Semanario Educativo Culturama

Translation from Spanish to English: Peter Leaver

The first issue of the weekly bulletin “Culturama” was published in David, Chiriquí (a province in western Panama) on 21 August 1988, the brainchild of businessman Roger Patiño, French engineer Jacques Chevigné and painter Manuel Montilla. In the early days, it provided information about the artistic, educational, sports and other activities held at the Valle de la Luna.

Since then - January 1989 - Culturama has provided a wide variety of information about Panama and the rest of the world, including excerpts and summaries of longer publications on historical, literary, scientific, technological and geographical topics, anecdotes and instructive puzzles. The objective: to stimulate people’s interest and whet their appetite for more, and encourage families to make reading a habit.

Since its inception, Culturama has carried out an array of activities to complement its weekly educational bulletin, as another of its objectives is to improve and strengthen the structure of the building it currently works out of (the Casa de la Fundación Gallegos, in Barrio Bolivar, David’s oldest neighborhood) with a view to it becoming a dynamic, productive cultural center.

Some of the activities carried out by Culturama are as follows:

1. Organization of courses: Chess (1991 and 2006), English, handicrafts, drawing and painting (2006 and 2007).

2. Bibliographic assistance. We assist students, professionals and members of the public with assignments and research tasks at our offices in Casa Gallegos, next to the José de Obaldía Museum, in Barrio Bolivar. We have a Web page (www.culturamachiriqui.com) and some of our publications are available on other Web pages that promote and disseminate information about the province of Chiriquí and its different districts (www.chiriqui2000.tripod.com/info/distrito.html),(www.elchiricano.com) (www.chiriquitoday.org).

3. Book presentations:

We organize presentations of different literary works, in tandem with other organizations or on our own. Some examples are:

- Boquete, rasgos de su historia. By Milagros Sánchez Pinzón. 26 and 30 August 2001. Parrillada El Portal, in David, and the Josefa Montero de Vásquez School, en Boquete.

- El país creado por Wall Street, de Ovidio Díaz Espino, and La verdadera historia de la separación de Panamá, by Olmedo Beluche. La Ballesta Meeting Room, Oteima, David, 1 November 2003.

- Gritos del alma (Poetry). By Elvia Lefevre. Boquete. 2004.

- Lenguaje y Literatura Ngöbe (Anthropology). By Luz Graciela Joly. Universidad Tecnológica de Chiriquí, David. 2005.

- Naturalist of Isthmus of Panama. By Dr. Stanley Heckadon Moreno. Foreign community in Boquete, Feria de las Flores y del Café, 27 October 2006.

- Storytelling and presentation of Caballito de Palo. Fundación Gallegos, David, 14 February 2007.

 

4. Organization of Lectures, Talks, Congresses, etc.

- We organize lectures, talks and congreses, both working with other groups and our own. They have included:

- National Congress of History, Art and Literature. Universidad Tecnológica de Panamá, Chiriquí Campus. 29 September - 4 October 2003.

- Tribute to Allen Patiño (Winner of Premio Miró Cuento 2003). La Ballesta Meeting Room, Oteima, 27 November 2003.

- Lecture on the history of the District of Boquerón. Dr. Mario Molina Castillo. Primer Ciclo de Macano, Boquerón. 25 May 2005.

- Talk “Historical sites of interest to tourists in the old sector of David.” Lic. Jaime Watson. Casa Gallegos, 3 February 2006.

- Lectura “Scientific exploration in the Panama Isthmus in the 19th and 20th centuries.” Dr. Stanley Heckadon Moreno. Boquete, 12 May 2006.

- Exhibition by Maestro Rolando Mojica. Ernesto Lefevre Meeting Room, Boquete, 23 May 2006.

- Course-Workshop on Motivation and Self-esteem for Teenagers. Lic. Zitny Torres. Casa Gallegos, 26 and 31 July 2006.

