We are a non-profit foundation -created by the Ibáñez Atkinson family-, dedicated to generating opportunities that allow people to access and experience culture, as well as value and protect their environment. Our passion for music, reading and the environment moves us to build a better Chile.
Our mission
Prepare and promote cultural and environmental development projects in the country with special emphasis on the integral development of young people through music, reading and conservation programs.
Our vision
Build a more cultured and sustainable Chile for the benefit of current and future generations.
Our values
Culture
Excellence
Commitment
Respect
Trust
Founders
Felipe Ibáñez Scott, Tomás Ibáñez Atkinson, Sebastián Ibáñez Atkinson, Antonia Ibáñez Atkinson, Roberto Ibáñez Atkinson, Heather Atkinson Young.
Board of directors
Felipe Ibáñez Scott
Chairman
Heather Atkinson Young
Board Member
Antonia Ibáñez Atkinson
Board Member
Tomás Ibáñez Atkinson
Board Member
Sebastián Ibáñez Atkinson
Board Member
Roberto Ibáñez Atkinson
Board Member
Team
Daniela de Valle González
Executive Director
Antonia Ibáñez Atkinson
Director of Environment
Andrés Rodríguez Spoerer
Director of Music
Paula Sousa Silva
Música Educa Coordinator
Omar Davison Toro
Huiscapi Coordinator
Eduardo Aninat
Conservation Program Coordinator
Tamara Arce Canales
Naturaleza Educa Coordinator
Emilia Castillo Ureta
Co-Head of Music Educa
Mariana Karachov Beraja
Co-Head of Music Educa
Emma Dill
Co-Head of Naturaleza Educa
María Jesús Aguirre E.
Co-Head of Naturaleza Educa
Lorena Lira Ugarte
Head of Lectura Educa, Huiscapi
Margarita Castillo Vicuña
Head of Soy Emprendedor, Huiscapi
Consuelo Altamirano Quezada
Head of Deporte Educa, Huiscapi
María Pía Guzmán
Management assistant
A human team that believes in opportunities and the integral development of people.
History
- In the field of music, we inaugurated the Ibáñez Atkinson Room at the Santiago Municipal Theater and signed a partnership agreement with the Vienna Volksoper.
- The Kodály Institute’s courses attracted 71 teachers from Chile, Paraguay and the United States; and we held the Música Educa Choral Event, bringing together nearly 200 students.
- Our Environment team organized the First Naturaleza Educa Networking Event and engaged 1,500 children in the Explorando mi Entorno
- We inaugurated new phases of environmental infrastructure at Punta de Lobos Park and the Laguna and Estero Catapilco wetlands in Zapallar.
- Our Reading area held the first edition of the Yo Te Cuento Video Contest.
- We launched a project to preserve and open Chiloé’s historic churches.
- FIA was invited to represent the Culture category at the Avonni awards, Chile’s leading accolade for innovation.
- FIA’s General Manager Daniela del Valle received the “100 Women Leaders” award from Mujeres Empresarias and El Mercurio.
- FIA sealed a partnership with the Jette Parker Artists Programme (Royal Opera House, London) to develop training opportunities for exceptionally talented artists in Chile and South America.
- The foundation collaborated with Chile’s Youth Orchestra Foundation to hold the Victor Alarcón Diaz National Choral Festival.
- Experts Borbála Szirányi (Hungary), Jorge Fuentes (Argentina) and Mariana Pechuan (Argentina) joined the Música Educa teaching staff.
- The second Explorando mi Entorno contest, organized in collaboration with UC CEDEL, extended its scope to include Chile’s Coquimbo and Metropolitan regions.
- Through a new agreement with TNC, we contributed to protecting 30 hectares of high Andean wetlands in the Metropolitan Region.
- As part of the Planeta Ahora environmental initiative, we inaugurated educational infrastructure at Punta de Lobos park and signed an agreement with the Municipality of Zapallar to develop projects related to the Laguna y Estero Catapilco wetlands. We also signed agreements with the Mi Parque, Cerros Isla and Patio Vivo foundations to support the development of greener cities.
- The El Placer de Oír Leer contest earned the AVONNI National Innovation Award in the culture category and the Eikon Award for Excellence in Institutional Communication with gold in the cultural sustainability category.
- We launched Yo Te Cuento, a contest that invites seventh and eighth graders to create a video with reading recommendations.
- We partnered with the Chiloé Heritage Churches Foundation to contribute to conserving these churches.
- Heather Atkinson was named one of Chile’s 100 Women Leaders, an award given by Mujeres Empresarias, an organization that promotes profesional development opportunities for businesswomen and El Mercurio newspaper.
- FIA organizes an unprecedented audition for Chilean singers in Europe at the Theater Erfurt in Germany. John Norris offered a masterclass for FIA-YAP singers at the Santiago Municipal Theater, which was open to the public.
- The foundation launched the Kodály Institute with the accomplished American educator Lydia Mills serving as director.
- Explorando mi Entorno, a new environmental exploration contest organized in collaboration with UC CEDEL, invited sixth to eighth graders to investigate a local ecosystem and drew 270 children from Chile’s La Araucanía Region.
- Working with The Nature Conservancy, the foundation published Manual de buenas prácticas medioambientales para vecinos de humedales, a comprehensive guide to best conservation practices for those living near wetlands.
