Fundacion Al Toque Taller Creativo Musical

The AL TOQUE Creative Musical Workshop Foundation has a cultural history of almost three decades and its work began around 1997, driven by a group of musicians and managers who, from its beginnings to the present, have materialized countless cultural events.

Our organization obtained its legal status in 2010, a legal instrument that allows it to access new opportunities for cultural management such as programming, training and dissemination of independent and self-authored music, both local and from other places. “Taller AL TOQUE” has thus become, since then, an important reference space not only for musical education but also for the promotion and encouragement of independent music.

The organization carries out numerous programs, some of them aimed at specific groups such as children and youth, women, etc. It also develops others dedicated to the general public, such as musical education programs and the promotion, dissemination and support of independent music, such as the inÉdites Festival. It is made up of various musicians from emerging and contemporary art. As far as children and youth are concerned, we created the Musikyris space “Songs to love our land”, which is made up of a folkloric musical ensemble made up of girls, boys and young people from the town of Salsipuedes, Córdoba, Argentina. Its objective is to encourage the creative capacities of children through the interpretation of popular Argentine and Latin American music. A musical repertoire that reflects on nature is selected for study and execution, aiming to improve our socio-environmental practices in the territory. This is a free space and is primarily aimed at vulnerable sectors with limited economic resources and some of its beneficiaries come from semi-rural areas. The premise is to approach integral art through the learning of music, performed with conventional musical instruments and/or built by the group with recycled elements. The creative space also includes play, reflection, the creation of fictional characters capable of “telling” us stories and legends about the mountain range, its rivers, trees and animals.

It attempts to respond to and integrate the approach to two identified problems: the first is the lack of accessibility by our children to cultural and artistic rights, and the second is the difficulty of identifying and therefore intervening in the degradation of our territory.

This implies, a posteriori, proposing the construction of a healthy habitat where we gradually begin to modify our actions and improve ecological conditions. To do this, I consider it necessary to know more about our roots, our music and the territory of belonging, not only to enable new knowledge but also to promote the construction of collective proposals.

Another of our programs is Arthemisas, which is dedicated to promoting the role of female artists and artisans, rescuing and valuing ancestral knowledge, rituals and the encounter with materials from our land to create cultural goods with plants, rustic wool, leather, clay, etc. The musical and scenic disciplines play a fundamental role in the articulation of the program, trying to revalue our intangible cultural heritage.

During the meetings we develop various activities such as craft workshops, fairs, musical presentations, poetry readings and narrations, audiovisual projections, contemporary dance, drums, typical foods, offerings, bonfires, seed exchanges, planting of native trees (carob trees), etc.

Regarding the legal part of our organization, we can say that at the time of the constitution of the legal entity, the organization expressed in its statutes its purpose, which says the following: "The purpose of this Foundation will be the dissemination, diffusion, development and production of art and culture in all its forms of manifestation, trying to reach all sectors of society with the intention of enriching and renewing the cultural heritage of our people for a better quality of life. Providing for this training with non-formal degrees in areas such as music, theater, puppets, dance, literature, plastic arts, audiovisuals and any art or activity related to its purpose. It will promote the articulation of agreements with other related entities for the realization of diverse cultural activities such as: Clinics, workshops, and / or free training courses for artists, students and the general public of all ages in the disciplines mentioned above, using its physical and organizational space.