BIOGRAPHY Juan Diego was born on June 26 Th, 1987, in Quito, Ecuador. His passion for music developed at an early age, since it has always been an important factor in his mother´s family. Curently everybody sings or plays diferent instruments. At the age of 3, he settled down in Chile with his parent and sister. Soon after his arrival to the new country, he was diagnosed Muscular Dystrophy duchenne. Nonetheless. he is a extremely cheerful boy whith a contagious humor. He regularly attends the British School, "The International preparatory School", where he learned to speak English fluently, and where he participates in all the school´s artistic programs. Juan Diego demonstrated his artistic skills repeatedly with his family and in his school, while participating in different plays and activities. Hence, his musical carrer began to develop: His first performances were at local musical festivals, in which he always was among the first places. Then, he was invited by Alter Ego, a rehabilitation center, to perform in one of their charity events. He did so, on August 1th, 2000. Unexpectedly, this event triggered JD into the artistic world since numerous national celebrities attended the event, it was broadcasted in the main chilean Tv channel, and had a live audience of 1500 people, Juan Diego´s performance was a total success. In fact, he was immediately invited to participate in a well known national contest called "Nace una Estrella" ("A star is born") in which he won the singing segment (defeating older, and musically educated people). By now, Juan Diego was getting invitations to different Tv channels, and in one of these, Don Francisco, the host of the Chilean Telethon, proposed him to sing in the closure of that year´s Telethon. Due to his emotionally touching performance, new opportunities arouse. Don Francisco, once again, invited him to Sabado Gigante Internacional, broadcasted in Miami. National and international reporters interviewed him, and he was currently being invited to other events and TV shows. A couple of months later, Alberto Plaza, an internationally known Chilean singer, invited him to perform a few songs in both of his concerts in Ecuador, which were a success. They also took the time to perform for the handicapped in Fundación Guayasamín.. ** Recently, Juan Diego, with the help of his family and friends, initiated a Foundation “Juan Diego Beyond the Stars.” Its short term goal is to create “The House of Joy” in which handicapped people will be able to attend to all kind of cultural events, such as concerts, plays, speeches, etc., activities which are usually off their limits, due to the infrastructure of the places. Right now, the main obstacle to achieve this, is the financial problems, which is why we need all kind of support from anyone who is willing to help this cause! So far, the costs have been self-financed through personalized guitar and singing classes offered to all kind of people. Juan Diego was born on June 26 Th, 1987, in Quito, Ecuador. His passion for music developed at an early age, since it has always been an important factor in his mother´s family. Curently everybody sings or plays diferent instruments. At the age of 3, he settled down in Chile with his parent and sister. Soon after his arrival to the new country, he was diagnosed Muscular Dystrophy duchenne. Nonetheless. he is a extremely cheerful boy whith a contagious humor.He regularly attends the British School, "The International preparatory School", where he learned to speak English fluently, and where he participates in all the school´s artistic programs. Juan Diego demonstrated his artistic skills repeatedly with his family and in his school, while participating in different plays and activities. Hence, his musical carrer began to develop: His first performances were at local musical festivals, in which he always was among the first places. Then, he was invited by Alter Ego, a rehabilitation center, to perform in one of their charity events. He did so, on August 1th, 2000. Unexpectedly, this event triggered JD into the artistic world since numerous national celebrities attended the event, it was broadcasted in the main chilean Tv channel, and had a live audience of 1500 people, Juan Diego´s performance was a total success. In fact, he was immediately invited to participate in a well known national contest called "Nace una Estrella" ("A star is born") in which he won the singing segment (defeating older, and musically educated people). By now, Juan Diego was getting invitations to different Tv channels, and in one of these, Don Francisco, the host of the Chilean Telethon, proposed him to sing in the closure of that year´s Telethon. Due to his emotionally touching performance, new opportunities arouse. Don Francisco, once again, invited him to Sabado Gigante Internacional, broadcasted in Miami. National and international reporters interviewed him, and he was currently being invited to other events and TV shows.