- For the first time, the final round of El Placer de Oír Leer was broadcast nationwide on Chile’s NTV, a TVN channel.
- FIA expanded its territorial approach and published Cuentos de las islas de Chiloé, a collection of stories from the Chiloé Islands created by local writers and illustrators. Over 3,400 copies were distributed to the 263 schools on Isla Grande, the archipelago’s largest island.
- Five FIA-YAP students continued their training with prominent international coaches, including David Gowland (Royal Opera House), Bradley Moore (MET Opera), John Norris (Berliner Staatsoper), Paul Curran (LA Phil) and Adrian Kelly (Salzburg Festival).
- The Ibáñez Atkinson Foundation became the Latin American representative of the Paris Opera Competition, establishing new connections between Chilean and Latin American artists and the global opera scene.
- Over 100 teachers from six countries participated in Música Educa workshops, which included the usual Kodály, Orff-Schulwerk and Dalcroze training, along with sessions focused on enhancing music education through streaming.
- The Ibáñez Atkinson Foundation began implementing the Project Learning Tree methodology in schools.
- The El Placer de Oír Leer read-aloud contest attracted 20 thousand students from Arica to Punta Arenas.
- The Ibáñez Atkinson Young Artist Program (FIA-YAP) was created in partnership with the Santiago Municipal Theater to train exceptionally talented Chilean lyric singers.
- The FIA scholarship program awarded twelve artists funding for their tuition, fees and living expenses at institutions in Chile, Canada, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Austria and Russia.
- The Música Educa program offered six trainings on the Kodály and Orf methods, attracting 229 teachers from countries including Chile, Puerto Rico, the United States, Argentina, Mexico and El Salvador.
- The environment area offered 50 teachers training based on the internationally renowned Project Learning Tree program.
- The sixth iteration of the El Placer de Oír Leer read-aloud contest, conducted in collaboration with the Yo Te Leo Foundation, attracted over 15 thousand students.
- International consultant and FIA advisor David Blackburn collaborated with the foundation to audition Chilean singers for the semifinal round of the Competizione dell`Opera in Russia. Pianist Helmut Deutsch conducted a masterclass, while luthier and FIA scholarship recipient Pilar Campos, along with German master Stefan Sielaff, facilitated a workshop. The Puedes Cantar training program brought together 500 children for a play that premiered at Teatro del Lago.
- Also that year, La Belleza de Cantar—a radio program hosted by the Ibáñez Atkinson Foundation’s Director of Music, Andrés Rodríguez Spoerer—premiered on Radio Beethoven, and the foundation signed a collaboration agreement with the Santiago Municipal Theater to train lyric singers.
- The Música Educa program offered 10 trainings on musical methods, singing and folklore, benefiting 239 teachers in Chile.
- Over 33 thousand children participated in a new version of the El Placer de Oír Leer read-aloud contest.
- The foundation sealed a partnership with The Nature Conservancy and Project Learning Tree to develop environmental education programs and with Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile to promote education for sustainable development.
- Latin American auditions for the Paris Opera Competition took place in Santiago, Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires. A partnership with the Beethoven Foundation produced the Beethoven Va al Colegio educational concerts initiative. The Puedes Cantar training program, a collaboration with Teatro del Lago, brought together 300 children from 17 choirs in southern Chile.
- The Ibáñez Atkinson Foundation partnered with the Kennedy Foundation on an environmental education program at two primary schools in Huiscapi and supported the “Nature, a Platform for Education” seminar featuring British professor Pete Higgins.
- The Ibáñez Atkinson Foundation was named the official organizer of the Paris Opera Competition auditions in Latin America.
- The international seminar on “The Importance of Music Education in the School Curriculum” featured experiences from Education Through Music, Papageno Music School, Teatro del Lago and Música Educa.
- The new Huiscapi Cuéntame program led to the publication of a book of local folk tales entitled Relatos populares de Huiscapi. The Ibáñez Atkinson Foundation partnered with the Yo Te Leo Foundation to organize the El Placer de Oír Leer read-aloud contest.
- As it took the first steps toward creating the environment area, the foundation conducted an in-depth study of national and international experiences. It signed an agreement with the Kennedy Foundation to provide environmental education courses for teachers in Zapallar, collaborated with the foundation Bosques de Zapallar to create two lookout points and partnered with the Ilumina Foundation on the “Reconnecting Children with Nature” seminar.
- The foundation created its reading area and formed a partnership with Crecer con Todos Educational Foundation, with which it began offering the Primero Lee literacy program.
- In the realm of music, the foundation signed an agreement with CorpArtes to promote concerts and create educational videos. It also contributed significantly to the post-fire reconstruction of the Santiago Municipal Theater.
- The foundation established the Música Educa program in collaboration with Education Through Music. It created the Red Coral choral network and launched the Soy Emprendedor entrepreneurship program in Huiscapi, located in Chile’s Araucanía Region. Additionally, the Ibáñez Atkinson Foundation signed agreements with Teatro del Lago and the Papageno Music School, initiating the Puedes Cantar training and Do Re Mi music lessons programs, respectively.
- The Ibáñez Atkinson Foundation was established and launched its first program, FIA Scholarships, for Chilean musicians.
- The Ibáñez Atkinson family studied various international philanthropic experiences.
- Felipe Ibáñez, Heather Atkinson and their children Antonia, Tomás, Sebastián and Roberto took the first steps toward establishing the foundation.
Memories