Violence plunged after he brought the arts to a Tijuana neighborhood
By Whitney Eulich, CS Monitor, June 9, 2016
TIJUANA, MEXICO--At the top of a hill in Camino Verde, a neighborhood long known for its gang turf wars and struggling families, sits a drab concrete-slab building.
It’s a substantive structure, which stands out in this community of informally built homes in Tijuana, Mexico. And that’s the whole idea.
“We built a bunker, and it changed everything,” says Raúl Cárdenas Osuna, an architect and artist who uses his hands--and cellphone photos--as he animatedly describes his work.
Mr. Cárdenas is the founder and director of Torolab, an art and urban planning collective founded in Tijuana in 1995. He’s dedicated his life to creating social change through community-driven art initiatives, and his unique outlook played an important role in transforming Camino Verde from a grim environment into a neighborhood of hope and promise.
The “bunker” houses the Torolab project known as La Granja Transfronteriza, or La Granja (The Farm) for short--a place brimming with the arts and more that draws community members of all ages.
Between 2007 and 2010, at the height of drug cartel violence, citizens fled abroad or holed up indoors, businesses shuttered, and tourism, crucial to the economy, plummeted to historic lows. As Tijuana garnered a reputation as one of the most violent places in the world, Camino Verde held the inglorious title of the most dangerous neighborhood in the city.
But today, Camino Verde’s story is changing. And La Granja, founded in 2010, has been no small factor.
On weekday afternoons, the bunker is bustling with young kids screeching out notes on their violins under the guidance of instructors, some from the Orchestra of Baja California. Families gather on the weekend to grow vegetables in the nascent community garden. A basic kitchen techniques course is taught by Tijuana’s renowned Culinary Art School. There’s a computer lab upstairs, and parents can pursue their GED certificates after work.
Most strikingly, however, violence in Camino Verde has plunged, falling by 85 percent since 2010, according to Torolab staff, citing state statistics.
“Just saying that [number] I get a lump in my throat. It gives me chills. This was one of the most violent places in the world, where you weren’t expected to make it out,” Cárdenas says. “Now it’s common to see governments and arts schools from around the globe coming to the neighborhood to learn.”
La Granja currently runs off government and private grants, as well as artwork sales by Torolab. But Cárdenas hopes that by early next year, it will be self-sustaining.
Already, the project has received multiple prizes and global recognition, including being selected as the best arts-intervention project with a social impact by Harvard University’s Cultural Agents Initiative, which found it could be replicated in other neighborhoods across the world.
“If this works in Camino Verde,” Cárdenas says, “I know we can empower other places, too.”
