DUBAI INTERNATIONAL AWARD FOR BEST PRACTICES FOR …
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Flying Circus Project
Summary
1.
a) Name
“Circo Volador (Flying Circus): Youth and Popular Culture in Mexico City”.
b) City / Town
Mexico, Federal District
c) Country
Mexico
2. Address
a) Street
Calz. de la Viga No. 146, Col. Jamaica
b) P.O. Box / Post code
C.P. 15800
c) City/ Town
México, D.F.
d) Country
Mexico
e) Telephone (52) 5740-9012 (52) 5740-3485
f) Fax: (52) 5740-0226
g) E-mail: circovolador@
3. Contact Person
a) Name
Dr. Héctor Francisco Castillo Berthier
b) Street
Sur 77 No. 90, Col. Lorenzo Boturini
c) P.O. Box / Post code
C.P. 15000
d) City / Town
México, D.F.
e) Country
Mexico
f) Telephone: (52) 5552-3218
g) Fax (52) 5552-6048
h) E-mail: berthier@servidor.unam.mx
4. Type of Organization:
Non-Governmental Organization
5. Partners:
National Fund for Culture and the Arts (FONCA) / Ivonne Pérez Esquivel /Head Office of Promotion of Cultural Projects and Joint Investment. Governmental Organization, National.
a) Street: Hamburgo 115
b) P.O. Box / Post code: 06600
c) City / Town: Mexico City/D.F.
d) Country: Mexico
e) Telephone: (52) 55-14-71-49 (include code)
f) Fax: (52) 55-14-81-14
g) E-mail: pfpc@correo.conaculta.gob.mx
National Center of Competence in Research North – South (NCCR N-S). Frank Haupt- PAMS Coordinator. Governmental Organization, Switzerland.
a) Street: Steigerhubelstrasse #3
b) P.O. Box / Post code: 3008
c) City / Town: Bern
d) Country: Switzerland
e) Telephone: + (41) (31) 631-30-59 (include code)
f) Fax: + (41) (31) 631-85-44
g) E-mail: frank.haupt@cde.unibe.ch
Secretariat of Social Development of the Federal District (SDS)/Head Office of Equity and Development in the Federal District (DGEDS) / Dir. Pablo Yánez Rizo. Governmental Organization, local.
a) Street: Calz. México Tacuba 235 - 1er Piso
b) P.O. Box / Post code: 11330
c) City / Town: Mexico City/Federal District
d) Country: Mexico
e) Telephone: (52) 5341-41-83 (include code)
f) Fax: (52) 55-41-10-69
6. Financial Profile:
|Partners |Year 1 2002 |Year 2 2003 |Year 3 2004 |Year 4 |Year 5 |
| | | | |2005 | |
|Flying Circus |55,000 |70,400 |71,000 |97,625 | |
|66% | | | | | |
|National Fund for Culture and the Arts|13,600 |2,300 |11,400 |15,675 | |
|9% | | | | | |
|Head Office of Equity and Social |22,700 |13,600 |13,600 |18,700 | |
|Development of the Government of the | | | | | |
|Federal District | | | | | |
|17% | | | | | |
|National Center of Competence in |0 |25,000 |0 |0 | |
|Research | | | | | |
|8% | | | | | |
|Total budget US$ |91,300 |111,300 |96,000 |132,000 | |
|7. Summary: |
|In 1987, Mexico City was bombarded by the media on the subject of youth violence and gangs. “Drug addicts, assassins, pickpockets, |
|rapists, alcoholics, vagrants and gang members” were some of the terms used by both government and the media to describe youth in |
|working-class districts. |
| |
|Mexico now has approximately 25 million young people ages 12 to 24, at least half of whom are living in poverty or extreme poverty, |
|and no social policy has been designed to deal with their problems. |
|How can Action-Research contribute to a situation of this nature? |
| |
|This was the situation in which Action-Research began working in 1987 to assess the situation of working-class youth identified as |
|“gangs” to curb the growing violence and find mechanisms that would enable them to be reincorporated into a society that regarded |
|them as “adversaries”.This gave rise to the Flying Circus, whose name comes from the meetings we held in the streets when we used to |
|wonder what we should call ourselves. Most of them had animal nicknames (The Cat, The Flea, The Dark Animal, etc.) and they said, “We|
|are a bunch of animals, as though we were a circus…but with nowhere to land, we are a Flying Circus.” |
|As a result of that, we started looking for a place where we could bring our proposal down to earth, which we obtained a few years |
|later through a Loan and Restitution Agreement with the Government of the City, through which we were loaned a large, old, abandoned |
|cinema in exchange for restoring and maintaining it through the collective work of the young people involved, so that we could use it|
|for them. |
|8. Key dates: |
|February 1987: Beginning of Action Research Project with the aim of assessing the status of young working class people identified as |
|“gangs” to find the best way of reincorporating them into a society that regarded them as “violent enemies.” |
|September 1988: Start of nightly radio broadcasts of program entitled, “Just for Gangs” on 105.7 FM through which, over the following|
|three years, we began to make contact with the 1,500 youth gangs detected by the original diagnosis of the Research Project, whose |
|initial objective was “to lend a voice and presence in the media to those who had no way of pubicly defending themselves from the |
|attacks that denigrated them” and engage in a dialog with other important social actors for this groups (such as the police, parents,|
