San Pacho in Colombia

Presented by the Carter School's Better Evidence Project (BEP)  

Title: San Pacho in Colombia: From Pain to Hope, Art and Culture that Transforms Life. 

Quibdó is a municipality nestled in the heart of Colombia’s Pacific region, full of colors, flavors, rhythms, and living memories. Its streets echo the heritage of people who, despite centuries of exclusion and marginalization, have woven with dignity a unique multicultural identity in Colombia. This event seeks to showcase this landscape of exemplary resistance—community struggles for recognition, autonomy, and long-term peace. In Quibdó’s challenging context, art has emerged as a beacon of transformation, a powerful tool for healing wounds and fostering hope. During the emblematic Festivities of Saint Francis of Assisi—recognized by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity—the fusion of religious devotion, ethnic pride, and artistic expression has allowed local communities to use the celebrations as a path to process grief, frustration, and anguish—through dance, song, and prayer, they find ways to reframe pain and give it new meaning. This event will highlight the transformative power of art in the ethnic city of Quibdó, those sacred cultural moments where music, dance, and faith can, even if only briefly, suspend the shadow of violence. It reveals that Quibdó not only survives it creates, transforms, sings, prays... and above all, resists.  

Speakers:  

• Yancy Andrade, First Lady, Social Coordinator: Mayor's Office of Quibdó, Colombia. 
• Jackson Ramirez, Leader of the Arts and Traditions, Director of Franciscan Fairs and Festivities, Master of the Viche. 
• Rebecca Gindele, Director of the Public Relations Department. 
• Francisco Leudo, OFM, Order of Friars Minor, Franciscan Community.
• Niza Uribe, Cultural Advisor, Mayor's Office of Quibdó, Colombia. 
• Melvin Hardy, Instructor at the Political Leadership Academy of TCS, Carter School. 
• Moderator: Juan Fernando Lucio, Director of PASO Colombia.