Akumal Arts Festival Celebrates Mayan Culture and Sea Turtles - Jen Ensley Smith
About Jennifer Ensley
Jennifer Ensley is a creative and energetic entrepreneur who lives and works in Akumal, a town on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. Akumal means turtle in Mayan. Jen who operates Tortuga Escondida, a residency center for marine ecology researchers and artists from around the world, is the founder and Executive Producer of the Akumal Arts Festival. The festival is an annual event with artists who come from the local community, across Mexico, and around the world to paint the Akumal bridge and the buildings throughout the pueble. More than 100 artists come together annually to paint murals, offer workshops, perform and engage with one another. The festival celebrates the Mayan culture and the turtles that nest on the local beaches.
Akumal Arts Festival, Sea Turtle Tourism, and Community Murals
Jennifer Ensley discusses how rapid development in Mexico’s Riviera Maya has impacted local ecology and the marine environment. Akumal, which means “turtle” in Mayan, is one of the world’s important nesting areas for sea turtles. But as tourism grew, visitors flocked to the beaches to swim with the turtles, creating stress for the marine animals and contributing to harm and death.
“I decided I wanted to help make a change.”
That desire led Jennifer to create the Akumal Arts Festival, an annual event that invites artists from around the world to come to Akumal and paint murals on buildings, public spaces, and the highway bridge. The festival also offers workshops for local children and encourages visitors to experience the culture, creativity, and community of Akumal beyond the beach.
Although Jennifer had never run an arts festival before, she knew how to organize destination weddings and brought that same entrepreneurial energy to the project. Her vision helped make the Akumal Arts Festival a success. In its first year, the festival drew more than 100 artists and encouraged tourists to leave the shoreline, visit the Akumal pueblo, and connect with the town through public art.
Through murals, community workshops, and international collaboration, the Akumal Arts Festival helps celebrate sea turtles, Mayan culture, and the people of Akumal while raising awareness about the need to protect the local marine environment.
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Pam Ferris-Olson (00:00): The Women Mind the Water podcast engages artists in conversation about their work and explores their connection with the ocean. Through these stories, Women Mind the Water hopes to inspire and encourage action, to protect the ocean and her creatures. Today, I am speaking with Jennifer Ensley Smith, the creative and energetic entrepreneur, who lives and works in Akumal, the town on the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico. Jen is a business and community leader, who in addition to serving food to the locals, operates Tortuga Escondida, a residency center for marine ecology researchers and artists from around the world. Jen also is the founder and executive producer of the Akumal Arts Festival, an annual event with participants that come from the local community across Mexico, and around the world. More than 100 artists come together annually, to paint murals, present workshops, perform and engage with others. Please tell me more about the Akumal Arts Festival. How did you conceive the idea?
Jennifer Ensley Smith (01:10): So during, as most things, when they go through a rapid development, and that's definitely what happened, with the Riviera Maya. When I moved, for example, even 20 plus years ago, when we were relocating and moving to Mexico. Shortly after that, Playa Del Carmen, for example, was actually considered the fastest growing city in the world. Tulum has gone through a huge... Went from nothing. I mean, Tulum was a little hippie sticks on the beach. And now, is one of the swankiest little spots in the world. And so, as things go through rapid development with a lot of money behind it, things like ecology environment can kind of get stomped on, with progress. And Akumal's a very special place. We're known for, akumal means, "place of turtle," in Mayan. And we actually have one of the highest nesting areas of sea turtles in the world, and they're all federally protected.
Jennifer Ensley Smith (02:07): And what was happening with all of this quick, rapid development, is we went from this tiny little sleepy town, which we're really not that big at all. To all of a sudden, 5,000 people a day were coming to our little beach and doing snorkel tours with the turtles. And they were touching the turtles. They were trampling all the sea grass that the turtles were eating. And so, the turtles were becoming very stressed out and were creating all these horrible tumors and they were dying. The whole coral system was being polluted, contaminated. There was no infrastructure. So, it was a little bit of everything, where you had this jewel of a paradise. And then, the matter of a few short years, was being actually destroyed. And I was very angry at seeing what was going on, and I decided that I wanted to help make a change. And my original idea with the Akumal Arts Festival, was to paint on the bridge to cover up some of the graffiti that had just happened. Just to make the entrance into Akumal a little bit nicer.
Jennifer Ensley Smith (03:12): And then, our focus for the festival has been painting in the Pueblo. Which, the Pueblo is on the other side of the highway, where all of the locals live. And then, you have the highway that divides. And then on the ocean side, where you have all of the condos and the houses and the hotels where all the tourists stay. So, with the creation of the Akumal Arts Festival, it was to give people another thing to do when they came to Akumal. I mean, we were loving the turtles to death. And so, with the creation of the Akumal Arts Festival, was to give people a reason to go into the Pueblo, to support the business in the Pueblo, to give them something else to do besides just go to the beach and do the turtles. And so originally, when we conceived of the idea of the Akumal Arts Festival, it was going to be a couple of little artists do maybe a couple of classes for the kids. And paint a couple of murals.
