In Chile in February 1971, sixty artists travelled more than 1,000 kilometres by train from the capital Santiago southwards. They brought different forms of art to people who had no access to forms of cultural representation. Forming a caravan of poets, folklorists, singers,
comics, actors and actresses, they performed day after day before the expectant eyes of the peasant farmers of small towns such as Linares and Chillán, the coal miners of Lota, indigenous Mapuche workers, reaching as far south as Puerto Montt.
The People’s Culture Train (El Tren Popular de la Cultura) is a documentary which tells the story of an initiative of the government of Salvador Allende, president of Chile from 1970 to1973, the objective of which was to bring culture closer to those who had no access to it.
The People’s Culture Train was part an Allende government program which aimed to create a National Institute of Arts and Culture and colleges of art in all the country’s provinces. The story of the train looks to establish links with some aspects of the educational and cultural initiatives of Spain’s Second Republic, such as the Pedagogic Missions, the Theatre of the People and the Theatre of La Barraca.