We are proud to announce the launching of the Maracatu Leao Coroado's Project! Please read the release below. For further information, don't hesitate in contacting us.
Recife. Estuary city, built over land reclaimed from the sea, originally mangrove swamps. Since the last decade, some of the richer aesthetic, cultural, and technological experiences in Brazil have been sprouting from this fertile soil.
November 7th, 2001 marked the start of an experience without precedents in the country, involving technology, culture and history.
The agent of this experience is the Maracatu Leao Coroado. Founded in 1863, it is one of the oldest maracatu nations in Brazil, being nowadays the most traditional in Pernambuco. The stage is ¡guas Compridas, a poor community in Olinda another main city in Recife's metropolitan region.
The project, which combines tradition with new communication technologies, took off on November 7th, when Maracatu Leao Coroado unveiled its official website (www.leaocoroado.org.br). The site's main goals are acting as a communication link between ¡guas Compridas and the world; being a reference for maracatu studies on the internet, having the most complete and accurate content on the topic on the web today; being an open space not only for other maracatus but also for any other cultural entity in the region.
The experience is an initiative of Maracatu Leao Coroado and friends, and is supported by strategic technological organizations in Recife: NEWStorm, which developed Notitia, a web publishing tool that allows users without technical knowledge to produce and maintain content on the internet; C.E.S.A.R the Recife Center for Advanced Studies and Systems which, since its foundation, in 1996, has been a technological partner in many social and cultural projects in Pernambuco; CDI the Committee for Informatics Democratization which is helping the community create an EIC (Escola de Informatica e Cidadania Informatics and Citizenship School) in ¡guas Compridas.
In a second moment, foreseen for the end of December, there will be the inauguration of the EIC, which will give the tools for the community to maintain and evolve the website by themselves, and the launching of ¡guas Compridas' online periodical. Another milestone in this phase will be the start of the construction of Maracatu Leao Coroado's headquarters (Casa Luis de Franca).
In a third moment, expected for the second semester of 2002, Leao Coroado's headquarters will be inaugurated and the process of creating new cultural and technological multipliers and leaders within ¡guas Compridas and surroundings will be in full speed.
Thinking globally and acting locally, Maracatu Leao Coroado intends to create an environment where most of the community needs are taken care of by themselves. This will be achieved through the social organization, based on its headquarters in ¡guas Compridas, and with the technological tools at hand. Within this scenario there are countless possibilities: professionalizing courses; communitarian radios; workshops on art, music, and science; electronic art, digital recording studios. For the community, the website is just the beginning.
www.leaocoroado.org.br/imprensa
Press-release, photos, music and wallpapers
