Many years ago Jess Davila's father, Victor Davila, then eight years old, said no thank you to his father, a wealthy rancher in the Sierra Madre region of Sonora Mexico, who offered him a 1,500 acre ranch and a large heard of cattle if Victor would remain in Huachinera with his family and raise his children there. Victor knew that education was the only way to a better life for his children and was determined to take his family north to the United States, which he did. Many years later after ensuring his children’s education and having retired from a successful business career, Victor returned to Huachinera and purchased that same ranch from his brother-in-law along with an additional 10,000 acres.
Jess Davila, now a young man and a very successful artist never lost the love for his beautiful mountain village of Huachinera, whose population historically was comprised of cattle ranchers. It was hard to watch his hometown’s population of approximately 1,500 dwindle to well under a thousand people. Jess decided that he wanted to give something back to his town; to help stop the outward migration of his childhood home. It had to be something that would give the young people in this mountain community hope for a better life if they were to remain. He thought that something, if done properly, could create an economic engine for the entire region.
Why not Art? Art had been very good to Jess, and he reasoned that if he could somehow construct a teaching center in Huachinera it would not only stimulate the creativity of the young people there, but could be developed in such a way as to involve the entire populous of the region.
In 1999/2000 over dinner one night, Jess decided to share his vision with his very dear friend and fellow artist Guadalupe Apodaca, known as Lupe. He told Lupe that he wanted to give something back to his community that would not only inspire creativity that he believed existed in the children there, but that would also create employment and drive the economy upward for the region. By the time dinner was finished Lupe was fully on board with the idea! His first question was; “when can we start holding classes?”
On their very first trip to Huachinera to offer classes, Jess and Lupe showed up with a truck load of art materials that had been donated not only by them, but other artists with whom they had shared this idea. The word was out, and they began to invite other artists to participate. The response from the people living in the region was overwhelming. For example, after the first teaching session they were honored at a special party by children and adults alike, where they were presented with gifts of homemade breads and canned goods. You could see it in the faces of everyone, there was no doubt that Jess and Lupe had prepared the right canvas. The next day as they were leaving Huachinera the children and their teachers ran out of their classrooms to line the street and wave good-bye to their new friends. This was just the beginning!
As the word spread, additional artists volunteered to participate, artists like Pablo Milan, an artist of certain national stature, who then put the word out to other artists. Enter another outstanding artist, Jason Napier and his wife Danielle who have been stalwarts from the beginning and have worked diligently to help make this vision a reality. It was now obvious however, that a handful of artists could not fund such a project and that additional monies were necessary. The group was made aware that two things needed to happen to bring about this reality. First, tax exempt organizations in both Mexico and the U.S. had to be created to accommodate philanthropy; then fund-raising events were to be decided upon.
"CACH" Centro Artistico y Cultural de Huachinera, a Civil Association became the Mexican equivalent to an American 501(c)3 corporation and "HEART", Huachinera Enterprise For Arts & Rural Traditions was created to become the American non-profit parallel. It was then decided to hold an Art Auction in Arizona, but having little or no cash, other artists would have to agree to donate their work to this event. Their plan worked beyond expectation; the event was a huge success, and 100% of the monies raised made it possible to begin construction on the first building located on a beautiful thirteen acre mesa campus site, which Jess was able to convince the people of Huachinera to donate, thus becoming the Huachinera Arts & Cultural Center. Fund-raising events in Mexico followed as well.
Two student architects, Ernesto Ruiz and Raquel Cordova, at the University of Sonora heard about the project and asked if they could do their graduate thesis on it. They met with Jess several times in Hermosillo and Huachinera where he defined his vision, and explained to them that most of the materials to be used in the building process had to come from the Sierra Madre region, thus creating and maintaining jobs for the citizens of that region. The main construction material, native Adobe, is what has been used in the region for centuries, and the timber and vigas were also to be from this area. Jess explained that the rest of the processed lumber must be purchased from the local lumber mill as well. Ernesto and Raquel embraced his vision, accepted these terms and went to work creating the plans for what is becoming EL Centro Artistico y Cultural de Huachinera or the Artistic and Cultural Center of Huachinera. With these architectural plans, maquettes and the virtual rendering in hand, Jess and Lupe went to work.
With architectural materials now available to present their vision, they engaged Alejandro Sierra to act as the projects spokesman in Hermosillo, Sonora with the States Arts & Cultural Institute. After learning about the project, the institute granted CACH its first art show at the annual festival in Alamos, Sonora. There they spoke to then Governor Eduardo Bours about the project along with the Cultural Director for the state as well as other dignitaries. They were so convincing in demonstrating what they had done all on their own, that they were granted additional invitations to art shows at the Instituto Sonorense de Cultura, and the prestigious Centro de las Artes at the University of Sonora, where Jess and his students from Huachinera were asked to present their stone sculptures. The show titled "5 Escultores y Un Maestro" (5 Sculptors and a Master) was a spectacular success! This opened many doors including an in depth meeting with Governor Bours, where he was asked to lay the corner stone of the first structure to be built. The Governor accepted the invitation.
It was after that when Alejandro and Jess started meeting with the right people in Hermosillo where additional doors began to open. One of those open doors was to the office of Guatimoc Yberri, who after hearing Alejandro and Jess’s presentation, totally embraced the idea and proceeded to arrange additional interviews with other influential people under his direction. It was at these meetings where they were able to present the project to several state and federal dignitaries. Soon after that Jess was informed that the project had been accepted for the program “Tres por uno para Migrantes" (Three-for-one for Migrants). This meant that for every dollar contributed to the project, the Federal, State & Municipal governments would each contribute a dollar ($1contribution + $3 government monies =$4 to the project).
As of this date, nearly five of the six buildings in Phase One have been constructed. All six buildings are scheduled to be completed by June 30, 2010. We estimate that more than $4,500,000 will be spent on construction expenses for the completion of Phase One.
We are happy to report that the population of Huachinera has not only stabilized, but is again growing. There have been 24 new cottage developments break ground in the last 24 months, which includes a significant Bed & Breakfast community, underwritten financially by the State of Sonora, with necessary hospitality training provided by the Tourism Department. The Huachinera Arts & Cultural Center is no longer just a vision or a dream, but a reality!
We can now say without qualification, the economic engine is running!
