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Latin American Art Resource Project


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The Latin American Art Resource Project (LAARP) is a development program that teaches how to make art and artisanry with low-cost, local resources, reviving the use of traditional practices and demonstrating their economic and artistic benefits. It was founded in 1995 by William Swetcharnik, an artist with extensive experience in traditional painting media, while he was a Senior Fulbright Scholar in Honduras. In its early stages, this program was affiliated with Hood College in Frederick, Maryland. Based in Honduras for seven years, LAARP is now based again in Maryland near Washington, DC. Its projects include:

  • Showing artisans how to add value to their products, decorating them with paints prepared from local colors of earth.
  • Helping schools which can't afford imported art materials, to make their own materials with locally available resources.
  • Working with schoolchildren to beautify their communities with low-cost murals.
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In 2006, LAARP was incorporated into an expanded framework under the name Art Resources for Sustainable Development and Education (ARSde) in order to make its services available worldwide.

As the two program sites are in the process of being merged, please note that this section (LAARP) contains much less information than the new section (ARSde). However, the Art and Photo Gallery in this site has some features of interest not found in the new site.



National Capital Post Office, Box 77794, Washington, DC 20013 USA   |   301.831.7286, 301.829.0137