Jennifer Ensley Smith (04:09): And when you throw something out to the universe, sometimes you're showered back with gifts. And this is what happened with the Akumal Arts Festival. First year, we had over 100 artists that came in from all over Mexico and all over the world. We painted 100 murals. We did 100 art classes for the kids. We had every single child that lives in the Pueblo paint artwork, and that was displayed. And it just really kind of brought the whole community together. Because there was a lot of conflicts going on within the community, with the rapid growth and these outside companies making money, the locals were being taken advantage of. So it was kind of like, Akumal was at a point where something needed to happen. And the Akumal Arts Festival definitely helped kind of pull everything together. It was a community engagement project, basically.
Pam Ferris-Olson (05:03): So it sounds really, like a very worthy cause. But there's a lot that's involved in bringing a festival like that to fruition. So what challenges did you face, in bringing their festival to reality?
Jennifer Ensley Smith (05:20): It was, so... Not having any experience in murals or running an Arts Festival, or doing any sort of anything. I kind of just dove head into it. And I had been doing event planning, and especially destination weddings for several years. So realistically, I just treated the Akumal Arts Festival as a destination wedding. We needed to get accommodations for people. People needed to be fed. They needed the materials. We had all kinds of events and musical numbers throughout the festival. So, just basically called in every favor from all of the owners in town. I, I begged people for donations to buy paint. I could be very persuasive.
Jennifer Ensley Smith (06:05): I think we got 150 or so applications. And 100 people actually made the journey, to Akumal to paint with us. And we're really spread among the artists communities. Some people got online, they told their friends. And so, we had huge showing. We had 18 people who came over from England. We had a big showing rom New York, out of Miami. We had people from Russia. We had people from all over the world that were coming in, not including all the international artists that came in from other parts of Mexico.
Pam Ferris-Olson (06:37): That's mind blowing what connections can do. So is there some... Well, let me go back and say, why murals?
Jennifer Ensley Smith (06:51): The idea was, with all of the rapid growth that was going on in Akumal, with all the tour operators and the turtles. The whole entrance into Akumal used to be very picturesque and it was rowing. And we weren't getting support from municipalities, as far as trash pickup. There was a couple of some graffiti that was kind of happened on the bridge. So the first year we focused on, as always, the bridge. Because, it's a large bridge that crosses the highway. And so, that's a lot of space. So in the bridge, we did 60 murals. And then, all of-
Pam Ferris-Olson (07:27): That is a large bridge, 60 murals. Wow.
Jennifer Ensley Smith (07:30): And these are big murals. I mean, these aren't small. I mean, they're very large murals. And then, we also focused everything else in the Pueblo. I didn't want to do anything on the beach side. Because, the beach side always gets the focus. And really, the part of the festival, it was a community engagement project. And so, we wanted to give people a reason to go to the Pueblo. We wanted them to go over there and visit the shops, visit the restaurants. Because people have been saying that the Pueblo is dangerous, not to go over there. And that, it just wasn't true. And so, it was one of those things where it was kind of like, it was just really this abandoned little Pueblo, that really had never received the attention that it deserved. And so, we painted in the schools, we painted in the park, we painted on the police station. We painted on basically all the public spaces.
Jennifer Ensley Smith (08:23): And then, a lot of the artists who are... I mean, they're just the most amazing creatures. They just kept painting. And they just kept wanting to keep painting. And we had, they were supposed to come for the festival. And there were several that just were going to travel throughout Mexico. And fell so in love with the community. And they just kept staying in Akumal, and they just kept painting. And we had a couple of artists that started to paint some of the houses. The people would ask if, "Well, can you paint a little something on my house?" And so, they started painting a couple of the houses. And the second year during the festival, we actually did a whole program called Casa Bonita. Which was, we reached out to different homeowners in town. And we had an application process if they would like artists to paint their houses. Because we wanted to then have the art spread through the Pueblo. Not just concentrate it in the public areas, which of course we redid the ones that needed to be redone. But then really, to kind of continue that art throughout the Pueblo.
Jennifer Ensley Smith (09:22): And to date, we have over 350 murals that we've done, in the past three years. The bridge is always the showplace for us. So our philosophy on the bridge is, we paint as needed the ridge. So for example, the first year, there was nothing on the bridge. We painted 60 murals on the bridge. The second year, we painted a good majority of the murals over again. Just because the wear and tear and they were peeling, and they didn't look that great. We were able to keep probably, I think we kept about 10, or so. Or 12 on the bridge, from the first year to the second year. And then, everything else we repainted. This past year, due to COVID, we canceled the full blown festival. And in the end, we just worked with local artist.
