About Us

Hilos Culturales – Cultural Threads, is a Colorado non-profit organization that was founded in 2000 to promote the distinct Indio-Hispano cultural arts traditions of the upper Río Grande region of northern New Mexico and southern Colorado.  For generations, these traditions have been maintained and transferred through oral customs.  Be it music, dance, storytelling, woodcarving or weaving, Hilos Culturales strives to provide the finest models, teachers, mentors and instructional materials to realize our vision.

Our History

Hilos Culturales has excelled in its efforts to share and document numerous cultural programs through various formats that include conferences, workshops and lecture demonstrations at their annual Hilos Summer Institute.  Through its publication, “¡Viva La Tradición!” , twelve years of award winning musicians and folk dancers are highlighted in photographs and biographies as recipients of the annual Premio Hilos Culturales - Traditional Folk Artist Lifetime Achievement Award.   Their documentary film, “Cultural Threads,” captures twenty five Hilos Institute faculty who present a broad range of topics in seminars which take place in San Luis, the oldest town in Colorado. 

 These unique regional practices and customs are now provided through a Cultural Arts Film Series that can be utilized to further understand the lifeways of the Indio – Hispano communities in this geographical region of the upper Río Grande…Linking past generations to the present.