- Lecture “Political, economic and social aspects of the widening of the Panama Canal.” Lic. Felipe Ariel Rodríguez. Casa Gallegos, 24 August 2006.

- Lecture “Should we innovate drawing on local knowledge or perish imitating global models? Dr. Julio Santamaría. 15 October 2006.

- Talk “Posture Hygiene.” Lic. Luciani Atencio (acupuncturist). Casa Gallegos, David, 8 March 2007.

5. Participation in fairs and activities that encourage people to make reading a habit:

- 1^st International Book Fair, Atlapa, Panama City, July 2001.

- Communication Fair. Universidad Autónoma de Chiriquí. October 2001.

- Fair to celebrate the 155^th anniversary of the creation of the province of Chiriquí. Alanje, 2003.

- 2^nd International Book Fair. Atlapa, Panama City. August 2003.

- Fair to celebrate the 156^th anniversary of the creation of the province of Chirquí. Barú, 2004.

- Traveling Book Fair. Mall Chiriquí. September 2006.

6. Talks on the history of the province and its communities

- History of the District of Boquete. Feria de las Flores y del Café. Boquete, 6 January 2001.

- Boquete, features of its history. Félix Olivares Contreras High School. David, 5 September 2001.

- Boquete, features of its history. Universidad Tecnológica de Chiriquí. David, 19 October 2001.

- Chiriquí, 153 years of provincial life. Gobernación de Chiriquí. David, 26 May 2002.

- Alanje, jewel of the Pacific Coast. Félix Olivares Contreras High School. David, 28 May 2003.

- History of the province of Chiriquí. Comité Distritorial de Bugaba. Centennial Celebrations. Cuerpo de Bomberos, La Concepción, 27 May 2003.

- History of the province of Chiriquí. Santa María High School. David, 24 May 2006.

- History of the districts of Chiriquí. San Agustín High School. David, 26 May 2006.

- History of the district of Bugaba. Nuestra Señora de la Caridad High School. Volcán, May 2007.

7. Publication of historical-geographic works:

- Chiriquí, perfil, realidades y federalismo. 1995.

- Chiriquí, rasgos y semblanzas. 1997

- Calendario histórico de Chiriquí, 1999.

- Boquete, rasgos de su historia 2001

- Compendio geohistórico de Chiriquí. Two editions, 2002 & 2004

- Alanje, esmeralda del Pacífico. 2003

- David, corazón del valle de la luna. 2004

- Boquerón, donde la montaña ronca. 2005

- Boquete, valle del eterno arcoiris. 2006 (in Spanish and English)

- Bugaba, el lugar de la lanza. 2007.

8. Alternative films, plays and concerts:

- Black. Indian film. Casa Gallegos, David, 2 February 2006.

* El Bongo, District of Bugaba. 15 November 2006.

- Machuca. Chilean film. Potrerillos Arriba, Dolega, April 2006.

- Voces Inocentes. Mexican film. Plaza Pública de Boquete. 6 May 2006.

- Sub Terra. Chilean film. Casa Gallegos, David, April 2006.

- Amén. French-German film. Casa Gallegos, David, 6 July 2006.

- Jazz Concert. Dubarrán Trio. Casa Gallegos, David, 15 July 2006.

- Play, “Así es la Vida,” Casa Gallegos, David, 18 October 2006.

- Voces Inocentes. Mexican film. Horconcitos School, San Lorenzo, 24 November 2006.

- An Inconvenient Truth. Documentary about global warming.

* Casa Gallegos, 17 January 2007.

* Universidad Oteima, 29 January 2007.

* Boquete Fair, 11 February 2007.

* Pío XII Parish School, Boquete, 13 April 2007.

- Casanova 70. Italian film. Casa Gallegos, David, 31 May 2007.

- Cachimba. Chilean film. Casa Gallegos, David, 16 August 2007.

- La Casa de Bernarda Alba. Spanish film. Casa Gallegos. David, 5 September 2007.