|teachers, social leaders, local authorities, alternative projects, artists and musicians, etc.) |
| |
|August 1989: First Youth Competition entitled, “Rock in the Concrete Jungle” in which 164 groups of various genres (including Punks |
|and Anarchists) participated, including some from other states. This established the Flying Circus as an emerging institution that |
|people could trust because of the transparent way the competition was organized, the open, inclusive invitation to participate, |
|music-related prizes to enable them to professionalize their work and the proposals to integrate most of the participants into new |
|areas of the project’s development. |
| |
|June 1990: Legal constitution of the organization with a public notary under the name of “Research and Development of |
|Sub-Metropolitan Projects” dedicated to developing projects to support youth under the Flying Circus banner. |
|October 1993: Start of broadcasting of second radio program, “The Tunnel: an underground passage to where it’s at.” until September |
|1995, on 1590 AM, where in addition to giving them a voice, we began to disseminate the archives on Youth Culture we had been |
|compiling since the start of the project, with the aim of professionalizing young people’s work so that they could publicize their |
|various cultural creations. This also set a precedent in Commercial Radio due to the fact that a private radio station was willing to|
|accept a project of this nature, which culminated in the broadcasting of one hundred hour-long, theme-based programs linked to youth |
|programs, including the participants’ independent creations. |
|February 1995: Signing of the Loan and Restitution Agreement with the Government of the City to use the Francisco Villa Cinema |
|(abandoned for over 10 years) which would be the future headquarters of the project and start of restoration proejcts with the |
|participation of youth and their families. This building, together with many others in the city, was part of a policy for providing |
|community services in the late 1960s. Over the years, however, the city government gradually washed its hands of these recreational |
|and cultural activities for the poor population and many of the facilities began to be abandoned and closed to the ´public. An |
|agreement of this nature was made possible by the visibility we had achieved through previous projects. |
| |
|July 1998: Inauguration of Flying Circus Center of Art and Culture and signing of the first inter-institutional collaboration |
|contracts with international and national organizations such as NOVIB (The Netherlands), AVINA (Switzerland), ASHOKA (US), SDS |
|(Mexico). |
| |
|February 2001: Start of two years of radio broadcasting of the third project called “Young People on Monitor”, at 88.1 FM on the most|
|important news station in the country (“Monitor”) within a solid, private firm, to present current youth projects to an adult |
|audience with a higher economic status, which provided enormous support for the Flying Circus project, as well as for the |
|dissemination of its everyday activities. |
|February 2004: Creation and design of website called , a page on graffiti resulting from a researh project |
|undertaken years before, which contains articles on the history and development of graffiti in Mexico and the world, with photographs|
|divided into categories and types of graffiti. This page received an award from the French page AMELATINE for the best Latin American|
|page on graffiti. The First Festival of Sub-metropolitan Popular Youth Culture “Youth Cult” was also held, with the support of NCCR |
|N-S (Switzerland) which sought to “stimulate and promote the participation of young people in processes that develop the creation of |
|alternative spaces to the exclusion caused by global changes.” This event enabled young people to be incorporated into broader |
|contexts, which in turn allowed them to interact with non-governmental organizations, the mass media, government and private |
|enterprise. |
|June, 2004: Special Mention Award as one of the Best Practices, ONU Habitat Program. |
|November, 2004: Second place in the Visionaris Award, UBS Bank/Ashoka. |
|9. Narrative: |
| |
|Situation Before the Start of the Initiative |
| |
|It is impossible to deny the demographic reality of Mexican youth. It is equally impossible to underestimate the importance of their |
|growing presence in society and their inevitable role in modernization and social change. But what will the future really be like for|
|impoverished youth in popular sectors? |
| |
|Establishment of Priorities |
| |
|Schools, which once permitted upward social mobility, have shown a limited ability to achieve this: the world of work no longer |
|offers the wide range of options it once did and instead, presents a series of obstacles that prevent a young person without manual |
|qualifications from finding a job in the labor market. He lacks traditional culture and values, which are no longer incorporated as |
