Maya Traditions Journal > Meet Our New Partners–The Thread Caravan!

We are excited to announce a new partnership with The Thread Caravan, a business that will offer art workshops around the world. By participating, individuals learn about traditional craft production, while also experiencing scenery and adventures unique to each destination. The first destination is Guatemala, where participants will learn the art of backstrap weaving with our artisans at Maya Traditions Foundation. Here, founder Caitlin Ahern shares a bit about The Thread Caravan: 

 Hi, I’m Caitlin, an artist with a passion for travel and helping others. I’m merging these interests by creating The Thread Caravan. Our comprehensive travel packages take participants to different communities around the world where they learn cultural arts from communities of artisans who have been at it for generations. Participants don’t just buy Fair Trade creations–they go to the source, learning and practicing the creative process with the artisans themselves.
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Caitlin and Thread Caravan partner Shannon

The Thread Caravan model empowers artisan educators, providing them financial support while allowing them to continue practicing  and promoting their craft. In this way, it also preserves traditional art forms. Artisans are able to continue working at their craft rather than succumbing to financial pressures. By learning from these artisans and watching the intricate art process, we hope to shift consumer buying patterns from quantity to quality. We want to educate people about the work that goes into making handmade goods, so that consumers don’t view things as so disposable, and opt to support handicrafts over factory production.

We are super excited to announce that we’ll be partnering with Maya Traditions for our first (and ongoing) artisan workshops! Maya Traditions’ missions to empower artisans and preserve the cultural art of backstrap weaving both resonate strongly with us.

Our first official workshop will take place this August on the coast of Lake Atitlan in Guatemala. We’ll learn weaving from the artisans, hike a volcano and see lava, visit ancient Maya ruins, try local food, spend a night dancing in Antigua, and have lots of relaxing bonding time at the lovely Pamakanya villa.

If you book the August workshop before June 1st,  you can receive our Early Bird Special ($200 off with code “earlybird”)!zgG3bh1430154372

We hope to see you there!

www.threadcaravan.com

Inquiries: [email protected]

Member of the
World Fair Trade Organization