Casa Ceiba (also known in Tz’utujil as Chee’ Jay) is an immersive cultural experience for Indigenous, Black, and other diasporic artists, creatives, and organizers seeking reciprocal relationships with Maya Tz’utujil cultural practitioners in Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala.

Rooted in ancestral knowledge and relational care, Casa Ceiba cultivates transnational solidarity through creative exchange, cultural practice, and what we call weaving constellations—building futures through connection rather than extraction.

Indigenous communities have long practiced worldview-shifting as a form of survival—carrying memory, adaptation, and futurity together. Grounded in Maya cosmology and the Oaxacan Indigenous framework of Comunalidad, Casa Ceiba fosters translocal kinship, cultural revitalization, and intergenerational creative connection.

The name Chee’ Jay means tree house in Tz’utujil—a place of rest, vision, and rooted imagination. By centering the Ceiba, the sacred world tree, Casa Ceiba holds a bridge between rooted place and diasporic return, honoring those who remain and those finding their way back.

Casa Ceiba is more than an artist residency—it is a cultural incubator for diasporic world-builders.

While many residencies prioritize output, Casa Ceiba centers rest, remembrance, strategy, and emergence. Participants receive cultural mentorship and immersive learning experiences that support creative practice, community organizing, and values-aligned offerings.

From weaving to world-building, Casa Ceiba is a space where ideas grow into life-affirming ecosystems.

Casa Ceiba is intentionally small, relational, and non-extractive.

• Residencies are co-designed, not pre-packaged

• Exchange is rooted in reciprocity and cultural protocol

• Participants are accompanied, not instructed

• Local practitioners are fairly compensated and centered

We prioritize depth over scale, care over urgency, and relationship over transaction.

Casa Ceiba welcomes Indigenous, Black, Central American/Mesoamerican, and other diasporic artists, creatives, and organizers, with a particular focus on queer, trans, Two Spirit, and women creatives.

This space is for those seeking reconnection—to land, lineage, creative practice, and Indigenous ways of knowing—whether you are refining a vision, dreaming into a new offering, or walking the path of return.

Residencies are 1–4 weeks and are shaped through a 1:1 consultation. Offerings may include:

• Lodging and home-cooked meals in a quiet private home with studio space

• Immersive experiences with Maya cultural practitioners

• Engagement with textiles, foodways, weaving, herbalism, storytelling, and ancestral arts

• Optional mentorship, coaching, or incubation of creative or cultural enterprises

Each residency is shaped in relationship, with attention to capacity, intention, and reciprocity.

Casa Ceiba is officially launched 🌱
Our first guest arrives in June 2026.

The 2026 Interest Form is now closed. A small number of residencies are offered each year to ensure depth, care, and integrity. We invite you to join our newsletter to learn when applications open for 2027 residencies.

Coming soon: Resident bios and reflections from Casa Ceiba.

Casa Ceiba is sustained through a combination of participant contributions, partnerships, and community support. This model allows us to prioritize accessibility, fairly compensate local practitioners, and protect the relational integrity of the residency.

Support helps nourish the long-term vision of Casa Ceiba as a living, evolving ecosystem.

Scroll down to make a donation today.

Casa Ceiba is not a tourist offering. It is a community-rooted space grounded in Indigenous values, cultural protocol, and collective healing.

Together, we are weaving constellations of future-building—one rooted return at a time.