Bringing creative minds into the community to make the town proud again

Jennifer Smith is the founder of Tortuga Escondida, an art residency based in Akumal, Mexico. The main intention of the program is to offer a space where artists can gather and be creative while inspiring each other.

“Everyone does have a certain energy, like a certain vibration, and when everybody starts working together you can help grow that vibration. And when you have that nurturing space, then I could think that you open up certain things, not necessarily in your brain, but you just open up the possibilities of the creative juices to kind of flow,” explains Jenifer Smith.

And it does! Since the creation of the residency, the small town of Akumal and its surroundings has drastically changed. Also, the organization of the annual Akumal Festival also had something to do with its transformation, as hundreds of street artists painted the city over the years.

Both have a direct impact on the local communities, participating in the decentralization of culture and allowing an encounter with contemporary arts. “There has been so much growth, social growth for the kids. Every single child that lives Akumal has benefited from classes taught by the artists that ave come here doing the art residency. We have had multiple scholarships that have been born from the artist residency for the local children that are living in the town. Just the impact of all of the art that the artists have left behind has completely transformed the face of our tiny little community,” confides the founder.

The residency plays an important social role and has become part of the local culture, and “you can see a pride in the pueblo which before there wasn't. So, they actually have much more of a pride and a love of their community because of the art that's been bestowed to them by the resident artists,” concludes Jennifer Smith.