|they were by previous generations. Families are weakened by the inability to offer their members a sphere of socialization capable of|
|orienting them during one of the most difficult stages of development: youth. |
| |
|Formulation of Objectives and Strategies |
| |
|Use “Common Culture” (Paul Willis, 1994) as the starting point for integrating values and reconstructing the social fabric between |
|the various social sectors, through the reinforcement of youth identities (towards the poor) and the construction and dissemination |
|of common languages (towards integrated sectors) together with the identification of partners that support the initiative, through |
|two main strategies: the negotiation of a physical space in which to undertake activities based on working class youth’s suggestions,|
|in order to act as a disseminator rather than a catalysts, to ensure that the thematic programming of the project of coherent and |
|facilitates the participation of various social groups. |
| |
|Mobilization of resources |
| |
|A key aspect of the implementation of the project involved obtaining the physical space for the project, which was granted through a |
|loan and restitution agreement with the Government of the Federal District. This old, abandoned 2000-square-meter cinema was restored|
|by the young people working on the project, who were given administrative and operational duties, in addition to acting as |
|instructors in certain workshops. |
|Nowadays, approximately 35% of the financial resources are obtained through the Joint Investment Agreements with various associates, |
|with which the work objectives are defined on the basis of an Annual Operative Program of activities. |
| |
|The remaining 65% of the funds required are obtained through the organization of events, such as concerts, cinema, theater, etc. |
|thereby completing the cycle of participation, since the contribution of the young people that attend these events, who are usually |
|in a better financial position, pays for the upkeep of the space and its activities, which in turn supports those who lack these |
|resources. |
|Financial reports on all the funds obtained and used in the projects are periodically submitted to the joint investors, by an |
|accountants’ office responsible for the project’s financial administration. |
| |
|Process |
| |
|As a result of the application of an Action-Research Model, we realized that the specific area where the Flying Circus is located is |
|characterized by varius problems and social conditions such as: |
| |
|Presence of several nearby slums |
|Frequent robberies and violence. |
|Poverty, addiction and street children. |
|Proximity to a large wholesale fruit and vegetable market. |
|Scant presence of police force. |
|Inefficient public services. |
|Lack of recreational and cultural options for the zone in general. |
| |
|The work method and strategy resulted from our imagining a “social limit” established at two extremes, which comprised a society of |
|exclusion, with rich and poor. |
|First of all we identified poor, excluded youth groups, which we set about contacting, to establish an “initial link”. We met with |
|them to find out what they thought, saw and/or produced, in other words, their skills and strengths, on the basis of which we created|
|archives and designed working proposals that would give them an opportunity to begin to influence their environment. |
| |
|At the opposite extreme, we found a sector of the population in which young people travelled, had free time, universities and spaces |
|to enjoy themselves and be in fashion, who constituted a minority with opportunities to obtain access to education, health and social|
|well-being. |
| |
|This led us to assess the status of youth and we decided to draw a horizontal line through the previous situations, which became a |
|“social infrastructure” represented in a cultural center (i.e. Flying Circus), seen as a “forum for social attention” which began to |
|sow and crystallize proposals by young people from the poorest groups, as well as being a neutral meeting point between the two poles|
|identified through our methodology. |
| |
|Involving the community in the remodelling, cleaning up and refurbishment of the area was an attempt to establish the site in their |
|everyday life, which enabled us to achieve a level of trust, which was reflected in the active, constant participation of the |
|population, which gave the participating actors an alternative forum for expression which they themselves had constructed. |
|The work has enabled us to re-appraise the creative work of young people, included various social groups and enabled the experience |
|to be publicized in the media, by sensitizing and inviting society to take a first-hand look at this reality, which few people know |
|about. |
| |
|It is worth pointing out that “social infrastructure” does not necessarily involve Flying Circus, since it can just as well be |
|substituted by a radio program, a competition, a workshop or a recording study, if people wish to repeat this experience. |