THE FOUNDATION , IN ONE PAGE.... Fundación Juan Diego Más Allá de las Estrellas was founded on November 20, 2002 by Resolution 4504 issued by the Ministry of Education and Culture, and started to operate immediately in rented offices until the offer of the Municipality of Quito was materialized. Since then until now, it has continued in rented offices with the consequent financial problem that this has brought with it. The Foundation has undertaken multiple activities, among which the principal ones are mentioned; - Song and guitar workshops, training more than 130 students. - Promotion of the artistic and social work of Juan Diego, facilitating multiple charity presentations of the small artist, in several cities of the country and abroad (Collaboration with Fundacion Guayasamín-Capilla del Hombre-Fundación Solidaridad (street children workers – Guayaquil ), Miss Universo 2004-SOLCA among the principal ones. - Preparation of several social and cultural studies: “La Casa de la Alegría” (project designed to entertain and integrate disabled people), “Creation of Student Serenaders and Strolling Student Bands of Quito” project designed to rescue the musical traditions of Quito), “One hundred voices that entertain thousands of disabled people” among the principal ones, which are in search of financing for their immediate start up. - Proceedings to obtain a piece of land to build in future the Casa de la Alegría (multiple proceedings after offer of land on the part of the Municipality of Quito; meetings with private architects; Agreement with the Construction Chamber of Pichincha, proceedings with the Ministry of Social Welfare, Mutualista Pichincha, FYBECA, Banco Centro Mundo, KFC, among others). • Preparation and continuous update of the Web page www,juandiego.com. • Permanent help to Juan Diego for the achievement of his mission in life.../
SUPORT FOUNDATION LETTER Santiago , March 22, 2006 . Dear friends, We would like to take five minutes of your time to read this letter. We have had the experience of having Juan Diego in our family and we are sure he came to this world with a special mission, which is why we want to help him make all his dreams come true. These dreams include his foundation, which we want to help get started. Juan Diego's physical limitations haven't been a reason for him to stop living a normal life; he doesn't feel special and worse yet , in disadvantage from the rest. As he says, “All of us, absolutely all of us have some kind of handicap, only in my case, it's visible.” Nonetheless, it's important to modestly mention that if Juan Diego wouldn't have had the support and love from his family, the cheerful and optimistic life he has; and the plenitude with which we have lived, wouldn't have existed, as this way of live is unique. This, in fact, is what we desire to share with many families and suffering children in order to help them truly transform their lives. As you can see in the “project menu” attached (hopefully you can take another five minutes to read it), one of our objectives is to give motivational, artistic, informative, educational, spiritual and medical presentations, especially for families with special children. With this prelude, we have given ourselves the right to write to all of you because Juan Diego's foundation is going through critical times. Just like what in their days, Don Francisco with his foundation “ La Teletón ”, San Alberto Hurtado with “El Hogar de Cristo” (two current prestigious Chilean foundations), and many others did with their foundations, its our turn to do the same: Ask our friends to help us endure the initial stage of Juan Diego's Foundation (Fundacion Juan Diego mas alla de las estrellas). We do this because the current situation is economically unbearable, to the point that we have thought about closing it due to the lack of resources that could let us work, at list in a minimum matter. We will not inform you about all the things we have done and are doing right now (which soon will be lost if we don't get help) since we know some times we lack the time to read a long letter. However, we would at least like to tell you that as a result of this foundation, Juan Diego has been able to develop himself as a professional through his international artistic life, which has helped his self-esteem even more. He was even mentioned as one of Ecuador 's best citizens throughout history in a national level competition. The foundation has also collaborated with other foundations, especially in Ecuador, through artistic presentations and free motivational presentations, which have helped raise funds for important charity events such as for hospitals for people with cancer, and organizations that assist children living in the streets, among others. Paradoxically however, Juan Diego's foundation has had very few sponsors (among them some of you generous friends), and currently tries to persevere with our own resources and the hard and voluntary work of my brother Pablo, who runs this organization. The foundation has elaborated many project profiles which require financing (Attached), but due to the lack of staff, they haven't been promoted. Similarly, for more than three years, we have been negotiating with Quito 's Municipality for a piece of land. We have also received an important donation of a house, in order for the Foundation to operate from there, however without land, this can not