Casa Ceiba
Casa Ceiba (also known as Yax Chee’ Jay in Tz’utujil) is a healing-centered cultural incubator and residency located in a private home in Santiago Atitlán. Rooted in Maya cosmology, collective care, and reciprocal exchange, Casa Ceiba offers a space where Indigenous, Black, Central American, and diasporic artists, creatives, cultural practitioners, and organizers of the Global Majority can slow down, listen deeply, and create in relationship with land, ancestors, and community.
This residency is intentionally small-scale and relational. Every stay is co-designed with you—your intentions, your creative or organizing practice, and the experiences you feel called to cultivate. Your time here is meant to nourish your spirit, reconnect you with Maya ancestral knowledge, and strengthen solidarity across geographies. Casa Ceiba centers 2Spirit, Indigiqueer, queer, trans, women, young adults, and BIPOC creators, while welcoming people across the diaspora whose practices are grounded in respect, humility, and reciprocity.
4008 42nd Street
Sacramento, CA 95820
United States
Residency Program Information
Residency Program Summary
Application Information
Estimated Residency Costs (2027 Cohort): Casa Ceiba is a deeply relational experience that includes lodging, an equipped kitchen with food, studio space along with materials, and connection with local cultural practitioners. Because each residency is co-designed, pricing varies by track and the number of activities selected. Below are the estimated costs for one week:
Root / Enraizar: $1,150–$2,000
Bloom / Florecer: $1,150–$2,000
Dream / Soñar: $700–$900
✧ Final cost depends on length of stay and selected experiences.
✧ Flights to/from Guatemala are not included.
✧ Work exchange is available on a limited basis for a maximum of half of the base residency cost, excluding activities with cultural practitioners.
These estimates are offered to support transparency and allow you to discern whether to continue this Interest Form. Casa Ceiba is rooted in economic justice and reciprocity. We recognize that access to rest, creativity, and cultural exchange is shaped by structural inequity. For this reason, we offer sliding-scale rates, work exchanges, and collaborative fundraising support. If you need partial subsidy, we will work with you to identify creative strategies for resourcing your participation. If you are in a position to contribute more, your generosity helps sustain the program and expands access for others in our extended kinship circle.
Accessibility
Unfortunately, Santiago Atitlán is not accessible for people with limited mobility.
Housing & Accomodation
Studio & Facilities
The shared studio at Casa Ceiba is a room built for making — spacious enough to hold a full day of creative work, simple enough to leave room for what you bring.
Two folding tables anchor the space, ready for painting, writing, mapping ideas, or spreading out a project mid-process. You'll find natural mineral paints, watercolors, color pencils, brushes, yarn, and construction paper on hand, alongside a whiteboard and projector for teaching, presenting, or thinking out loud. A small library of books on Guatemala and Maya culture lives here too, offered as company and context for whatever you're working through.
The room flexes with your rhythm. Four folding chairs and a sofa bed couch offer places to sit, read, or rest between sessions; petates and a yoga mat make space for movement, grounding, or gathering on the floor. English teaching supplies are also available, for residents whose reciprocity offerings include language exchange.
This is a studio designed to hold your process, not dictate it — simple materials, held with intention, in service of whatever wants to be made.