Pam Ferris-Olson (10:10): Do you think the festival engages people in caring about the ocean?
Jennifer Ensley Smith(10:16): They do. Because we always put out themes for the festival. And the ocean, nature, Mexican culture. Those are always our themes. We don't do anything too political. I mean, it was really one of those things to be very respectful of the Mayan culture, the Mexican culture and the environment. And because we are located in Akumal, which is 'place of turtles,' a very popular theme is turtles. The marine, the reef and underwater and fish, and things like that. And also the Jaguar, because we are in the house of the Jaguar, with the jungle meeting the ocean.
Jennifer Ensley Smith (10:55): The most political piece that we have done, was actually Damien Mitchell and Heesco. And Damien Mitchell is originally from Australia, and Heesco is Mongolia, which is considered the most polluted places on earth. And they did a beach scene, where there was turtles and beer cans and trash, all of the beach. And everything was on fire. And it's a great piece, because it really was... I mean, that was our most political one. And there was actually a boat parked in front of it. They ended up painting the boat with the boat on fire and octopus coming up it. It was a very cool piece. But there's been countless, countless Marine inspired murals with trash in the ocean. With turtles, we had one with a turtle the first year. Luis Valet painted one with a turtle with a face mask, because they can't breathe because of the pollution. And so, that is definitely a reoccurring theme, unfortunately. But it's great, because it brings awareness and it starts the conversation.
Pam Ferris-Olson (12:05): So, can you think of one mural that best exemplifies what the festival is trying to do? And can you tell me a little more about who painted it, and what they were trying to depict?
Jennifer Ensley Smith (12:18): One mural. It's so hard, there's so many.
Pam Ferris-Olson (12:23): Do you have a favorite?
Jennifer Ensley Smith (12:25): I have so many favorites. Every time I see one, I'm like, "This is my favorite." Then I'm looking to the next one, "Oh, this one's my favorite." I have countless favorites. Right now, a very... One of the large ones that we have that's underneath the bridge, that actually DAZE did, who was one of the original street artists from New York. He started back in the late seventies, early eighties, painting on the subway cars. And he was one of the first street artists to kind of make the leap into doing more murals and galleries and things like that. And he painted, it's very large mural underneath the bridge. It's this large turtle. And below it, is different beer cans and trash that is at the seabed. And every time you pull out of Akumal and you look both ways to get pulled onto the highway, you stare right into that turtle. He's so talented.
Jennifer Ensley Smith (13:23): And the turtle, it's gaze just follows you. And so, it's just one of those things for me, every time I pull out of Akumal and I see that, it really makes an impression on me. Because here we are, Place of the Turtles and at the base of the seabed, we have trash. It is a reality. And so, you definitely get that over and over and over again. It doesn't take a much to change. And one person can change one person, and then it's kind of like a chain reaction. And so, I've always been a big believer in community. I've always been a big believer in that we have the power to make whatever you want happen. It has changed everything.
Jennifer Ensley Smith (14:14): And for me, it's just one of those very simple things where it was a lot of work on my part. But for me, I received so much satisfaction out of that. And it has started this whole chain reaction of community engagement, the people are cleaning up the trash. The streets are clean. The children have an awareness of art. We've been doing, still continuing with art classes. It has just shifted and changed everything. And there's been an economic boom in the Pueblo with the tourists that are going over there everyday to find the murals. We're also going to the stores and eating at the restaurants. And it's just one of those things where it really just started with an idea, and some paint. But, you would never think that it would be such a powerful, to have such a meaningful impact, so.
Pam Ferris-Olson (15:10): So, what's next for the festival?
Jennifer Ensley Smith (15:13): So this year, because COVID ruins everything, I am just doing kind of open walls this year. Which means we won't be doing a full festival. We've actually switched the festival. It's going to be in January in 2022. This year is kind of a regroup year, where we have tourists who are just kind of dropping in and painting. I have about one artist a week, [inaudible 00:15:38] that is coming by, and I'm continuing to find walls for them. And they're open to come in and paint. We're doing art classes with the children. So, just kind of in more of a relaxed, open style. And then, we will regroup for the festival in it's full glory in January of 2022. Where we will have artists coming in. We'll be able to do all the events and the music and all the festivities in the evening. And so, just kind of give everybody a regrouping kind of year.
Pam Ferris-Olson (16:09): Very nice. Well, I'm very grateful to you for sharing your story about the Akumal Arts Festival. And I look forward in the future, to speaking with some of the artists that participate in the festival. I've been speaking with Jennifer Ensley Smith, for the Women Mind the Water podcast series. The series can be viewed on womenmindthewater.com. And the audio-only version is available on the Women Mind the Water website, and on iTunes. Women Mind the Water is grateful to Jaine for her song, Women of Water. All rights for the Women Mind the Water name and logo, belong to Pam Ferris-Olson. This is Pam Ferris-Olson. Thank you for listening.
