Arts and Culture Mexico Project #55412

Cultural Collective for the youth in Cuetzalan

by Tijiohtli, AC

Cultural Collective for the youth in Cuetzalan

Project Report | Jan 16, 2026
Progress Report | 2022-2025

By Sofia Becerra | NGO - Director

TILTIK – Cultural Collective for Youth in Cuetzalan

Progress Report | 2022–2025

Tiltik is a cultural collective based in Cuetzalan del Progreso, Puebla, dedicated to supporting children and young people through visual arts, cultural memory, and community-based creative processes. Our work focuses on access to arts education, intercultural dialogue, and the strengthening of local identity through collective creation.

2022: Foundations and Scholarships

Between October and December 2022, Tiltik launched the second edition of its art scholarship program, benefiting 25 young people from different communities in the municipality of Cuetzalan. Scholarships covered artistic materials and classes at no cost, and—with the support of the local government—transportation stipends enabled students to travel from their communities.

During this period, Tiltik hosted specialized workshops with national and international artists, including Drawing for Tattooing: Mexican Tattoo Art and Creative Process with professor Edgard Gamboa (La Esmeralda), and Experimental Engraving with Alfonso Alatorre, as part of the FONCA-supported project “RecordArte: Engravings and Murals of Náhuat Collective Memory.”

The year concluded with public artistic interventions in community squares, where students exhibited their work and shared visual pieces and Náhuat language phrases that contribute to the preservation of local cultural memory.

2023: Casa Tiltik and Community Expansion

In early 2023, Tiltik opened Casa Tiltik, a dedicated space in the center of Cuetzalan for learning, creation, and collaboration. Throughout the year, we offered ongoing drawing, painting, and printmaking classes for children and youth, alongside mentoring and community-based artistic processes.

Guest artists and collaborators included Chad Odyart (Cali-graffiti workshop in Tzoquiaco), Denis Berrios (mural painting and introductory cubism workshops in Cuetzalan and San Miguel Tzinacapan), Luc Delannoy (mental health and art workshops through Neuroartes), and Cinthya Mazariegos (French bookbinding and children’s theater).

One of the year’s highlights was the Xiloxochicomej Mural Festival in the community of Xiloxochico, where national and international artists worked alongside local youth to create murals and offer free workshops in drawing, linocut, printmaking, handmade paper, and theater.

2024: Continuity and Public Exhibition

During 2024, Tiltik sustained regular drawing and painting classes for children and youth in Cuetzalan del Progreso.

In November 2024, Tiltik presented the pictorial exhibition “Todos Santos” in Cuetzalan, a collective show honoring memory, ritual, and ancestral traditions through contemporary visual language.

2025: Expansion and Cultural Memory

Starting in April 2025, Tiltik closed its doors in the center of Cuetzalan City, and instead expanded its artistic activities to new community spaces:

Ongoing drawing and painting classes at Kali Tiltik, San Miguel Tzinacapan
Ongoing drawing, painting and engraving classes in Tiltik San Andrés Tzicuilan

In November 2025, Tiltik held a second edition of the “Todos Santos” exhibition, continuing the exploration of remembrance, community, and cultural continuity through visual arts.

Though these two last years we haven't been able to do big activities such as mural festivals, the members of Tiltik continue to work steadily teaching art to youth and children, and to paint different spaces, such as schools, with murals. Each year reaffirms our belief that art is not only a means of expression, but a powerful tool for healing, cultural continuity, and social transformation.

Thank you for believing in our work and for supporting this collective journey.

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Nov 15, 2022
July - October 2022 for Tiltik

By Sofia Becerra | NGO Director

Mural in Radio Tsinaka with Daniel Castillo

July

We had a Frame making workshop, with Marco Zavala “Zamer”. The emerging artists learned to make different kinds of wood frames, to be able to preserve and give a better presentation to their works.

We also had a mural painting with stencil workshop, directed by Daniel Castillo, an artist from Chiapas. The mural was made for Radio Tzinaca of San Miguel Tzinacapan, Cuetzalan.

August

In August we issued the First Call for Scholarships. Through them and in part with help from the municipality, we covered transportation costs of young people from different communities in Cuetzalan. We were looking for youth who are talented and interested in learning more drawing and painting, or engraving. In the workshops they receive materials for free and they learn from both our teachers and teachers that come from outside. We received 40 applications, and we accepted 28 youth who finished activities in October. 15 youth decided to continue coming and learning with us.

We had an Engraving workshop in wood called "Tonals and Nahuales" with Issvan Duarte, from Oaxaca. In which, in addition to the technique, the interpretation of the Zapotec calendar was taught and expressed in different engravings.