be done. We are even risking the loss of this donation since it was offered some time ago. As you see, we are not starting from zero. On the contrary, we are in an advanced stage which could be positioned soon, after many years of hard work. According to our estimated calculations, we need US$25,000 to finance salaries for one year for two young professionals (US$600 each per month), a secretary (US$300 monthly) and a sound technician (US$600 monthly) in order to operate our recording studio. We will finance the other operational expenses (rent, light, water, phone, equipment, etc) until the projects start running and can self-finance these expenses. If we accomplish this in a year, the foundation will be well positioned since apart from running our written projects which should be self-financed, everything else we have invested on image and trust would deliver its results. If we obtain this initial capital, we could work in an organized manner to look for new organizational sponsors in order to completely sustain our foundation. This US$25,000 is the amount we have proposed ourselves to achieve and for which we can only approach all of you. If we work together, we can all lift up Juan Diego's foundation. It would be even better if your companies could sponsor our foundation so we could start positioning it from now. If this isn't possible, your personal help will be of great help to go on with our mission. Consequently dear friends, we invite you to join us in building this social work around Juan Diego in order to keep sending messages of love, courage and good living, essential items for a better world. To coordinate the details of your valuable contribution, please fill in the following document and send it to us by email. We will then contact you to organize the way of materializing your contribution . From now we thank you for your support. Best regards, María Soledad Valencia de Alarcón, Presidenta Pablo Valencia Albornoz, Director Ejecutivo Gonzalo Alarcón Sáenz Juan Diego Alarcón Valencia Marisol Alarcón Valencia Maria Antonieta Vásquez de Valencia Juan Manuel Nájera Chiriboga
MENU OF PROJECTS That seek financing.... Mega-Project 1 : “La Casa de la Alegría”. (“The House of Joy ”) Objective. Construct an Auditorium designed exclusively with disabled people to carry out motivational therapy of a musical, cultural, didactic type, etc. destined to people with disability and /or their families. Present Situation Profile of the existing project Prefeasibility Study in process of preparation Sponsorships in process: a) Land of the Municipality of Quito; b) construction offices (Mutualista Pichincha); c) Design offices (in existence) Construction Chamber of Pichincha; d) Designs of Casa de la Alegría Construction Chamber of Pichincha (once the land has been obtained). Estimated cost of the project: One million dollars Present requirements. Obtain the donation of the land, offered by the Municipality; Resources for the construction of the Casa de la Alegría and subsequent furnishing. Project 2 : “Once Hundred Voices that Entertain Hundreds of People with Disability”. Objective Organize 50 artistic shows in a year (one per week), directed to entertain in a free way groups of disabled people. The project in addition purports to integrate those people in a better with way their families and with the rest of the community especially school children) and achieve greater sensitivity on the part of the latter. Present situation Profile of the existing project Estimated cost of the project 100.000us. Present requirements Obtain sponsorship to finance the cost of the project. Project 3 : “Faith experiences” Objective Present motivational conferences and make musical presentations in charge of Juan Diego Alarcón, where the artist – supported by a pre-recorded video and several photographs – tells his life, his experiences of faith, his anecdotes, his strengths vis a vis adversity, his personal realization, intercalating four musical presentations, according to the subject addressed. Present situation Juan Diego gave his first musical-motivational conference in April 2005 before a public of 400 people, in the city of Guayaquil (Invitation of Ma. Susana Rivadeneira). He has his talks properly prepared. Approx. 1 hour. Estimated cost of the project. 7.000 US. (includes any international, local transportation, accommodation, meals, fees,...) If advantage is taken of his stay in the country a value of approximately 2,000 US would be added for each additional presentation. Present requirements. Obtain sponsorships to finance these highly motivational presentations directed to multiple publics. Students, sick people, old people, authorities, entrepreneurs, public in general. Project 4 : Juan Diego “Yesterday and Today” Objective Record his second musical CD where a large variety of songs is compiled (different from those of his first CD) that made the artist famous, with child and adult voice. Present situation 10 songs are recorded professionally, which are in the process of masterization. Estimated cost of the project. 