Over the past couple of months in Peru, I have spent quite a lot of time with an inspirational individual and his small theatre group, out in the suburbs of Lima, in Villa Maria del Triunfo. Fernando Flores has been pushing to open a local drama centre to make theatre accessible to youth from the area who may otherwise not be able to afford it. 45% of the people living in Villa María del Triunfo live on or below the poverty line. Fernando is a qualified performing arts teacher, who is employed to teach at ENSAD in the centre of Lima. He currently volunteers his time in several local schools who have no budget in their curriculum for drama classes. He also teaches a young theatre troupe in his spare time, in both performing arts, and also in teaching for those who are interested.
Richard Coates, a British man has been working with Fernando to put together a non-profit organization and raise the funding required to one day open a large performing arts centre in Villa Maria del Triunfo. For more information on FcLcc as a non-profit organization in the UK, and to find out about what they are doing, please check out their website
Here are a few photos of Fernando at work, and in his community, working with theatre students:
