The Cultural Conservancy (TCC)
Kimak’ol – The Nourished Heart: Indigenous Youth Cultural Exchange Program brought together Pueblo, Maya, and Zapotec participants for an immersive experience to re-engage Indigenous youth and elders within their homelands through traditional knowledge and ceremonial practice, and to re-connect the Pueblo and Mesoamerican Indigenous cultures that have been historically linked through trade routes and migration stories. The goal of the exchange is to strengthen cultural identity in youth through intergenerational learning as well as direct exposure to Native languages and ancestral knowledge systems in their respective communities.
The cultural exchange enhanced leadership skills in the youth who learned about each other’s cultural values and gained a greater appreciation of their own native identities and traditions. The gathering fostered action-oriented plans by the youth and elders. Guatemala led by cultural exchange participants; the development of a cultural calendar encompassing all the cultures represented that is based on corn cycles in each land and cultural astronomies and worldviews.
The Cultural Conservancy (TCC) is a Native-led Indigenous rights nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California, USA. Since our founding in 1985, we have been dedicated to our mission of protecting and revitalizing Indigenous cultures, empowering them in the direct application of their traditional knowledge and practices on their ancestral lands. Over the past 30 years we have worked with California Indian communities and Nations, Native Americans around the US and Canada, Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders, and Indigenous communities in South America on a wide variety of community-based projects; from sacred site protection to the revitalization of endangered languages and song traditions. At the root of this initiative are our guiding principles, which acknowledge the sacred relationship of Native peoples to their land and waters, and of the importance of their Indigenous rights and community health and well-being.