| |
|g) Results Achieved |
| |
|During its 14 years of work, the organization has achieved the following results: |
| |
|Intangible: |
| |
|Elaboration of a diagnosis of the zone |
|Identification, integration and work with existing social groups in the area, through activities that strengthen their social links, |
|which in turn permits the gradual reconstruction of the social fabric. |
|Construction of social networks with groups such as Neighborhood Assembly, Jamaica Market Assembly, and Assembly of Street Salesmen |
|in the Metro. |
|Coordination and work with government offices and NGOs. |
|Visibility of project as forum of expression and training for the benefit of the community. |
|Promotion of the process of social change |
|Reinforcement of institutions, with the support of international organizations. |
|Reappraisal, construction and reinforcement of youth identity. |
|Incorporation of gender perspective into the project’s concepts, strategies and actions. |
|Construction of empowerment processes for the population. |
|Creation of strategies that eliminate the process of social exclusion and discrimination. |
| |
| |
|Tangible: |
| |
|50 Training Workshops (over the past 3 years) |
|2 Summer Courses for boys and girls |
|25 Plays |
|350 Radio programs with youth-based themes |
|20 Movie Marathons |
|10 Wrestling shows |
|Book Club Service |
|1 Internet Page on Graffiti (in English and French) |
|1 Internet Page on the project |
|1 Young Artists’ Competition |
|1 Popular Youth Culture Festival |
|250 Concert and Musical Performances |
|5 Applied Research Projects |
|20 Academic Publications |
|5 Professional Theses |
| |
|h) Sustainability |
| |
|The project has established short- and long-term strategies, such as the creation of a Youth Observatory, which is able to influence |
|public policy design, using a multi-disciplinary and trans-disciplinary approach. |
|Incorporation of local social organizations, housing applicants, and traders’ and residents’ groups into work for the benefit of the |
|community. |
|Creation and coordination of Youth Studies Unit at the National University of Mexico (UNAM). |
|Processes have been established to diversify sources of financing and mobilize resources, by designing multi-disciplinary projects |
|aimed at youth. |
|Strategies have been designed to generate resources to achieve self-management of the project and permanent self-sustainability in |
|two years’ time, while continuing to establish Joint Investment Agreements, which will focus on various additional work proposals. |
|Links have been established with certain local governments (i.e. boroughs) to formulate plans and strategies for the social |
|development of youth. |
|A work area devoted to the reinforcement of institutions has been created. |
|The project now runs a social service program, aimed primarily at university students, particularly from the National University of |
|Mexico (UNAM). |
|Empowerment strategies such as workshops on sexuality, prevention of addictions, AIDS, Human Rights, etc. |
|Support of personal and social development of local children, through a Summer Course, with artistic, psychomotor and reflexive |
|attitudes as well as those involving civic training. |
|Incorporation of gender perspective, by changing cultural patterns such as machismo. Whereas before 95% of participants were men, |
|there is now a balance between the sexes, due to women’s participation. |
|Publication of book: Juventud, Cultura y Política Social (Youth, Culture and Social Policy), which provides a detailed explanation of|
|the applied research model. |
| |
|Lessons learnt |
| |
|On the basis of the social problems discovered, attempts have been made to support the people who fight to combat them. We have also |
|learnt to negotiate with the authorities, as a result of which the successes achieved have been widely publicized.. |
|In 1987, most young people lacked a clear sense of what “Institution” meant. Their only contact was with the police, through raids |
|(violent round-ups by police of young people in the streets). Ten years later, in 2000, 89% of the young people interviewed in the |
|National Youth Survey said that they distrusted politicians and institutions. The presence of independent spaces such as Flying |
|Circus created a climate of trust and opennessfor youth participation, as borne out by the reponse to the “Youth Cult” Festival in |
|2004. This has filled a gap in the city’s life because it offers something that used not to exist. |
|The “use” of commercial radio lent a voice to those who are not listened to and helped reduce the police operatives known as |
|“Gangdis” (gang dispersion) and police raids, through the denunciation of the violation of human rights and the unfair deprival of |
|freedom. |
|We learnt to negotiate with the City authorities and formalize a Loan and Restitution Agreement, which has now lasted for fifteen |
|years, as well as fulfilling the legal requirements for obtaining the necessary documents for running the forum. This has permitted |
