Crafts Businesses The artisanal sector in Ayacucho is still organized as family enterprises, although most talleres, or workshops, are formally constituted as small businesses. Workshops may employ up to 15 workers and family members. Usually the master artisan heading the workshop receives the credit for all work as he teaches each new apprentice, designs, innovates, and manages the business. It is possible for talented apprentices to work with a master artisan from 10 to 20 years and then branch out into a new workshop. In that way, apprentices have access to some social and economic mobility and the artisan community gains new contributors.
Nowadays, parents are open to the possibility of children attending college and becoming professionals, leaving the choice to their sons and daughters of following the family trade or not. There are cases when children choose other professions and family workshops close or drastically reduce activities after the master artisan retires. However, because apprentices often take with them the traditional style of their teacher, their art is preserved. |
