Wanted: Art Students and Artists as Volunteers

The Mercado Artesanal in Urubamba has a number of challenges:

1. Lack of attendance on market days
2. Urubamba, though beautiful, lacks any tourist destinations making it difficult for them to draw tourists.
3. The market is enclosed, not easily identified from the street and on the opposite side of the bus terminal as the town center and the tourist restaurants.
   
4. The artisans do not produce differentiated products. (This is a problem throughout Peru. Once you've seen a couple markets, you feel like you've seen them all.)
5. The artisans would like to sell to wholesalers and internet retailers but don't have access.

While these are all business development issues, you don't need to be a businessman or business student to lend a hand. The artisans are open to learning new designs and the city has offered to pay for design workshops led by a local Peruvian designer. But working with the municipality is a lot of work. It's easy to secure a promise from a politician, but it's tough to track them down when you need the money.

If you are interested in learning and developing Peruvian jewelry, textile and ceramic designs or eager to teach your own design aesthetic, the Urubamba artisans would love to learn. You can jump right in without messing around with red tape.