|the use of abandoned spaces and allowed us to become involved in social policies. |
|The appropriation by the UNAM Institute for Social Research (IIS) of the Action-Research Project permitted the creation of a Youth |
|Studies Unit (July 2004). |
|The project began with a “sexist” view of the gangs (95% of the youths involved were male), which has been replaced by equal |
|participation by both genders. |
| |
|j) Transferability |
| |
|The Applied Research Model proposed by the organization can be applied in various spheres with similar characteristics found in |
|working-class areas of Mexico, as a result of which: |
| |
|If young people wish for a present and a future, they will have to become involved in designing and implementing it, since their |
|incorporation into dialog and negotiation guarantees sustainability. |
|Implementing an Action-Research project requires undertaking a diagnosis of the territorial area, which allows one to identify the |
|problems to be solved. |
|Training through productive and artistic workshops benefits the population, since it involves young people from the community and |
|enables mechanisms of recognition to be created within the community itself. |
| |
| |
| |
| |
|As for replicability: |
| |
|Three diagnoses have been carried out in territorial areas, to replicate the project and develop a model that will channel university|
|students carrying out their Social Service into local development programs. |
|A pilot program for Social Development was designed and implemented in the Álvaro Obregón borough between 1997 and 2000. |
|In Central America, particularly El Salvador, we have made contact with the “Homies Unidos” group for the integration of former |
|members of gangs known as “Maras” and in Venezuela, we have established links with the Institute of Town Planning of the Architecture|
|and Town Planning Faculty of the Central University of Venezuela, through research into safety in urban zones. |
|Research projects have begun to be implemented with other organizations, in an attempt to reproduce the project, through the creation|
|of “Youth for the City” brigades program, since preliminary results of the diagnoses revealed similar characteristics in other parts |
|of the city regarding the status of youth and society, which overwhelms and marginalizes them. |
|10. References: |
| |
|ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS: |
| |
|1) Castillo Berthier, Héctor, (2004), “My generation: Rock and Bandas’ Forced Survival Opposite the Mexican State”, In Rocking Las |
|Americas: rock, music. Cultures across Latin and Latin (o) America, University of Pittsburgh Press. 2004. |
| |
|2) Castillo Berthier, Héctor (2002), “De las Bandas a las Tribus Urbanas” (From Gangs to Urban Tribes), in Desacatos Journal, No. 9 |
|“Transgresiones”, Mexico, Center for Research and Higher Studies in Social Anthropology, pp. (CIESAS), pp. 57- 71. |
| |
|3) Castillo Berthier, Héctor (2000), “Juventud, Cultura y Política Social: un proyecto de investigación aplicada en la Ciudad de |
|México” (Youth, Culture and Social Policy: an applied research project in Mexico City) (1987-1997), México, Mexican Youth Institute, |
|244 pp. |
| |
|4) Castillo Berthier, Héctor, (2000), “Rock y cultura juvenil en la Ciudad de México” (Rock and Youth Culture in Mexico City) in |
|Transforming Cultures in the Americas Latin American Studies Program, Cornell Universtiy. |
| |
|5) Castillo Berthier, Héctor (1994), “Violencia urbana y cultura en la juventud contemporánea. México”, in Ciudad y violencias en |
|América Latina, Alcadía de Cali, Serie Gestión Urbana, vol. 2, Quito. |
| |
|6) Castillo Berthier, Héctor (1993), “Popular Culture Among Mexican Teenagers”, Revista The Urban Age, Urban violence issue, vol. I, |
|no. 4, summer, World Bank, Washington D.C., pp. 7-10. |
| |
|7) Castillo Berthier, Sergio Zermeño and Alicia Ziccardi (1989), “Juventude Popular e Gangues na Cidade de México” (Working-Class |
|Youth and Gangs in Mexico City), Presenca journal, no. 14, Río de Janeiro. |
| |
| |
|PUBLICATIONS IN NEWSPAPERS |
| |
|8) Source: La Jornada newspaper |
|Author: Angel Vargas |
|Title: “Se consolida El Circo Volador como un Laboratorio Social'' (Flying Circus Consolidated as Social Laboratory). |
|Volume/no., Year 20, No. 7005 |
|Date: 27 February 2004 |
|Number(s) of page(s). Section – Culture |
| |
|9) Source: Reforma Newspaper |
|a) Author: Tania Gómez |
|Títle of Publication: “Hacen de los jóvenes promotores culturales” (Doing of the young cultural promoters) |
|Volumen/Number, |
|Date, 21 April 2000 |
|Number(s) of page (s). Culture |
| |
|10) Source: Reforma Newspaper |
|a) Author: Adrián Garay |
|b) Title of Publication: “De cine a Centro Cultural” (From Movie Theater to Cultural Center) |
|c) Volume/Number |
|d) Date, 14 February 1998 |
|e) Number (s) of page (s). Culture |
| |
|INTERNET PAGES |
| |
|Project page: |
|Graffiti page: |
| |
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