10.000 US. to cover cost of tracks, recording, masterization, issue of 2,000 copies (if the commercialization is done in stores engaged in records ), 15,000 US in case the product is for the exclusive use of a sponsoring firm (one year of exclusivity) . Present Requirements: obtain sponsorships that finance this musical product. Projects 5 : Quito Serenades Objective Create inschools of the capital city, strolling musician bands of Quito to relive the Spanish-Quito musical tradition, springing up again the old highly sensitive musical traditions and with family integration effects. Component that should be linked to the rescue of the Historical Center of Quito. Present Situation. Project in existence, presented to Patronato San José (high interest but without any budget up to the moment). Estimated Cost of the project. 30.000 US. To form and train 8 musical groups during a school year. Present Requirements. Sponsorship to finance this project. Project 6 : Singing, guitar and keyboard workshops for students and parents. Objective Develop taste for music for those people who wish to commence, through highly motivating and practical classes (“by ear” but with the basic technique required). The resources of these workshops serve to co-finance the operative expenses of the Foundation. Present situation. Workshops performed successfully, having trained about 100 students in guitar and 30 in singing techniques. Estimated cost of the project Group workshops of guitar: 40 US $ per month; “Private” singing lessons, 20 US $ per hour of classes dictated in a professional recording studio. Present requirements. Sponsorships that can co-finance the cost of such workshops making them more economic. Project 7 : Organization and musical direction for the recording of institutional and school CDS. Objective. Encourage musical practices in institutions (enterprises, organizations) and schools of the city. The project starts with singing classes for the participants, to then continue with the CD recording. The resources collected serve to co-finance the operative expenses of the Foundation . Present Situation. Some projects have been recorded in the Foundation (recording study in the capacity of loan) such as CD of the primary of the School La Condamine. Christmas chorus of Mutualista Pichincha, among the principal ones. Estimated cost of a project - Depends on the size and characteristics of the project, which could cost between 2,000 US to 8,000 US . Present Requirements . Organizations that would like to start this kind of musical projects. Project 8 : Professional Recording Studio Objective. Have a professional recording studio to carry out workshops of modern songs and make CD recordings. The resources collected from the workshops and recordings will serve to co-finance the operative expenses of the Foundation. Present Situation. At this moment the Foundation has, in the capacity of a loan, a professional recording studio, which it would like to buy, at a subsidized price. Cost of the used equipment. 15.000 US. Present requirements.- Donation that would permit the purchase of such equipment. Project 9 : Employment Bank for Disabled Persons Objective. Create an employment organization for disabled persons, that, on the basis of agreements with enterprises and institutions, knows the labor requirements and suggests disabled personnel. Present situation. There is a structured proposal by the Foundation. Estimated Cost of the Project. 33.000 US / year. Present Requirements. Sponsorship to carry out this project. Project 10 : Seed Capital for Fundación Juan Diego. Objective. Position Fundación Juan Diego by forming a small technical team during one year, integrated by two professionals specialized in administration and marketing, who will be engaged in seeking financing for the projects mentioned that do not have sponsorship and for their subsequent start up. Likewise for the start up of the professional recording studio. Present Situation. As can be seen in this Menu, there are interesting projects but the minimum personnel required and the financial resources for this purpose are not available. Seed capital required. 25.000 US for one year Present Requirements Sponsorship to hire the minimum team required. Project 11 : Megaconcerts – Faith Experiences of Juan Diego. Objective. Carry out free megaconcerts of Juan Diego in Coliseo Rumiñahui and others of the principal cities of he country, directed to motivate Ecuadorian children and/or youngsters through the best lesson in life and self-esteem. Present situation. There is no project as such. There is only the idea of carrying it out. Estimated cost of the project Companies specialized in shows give an estimated value per concert. In addition the cost will depend on the sponsorships that the firm interested in carrying out this project could obtain. Present Requirements. Sponsorships that finance this initiative. Project 12 : Organization of cultural activities of Federations of disabled individuals. Objective. Organize the cultural activities of the different foundations and federations of disabled people. Present situation. After intensive conversations, the five Federations that exist in the subject of disability have expressed their interest that Fundacion Juan Diego be the entity to organize such events (of which the foundation will have an income for its services). Estimated cost of the Project. As the Foundation has a minimum amount of personnel, specialized enterprises in shows would be resorted to, with which strategic alliances could be made. Present requirements. Sponsorships that finance the minimum personnel and then finance this initiative. End of menu (January 2006)
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