Ever since its creation in 2000, Trama focused on weaving a cooperative net among artists’ organizations in various places of Argentina. Over the past two years, the network gathered strength thanks to the practice of activities that focused on cultural management training, for one of the net’s main goals is to decentralize information and such legitimization mechanisms as have historically concentrated in Buenos Aires, the capital city, as well as to further regional networks of cooperation. We thought of starting work on a net of artists’ initiatives in Latin America, so that they can reach across national boundaries and address shared problems. Thus, we planned two trips to Paraguay, Brazil, Uruguay, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru and Chile.
Trama was always specially interested in building South-South exchanges, as can be seen from our participation in Rain, a network of artists’ initiatives with partners in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. In this framework, we organized two field trips in Latin America in 2004. The first itinerary, led by Marina Di Caro, included Paraguay, Uruguay, and Brazil; the second, led by Carlota Beltrame, visited Chile, Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador. Our purpose was to get in touch with artists, institutions, intellectuals, and other cultural actors so as to exchange information in an effort to pave the wave for the construction of a cooperative network among artists through both bilateral and multilateral projects.