My first artisans' meeting

Well, technically it's my second, since we dragged the deputy mayor over there last week. But that meeting was all about him. This was my turn to talk. An overwhelming majority of the artisans were interested in adopting the structure.


It took a while to get people interested in participating, but after about 30 minutes of stammering and the president clarifying what I was saying, the artisans began to speak up. Mostly, they were in agreement with the structure. The one exception was a tsunami confusion/cynicism about having a sales manager for fairs.

Selling at fairs is both a labor-intensive and money-intensive undertaking, since it involves transporting a large quantity of (sometimes fragile) merchandise a long distance, usually via bus. Artisans now either go in a group, on their own or not at all. In the past, those who have sent merchandise to a fair with another artisan have felt that their products were not pushed as strongly. Makers of wool sweaters also felt that their prices (and therefore sales) were being undercut by makers of synthetic sweaters.

At the end, there was still no consensus and artisans were divided on whether to send:
- Consistent representatives to all fairs to make stronger connections
- Rotating representatives, so that everyone has an opportunity to work a fair
- Rotating artisans, selling their own merchadise so everyone is responsible for his own sales
But at least they voted to elect sales manager for fairs.

Now that the structure has been approved by the artisans, it's time for elections. Well, it will be on Sunday, August 9th. That's the association's next meeting. Meetings were moved to accommodate artisans who work during the week. It's a very common for Urubambans to have multiple jobs to make ends meet. Additionally, the mercado is severely under-performing, so many opt to spend their days where they can actually make money.

In addition to the elections next week, the artisans will have to approve the agreement with the municipality allotting funds for education. There were a number of artisans who expressed an interest in writing the structure into the constitution, but that means drafting a formal act (una acta) and having everyone sign it. That's probably a little to ambitious for next week.