2017, Botega 3 was given to Mujeres por amor a San Pancho A. C. (Women For Love of San Pancho AC). They founded themselves there a few months later in the San Pancho House of Culture. Given the need to find a new headquarters, the multidisciplinary project moved to a disused area of the Bodega Teatro and became La Tallerera (the Workshop).
La Tallerera offers artists, artisans and creatives an opportunity to exchange information and connections through continuous coexistence. It mainly focuses on fine arts, artisans and crafts. It also has an exhibition area that facilitates studio spaces shared with performing arts like theater and dance.It is maintained thanks to the contributions of the artists, who share common expenses such as electricity, water, internet, cleaning products, repairs of the property or signage.
COLECTIVO SAN PANCHO
This group of artists focuses mainly on fine art and performing arts. It was founded in 2006 and installed themselves in La Tallerera in 2008. In La Tallerera they occupy the theater which serves as an artistic workshop as well as a stage for performing arts and a space for karate courses. It has been the main promoter of the Synergy Festival that was ‘born to show and share the art and culture that take place in San Pancho”. This successful festival has been held for 11 consecutive years.
CIRCO DE LOS NIÑOS
Created in 2011, when Gilles St-Croix, one of the founders of Cirque du Soleil, and his wife Monique Voyer, decided to found a circus show with Entreamigos children to raise funds for the center.
In 2014, they set up another show, this time in the Plaza del Sol, with 60 children participating. That same year they decided to request one of the workshop spaces from the Nayarit government. They currently have two workshops, one has become a forum and the other is a dance hall. They currently have 140 children enrolled.
CINE EN SAN PANCHO
Cinema in San Pancho is a project that seeks to help the regeneration of the social fabric through free film and documentary screenings in different public spaces of the town.
LA BODEGA TEATRO
The Bodega Theater for Performing Arts and Bodies in Action is a center of performing and cultural arts in San Pancho. It aspires to be recognized locally and internationally for its dedication to artistic and cultural values. It maintains a commitment to participate creatively in the union between local and foreign communities, and social and community developments within the artistic experience. Events like concerts, circus shows, theater, dance shows and classes and workshops take place here.
EDUCATIONAL
ENTREAMIGOS
Entreamigos actively began in 2006 with a small table in the local plaza next to the beach with the idea that “we all have something to teach and we all have something to learn.
They opened as a space to sell works from the local artistic community in San Pancho. Artists could sell pieces at a very low commission while also obtaining resources for those works and projects. In turn, they had to volunteer between 4 and 8 hours.
In 2009, Entreamigos cut down the tree that protected the plaza from the sun, but the project continues to grow and they finally received permission to move from the workshop they occupied to become an emblematic program unique to San Pancho. It has two main objectives: education and ecology.
Entreamigos has a library a computer center and two stores. They also offer scholarships and social assistance programs as well as classes and workshops taught in their computer center. With an ecological stance in mine, their main focus is recycling: “What many people considered trash before, Entreamigos is transformed into incredible products full of life and originality.”
AVE FÉNIX. MULTICULTURAL EDUCATIONAL COMMUNITY
Formerly known as the Escuela del Mundo (School of the World), this renewed children’s educational center is focused on all areas of development, including intellectual, social, intuitive and artistic.
Its objective is to create a learning experience that inspires to the awareness of oneself, of others and of the universe. It seeks to foster human and community values that promotes a lifelong love of knowledge.
IMIARI: CENTRO DE FORMACIÓN LIBRE
Concerned about the future of humanity, Imiari was created as a center focused on educating the sons and daughters of the community.
This initiative arose from the dream of seeing our community involved in the education not only of San Pancho’s children, but entire families, working together to build and maintain a space dedicated to the development, education and coexistence of new generations.
To create this project it was essential to listen and coordinate the varying points of view of all the participants. Imari because believes that it is the only way to generate an inclusive educational center that promotes collaboration, harmony, honesty and openness by example.
ENVIRONMENTAL
ALIANZA JAGUAR A.C
This initiative has its origins in another civil association called Hojanay, founded in 1999, when activists began tracking jaguars population and migration during a time of near extinction. The organization is dedicated to the protection of jaguars in the Sierra de Vallejo region.
In 2002, this association used the first bodega, workshop space, for cultural and conservation purposes, in the agribusiness complex for administrative offices.
After its disintegration in 2007, it was reborn in 2008 with the name they are known by today, Jaguar Alliance AC. Martha Collignon is the current president and Eric Saracho as the director. Saracho has also led many of the movements aimed at protecting the environment in San Pancho. It has made the population aware of the problems in the estuary and the sewage from treatment plants.
GRUPO ECOLÓGICO DE LA COSTA VERDE
Dedicated to the preservation of sea turtles in danger of extinction, this group began in the 1980s but its wasn’t until 1992 when it formed into an A.C.
The first members of the group created the first marine incubator for turtle eggs in San Pancho, with the idea of protecting Olive RIdley and Laúd turtles eggs from predators and poaching.
Thanks to the efforts of Frank Smith, the population has increased from 200 to 1,170 nests during breeding season in the last 20 years.
BIRDING SAN PANCHO
The San Pancho Bird Observatory started as San Pancho Birding Club (2007-2010). It ran educational tours for the children and youth of San Pancho. During those years, the club was a gateway for many local children to start “birding” and that was when the foundation for sustainable birding tourism was established. Regular departures for locals, national, and international visitors began.
The club eventually evolved into Birding San Pancho (2010 – 2011). It was initially conceived as a conventional tourism business that would offer nature tours without necessarily making conservational efforts. In 2011, the founder, Luis Morales, joined the Western Working Group of Partners in Flight, which inspired him to create the San Pancho Bird Observatory and continue conservation efforts and projects for tourism and ecological sustainability.
SOCIAL
MUJERES POR AMOR A SAN PANCHO
It is the most recently founded association. This project began in 2015 and joined the Cultural Center at the end of 2016. It is made up of women entrepreneurs from San Pancho. Its main tasks involve street cleaning and upholding various town ordinations. They also work closely with the hospital, helping impoverished people with access to care.