Courses for both professional and beginning mariachi musicians start at the academy on September 10. The diplomas will be validated by the Jalisco Culture Secretariat, says Juan Pablo Avelar, director of the new institution.
Each course will cost 2,000 pesos, have a duration of 120 hours and run for six months. Students can choose between morning and afternoon classes.The Casa de la Cultura will also house the new Centro Documental del Mariachi. An initial donation of 50,000 hours of digitalized recorded music, radio programs and mariachi-related events has been made by the Fonoteca Nacional, the body charged with preserving Mexico’s audiovisual heritage. In addition, to start the collection the center has received several hundred books, videos and vinyl records pertaining to the mariachi genre. The public will be able to use the center’s eight computers to reference all of the material.
At the inauguration of the center this week, Jonathan Clark, a researcher at the University of Southern California, donated a book titled “El folclor y la música mexicana, la investigación de la cultura musical en Mexico.”
The mariachi center will be open Monday to Friday, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Casa de la Cultura Jalisciense is located at the corner of Av. 16 de Septiembre and Constituyentes, across from the entrance to the Agua Azul Park.