Hernán Marín Program

The Hernán Marín Program is an arts and culture non-profit effort and a project of the One Sample Cultural Foundation.

Goals:

To preserve, promote and develop the traditional folk music and performers from the Eastern Venezuela region, a genre locally known as “joropo oriental”.

This ancestral musical expression, although underrepresented for decades, is one of the earliest post-Columbian artistic forms developed and adopted by the people in the Americas. Led and preserved by the working class of fishermen and farmers in the eastern-Venezuela coast for centuries, “joropo oriental” has played an influential role on many musical forms across the continent. Hernán Marín is considered the most influential artist in “joropo oriental” history due to his contributions. This program is an effort inspired by Marín and supported by him and his contributors to continue this noble cause.

Hernán Marín Biography: 

Born October 6, 1940, in Cumaná, Venezuela and still residing there, Hernán Marín is an acclaimed singer, songwriter, musician, researcher, instructor, and Venezuelan icon considered by many the most influential artist in “joropo oriental” history. This recognition is a result of his lifelong artistic career and his extensive and unparalleled contribution, regarded as a Cultural Heritage. Marín has documented his life’s work through invaluable music recordings, expressing many of the regional folk musical forms that might have otherwise disappeared. His music might be the single most important item contributing to the prominence of the “joropo oriental” as a canonical genre of the Venezuelan national identity and heritage. His work is recognized by numerous local institutions, as well as internationally, including the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution.

Project: Young Artist 2024

The Young Artist Program 2024 consists of a grant aimed at supporting a young artist or musical group in recording an unpublished folkloric-theme track, representative of the cultural heritage of the eastern Venezuela region.

General Rules/Definitions:
1. Project: The proposal should consist of an unpublished musical track (single) with an approximate duration of 3 minutes, either instrumental or instrumental/vocal. The style should be traditional/folkloric, representing the eastern region of Venezuela.
2. Age requirement: The program is intended to support artists or groups formed exclusively by individuals 25 years old or younger at the time of application.
3. Musical styles: The musical style must reflect the folk genres and forms of eastern Venezuela and must be accepted by the program judges.
4. Skill requirements: No formal musical studies are required. Applicants should demonstrate their artistic ability to execute the project at a skill level accepted by the judges.
5. Application dates: Applications for the program will be accepted from September 15 to November 15, 2024.
6. Project execution date: The grantee must carry out the project, including the publication of the recording, before July 15, 2025.
7. Deliverables: The main outcome of the project is the publication of the recording on digital platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, etc., using the name of the grantee artist or group.

This information is for general purposes, and the organization’s management reserves the right to modify the program’s rules, at any time, according to its criteria and objectives.