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Connect: email, text or WhatsApp +1-919-274-6194, FB Messenger, IG
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Why Travel With Us: Help sustain regenerative traditions.
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- We know the culture! This is our land! We are locally owned and operated.
- Eric Chavez Santiago is tri-lingual --Spanish, English, Zapotec.
- Eric was founding director of education, Museo Textil de Oaxaca + folk art expert
- Norma Schafer has lived in Oaxaca since 2005.
- Norma is a seasoned university educator.
- We have deep connections with artists and artisans.
- 63% of our travelers repeat -- high ratings, high satisfaction.
- Wide ranging expertise: textiles, folk art, pottery, cultural wisdom.
- We give you a deep immersion to best know Oaxaca and Mexico.
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We organize private travel + tours for museums, arts, organizations, collectors + appreciators.
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Creating Connection and Meaning between travelers and with indigenous artisans. Meet makers where they live and work. Join small groups of like-minded explorers. Go deep into remote villages. Gain insights. Support cultural heritage and sustainable traditions. Create value and memories. Enjoy hands-on experiences. Make a difference.
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What is a Study Tour: Our programs are learning experiences, and as such we talk with makers about how and why they create, what is meaningful to them, the ancient history of patterning and design, use of color, tradition and innovation, values and cultural continuity, and the social context within which they work. First and foremost, we are educators. Norma worked in top US universities for over 35 years and Eric founded the education department at Oaxaca’s textile museum. We create connection.
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OCN Creates Student Scholarship at Oaxaca Learning Center Giving back is a core value. Read about it here
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Meet Makers. Make a Difference
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Oaxaca Cultural Navigator LLC has offered programs in Mexico since 2006. We have over 30 years of university, textile and artisan development experience. See About Us.
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Programs can be scheduled to meet your independent travel plans. Send us your available dates.
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Arts organizations, museums, designers, retailers, wholesalers, curators, universities and others come to us to develop artisan relationships, customized itineraries, meetings and conferences. It's our pleasure to make arrangements.
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Select Clients *Abeja Boutique, Houston *North Carolina Museum of Art *Selvedge Magazine-London, UK *Esprit Travel and Tours *Penland School of Crafts *North Carolina State University *WARP Weave a Real Peace *Methodist University *MINNA-Goods *Smockingbird Kids *University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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Tell us how we can put a program together for you! Send an email norma.schafer@icloud.com
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- WEAVE Podcast: Oaxaca Coast Textiles & Tour
- NY Times, Weavers Embrace Natural Dye Alternatives
- NY Times, Open Thread–Style News
- NY Times, 36-Hours: Oaxaca, Mexico
Our Favorites
- Cooking Classes–El Sabor Zapoteco
- Currency Converter
- Fe y Lola Rugs by Chavez Santiago Family
- Friends of Oaxaca Folk Art
- Hoofing It In Oaxaca Hikes
- Living Textiles of Mexico
- Mexican Indigenous Textiles Project
- Museo Textil de Oaxaca
- Oaxaca Lending Library
- Oaxaca Weather
- Taller Teñido a Mano Natural Dyes
Documentary Filmmaking Workshop in Oaxaca Planned for Mid-January 2009
The Zapotec village of Teotitlan del Valle, 17 miles southwest of Oaxaca in the Tlacolula valley, becomes your learning laboratory for documentary filmmaking. In this village of 7,000 people there are 2,000 looms, a multitude of weavers using natural dyes from plant materials — a 6,000 year old tradition, a 16th century Catholic church built atop Zapotec archeological ruins, sustainable agriculture programs, festivals and feast days, an environmental awareness program for children, people whose family members have gone to El Norte never to be seen again. The village, nestled at the foot of the Sierra Madre del Sur on a 6,000 ft. high desert plateau, offers a rich learning environment. There are story possibilities galore that can feature indigenous art and culture, folk traditions, social justice, public health, education, immigration, women and families.
This will be a 5-day intensive, immersion documentary filmmaking workshop starting in mid-January 2009 (exact dates to be announced). The workshop will be limited to 8 participants; we welcome participants at all levels, from beginner to more experienced. You will produce a 3-5 minute short documentary film as your final project and show your film on the final day. You will work together in small groups with expert faculty instructing you every step of the way, and then giving you the freedom to create an independent short subject film. We will provide translators and lots of on-the-ground support.
We anticipate that the fee will include all instruction, 6 nights lodging, 6 breakfasts, 6 lunches, snacks, use of all equipment, bilingual translators. We don’t have any more to tell you right now!
If you are interest in knowing more details as they develop or you would like to add your name to a waiting list, please contact me — normahawthorne@mac.com.
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