To whom it may concern at the Western North Carolina Fibers/Handweavers Guild,

My name is Elena Prichard, I am writing on behalf of  Samantha Hickman, Director of Experiences and Operations at Raices Andinas, and Director of Experiential Learning at the  Andean Alliance for Sustainable Development (AASD), a 5013c Non-Profit in the States and Peru. I have copied my colleagues, Samantha Hickman and Marta Nali, in this email.

We are not Instructors but are a tourism agency that offers very in-depth textile workshops throughout Peru. Our organization focuses on capacity building in indigenous communities around the Cusco Region in Peru. We run customized educational tours with students, weavers guilds, families, businesses, and the list goes on. We have been running educational tours since 2011. The AASD is our parent organization which seeks to support indigenous communities through funding and capacity building in agriculture projects, and the arm of Raices Andinas, focuses on tourism, aiming to facilitate educational tours that value ancestral knowledge, bringing more attention, and economic benefit to these communities. Tourism in Cusco is largely focused on Machu Picchu, however, we do things differently. Machu Picchu is the cherry on top of an incredible trip of connecting with community, valuing ancestral knowledge, and enjoying new experiences. 

I am attaching our 2026 Weavers itinerary for reference. We have run this tour with members of the Minnesota Weavers Guild two years running, and it has been a great success. We are looking to reach out to other guilds in the states to gauge interest. We run at least one of these tours a year, but also, with enough interest we can run a second tour at a time of your convenience. The tour is focused on learning from ancestral weaving techniques and symbolism. It is practical, and activities can be adjusted for weavers of all levels, from beginners to advanced.

Let me know if you think this would be of interest to your guild, or if you would like to organize a meeting so we can introduce ourselves properly and talk through the itinerary.

You can also contact Nancy Ebner at naebner@msn.com, a past participant of our tour, if you have any questions about the experience and workshops! 

Wishing you all the best,

Kind regards,

Elena