Join us for a special evening with Quechua elder, master weaver, and cultural ambassador Nilda Callañaupa Alvarez, visiting from Chinchero, Peru.
As the founder and director of the Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco, Nilda has spent her life revitalizing and preserving the ancestral textile traditions of the Andes. She will share the deep cultural knowledge, spiritual symbolism, and communal practices woven into every thread of traditional Quechua weaving. Drawing from her remarkable journey—from her early days herding sheep in the highlands to leading an international movement for textile preservation—Nilda offers a rare window into a living lineage.
The evening will also include a short Q&A and a curated pop-up textile market, featuring handmade pieces from her community in the Cusco region. Each textile is a work of art, carrying generations of tradition, meaning, and intention. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from one of Peru’s most respected voices in cultural preservation and indigenous arts.
Requested donation: $25; no one turned away for lack of funds. Contact us for assistance.
About Nilda
Nilda Callañaupa Alvarez was born in the small community of Chinchero, Peru. Like many other children, she was responsible for taking care of her family’s flock of sheep. Watching over them in the fields, she spent her time learning to spin and weave with her friends. As she grew and learned more complex designs, her curiosity was sparked. She could see there was a powerful history behind the art of her people, but that it was slowly being lost. When Nilda was a teenager she befriended an ethnobotanist and anthropologist who moved to Chinchero in the 1970s. With their encouragement, she embarked on a journey that would change the fate of Cusco textiles. After becoming the first person from her community to attend college, she went on to become one of the founders of the The Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco,a non-profit organization that promotes the empowerment of weavers through the revitalization and sustainable practice of Peruvian ancestral textiles in the Cusco region. Together they help enable the weavers to maintain their identity and textile traditions while improving their quality of life through education and promotion of their textile art. Now as the director of the CTTC, and also an award-winning author of multiple books on Peruvian Weaving, an international speaker, and expert in the textiles of her region, Nilda has traveled around the world sharing the special and ancient knowledge of her culture's artisans.
Centro de Textiles Tradicionales del Cusco: www.textilescusco.org
