The zebra-donkey was used as this year's festival logo, but with a twist by having the image in a form of an x-ray, why you may ask? Because this year's slogan of the festival was; Tijuanense to the bone!
In addition to the local musicians that performed on stage, the festival also had world renowned musicians such as El Gran Silencio, Celso Piña, Lux Boreal, Cabrito Vudu, Hiperboreal among others.
Entijuanarte defines itself as a platform for exposure, promotion and the sale of contemporary art from national and international artists both individually or collectively.
The festivals first edition was celebrated in 2005 and by the third edition in 2007, the organizers began to invite as special guest different states from the Mexican republic.
The guests have been the state of Oaxaca, Distrito Federal, Baja California, Zacatecas, Jalisco, and this year's special guest was the state of Nuevo Leon, who presented a film series in the Centro Cultural de Tijuana (CECUT), in the Carlos Monsiváis theater room.
An estimated 60,000 visitors passed through esplanade of the CECUT, which was the headquarters of this event.
One of the visitors who attended this event, Damary Sastree commented "I really like the event, although maybe a double access would have been better for people to get through a lot easier, I'm here with my friend who we just decide to come out of the blue, and I'm excited and surprised that El Gran Silencio is going to perform, I have never seen them live in concert before and this will be my first time".
Something clearly noticeable was that the people who attended were happy with the event, which crowds of people continued to arrive nonstop since the festival kicked off.
The stands were filled with visitors who got to see all kinds of things they had like art paintings, graffiti art, clothes, bags and other accessories only to mention a few.
The event also counted with a forum for conferences, workshop area, concerts and entertainment, and also a program of activities where different local institutions participated in like the ICBC, the Galeria Alvaro Blancarte from UABC Tijuana Campus, the Audiovisual from UDCI, Casa de la Cultura Playas, Palacio Municipal, Pasaje Rodriguez, CEARTE Ensenada B.C. and the CECUT.
Alfredo Martinez also a visitor of the event commented not only about the festival, but the culture in Tijuana in general.
"The culture of the city is very abundant and multifaceted", and about the festival, "It's a meeting ground of artists and their work with the people, the type of bohemian environment to have a good time with friends".
Some of the Tijuanenses talent that was involved since the beginning for the production of this event was Julio Rodriguez Ramos (General Director), Cecilia Ochoa Vasquez (Artistic Director) and Brenda Miranda Ochoa (Administrative Coordinator).
Dania Stax a member of the marketing group for this event spoke to us briefly about how she got involved in this project.
"They asked me if could supervise a market study at first, then the following year I was asked to do the study, now I supervise the study of another agency as well the as the two public opinion surveys my agency does".
The festival was and has been a great success in this city, that the coordinators already have begun making plans for next year's festival that will be the 9th edition, which they are promising that it will be bigger and better which is the goal every year.
With these types of results they are hoping being able to continue to offer this to the community, and also at the same time making Tijuana a better city.
Entijuanarte has become so important, that it's considered to be one of the top 15 most essential festivals in Mexico.
Take a look at the photo gallery here of Entijuanarte 2012.
Joy.Ruvalcaba@sandiegored.com
Translation : Omar.Martínez@sandiegored.com