September

In September we held the First “Cultural Week” at the Antonio Lavoisier Telesecundaria in San Andrés Tzicuilan, in which 222 young people participated. 115 men and 107 women who received music, drawing, mural painting, engraving and singing workshops for a week. That same week on Saturday we held a small concert in Casa Tiltik with the invited artists to the Cultural Week and an exhibition at Casa Tiltik, with live music and works by students from the drawing and painting workshops..

October

We also had a Tattoo Drawing Workshop with Edgard Gamboa, a teacher from "La Esmeralda" art school in Mexico City. At the same time, Orly Echavarry, a graduate from that same school, gave the art workshop "One, two, three for me and for all my colleagues" to women that help other women in vulnerable situations.. we offered this workshop in conjunction with the Kualnemilis, Yolpakilis Trainers Network.

We also issued the Second Call for Drawing and Engraving Scholarships. On this occasion we received 25 young people, from towns and the center of Cuetzalan.

During all these months we continued to work with the support of the Ministry of Culture, through the FONCA program; Lemonaid & Charitea Foundation and with the donations we receive through GlobalGiving. Thank you for your valuable support!!

Drawing for tatoo workshop with Edward Gamboa

Engraving result from Issvan Duarte's workshop

Engraving lessons during a Cultural Week

Beneficiario de la beca para el taller de grabado

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Jun 13, 2022
March - June 2022

By Sofia Becerra | NGO Director

Photo workshop with Maria Abril

In general, these are the activities we did during the following months:

June:

- Luc Delannoy & Daiana Mendez, from the Instituto de Neuroartes, came to give us a workshop titlied "The pictoric body -no Mind". It as a workshop designed to make us feel more clearly the consciousness in our bodies and how we can use that concisouness to express through painting. The workshop was taken by members of Tiltik but also by members of Tijiohtli in general.

- Graphic workshop in the Tepetitan Telesecondary School, attended by approximately 50 youth, and painting of a mural in that same school, In collaboration with grafitti artist "Shay", from Colombia.

May:

- Painting of the mural in the main production house of Cuezalli Café., also in collaboration with grafitti artist "Shay"

- Sgrafitto workshop with Charly Conde, in San Andrés Tzicuilan, Cuetzalan del Progreso

- Mixteyot Vázquez from Miguel Tzinacapan joined our team. We are very happy to have him onboard.

April:

- Graphic design workshop with VJ Ilogic.

- Mapping session in Cuetzalan del Progreso and San Miguel Tzinacapan by VJ Ilogic. Also and in collaboration with the collective Taltikpak Konemej we organized a neon exposition for children in the municipal palace of San Miguel. The children did some neon face painting, and some painting exercises. - So while the kids played and saw the paintings' exposition, they were also enjoying the mapping and music of the exposition.

- Photo workshop with María Abril from Chile

- Workshop of Neon Painting with Aluqimera, and neon Exposition in Tiltik house

- Alebrijes Workshop by Sandra Comala

- Integration workshop with Tepetzintan High Shcool and Colegio Merici from Mexico City

March:

- Stencil workshop in Bachillerato Nezahualcoyotl in San Miguel Tzinacapan with the help of Sean McPlace,

- Mural painting in Tepetzintan Secondary School.

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Thank you to our co-sponsors:

These months were marked by the reactivation of lots of activities for us. In March we finally received funds from Secretaría de Cultura, from the FONCA program, from the Sistema de Apoyos a la Creación y Proyectos Culturales (SACPC), We also have the ongoing support of the Lemonaid and Charitea Foundation, and from the Byre Trust through globalgiving. Thank you!

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Where to now?

We are working to attract more youth that can be frequently taking the different workshops and activities we do. That is why we started going again to schools, in order to do activities and invite youth so that they can go more time to Tiltik, either for engraving or painting lessons. The activities in schools up until now have been introductory lessons to visual arts. However the last workshop we took with "Instituto de Neuroartes, (with Luc Delannoy and Daiana Mendez)" taught us several techniques that can be used for sensibilizing the youth in general, and where not much emphasis is put to the technichal aspect of art but more in the emotional part of art. We are looking forward to learning more of these techniques with said Institute in the future.

We are working to produce our festivals where we promote music, painting and arts in general through the painting of murals in public spaces, workshops in schools, and music concerts. The first festival was quite successful in the knitting of ties in the networks of artists, aspiring artists, and new audiences. However, it was very difficult to operate and we're trying to join forces with other collectives or teams that can help us produce the event. We're also looking for funding for them.

We are working to sell more works; we have started selling in "Casa Tiltik", in Cuetzalan del Progreso. Our sales are still modest. We want to be able to sell prints and other cheaper merchandise.

Wood mask in Neon expo - by Mixteyot

Mural in Tepetzintan's Secondary School

No Mind Workshop with Luc Delannoy & Daiana Mendez

Introduction to visual arts Workshop in Tepetitan

Sgraffito mural in San Andres Tzicuilan

Links:

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