{"id":19823,"date":"2026-09-19T12:00:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T18:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/miranda-partners.com\/news-and-content\/miranda-intelligence\/culture-chatter\/mexico-culture-chatter-sep-12-2026\/"},"modified":"2026-11-05T21:44:30","modified_gmt":"2026-11-06T03:44:30","slug":"mexico-culture-chatter-sep-12-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/miranda-partners.com\/es\/news-and-content\/miranda-intelligence\/culture-chatter\/mexico-culture-chatter-sep-12-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Mexico Culture Chatter, Sep. 12, 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mexico\u2019s leaning tower of PISA<\/strong><\/h3>

The OECD\u2019s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2025, the largest cycle to date, tested more than 760,000 15-year-olds across 91 countries and confirmed a continuing decline in student performance in Mexico amid a worsening outlook worldwide.<\/p>

Across the OECD, average performance in mathematics and reading has fallen to its lowest level since PISA began. Reading scores dropped 28 points between 2015 and 2025 \u2013 roughly equivalent to a year and a half of learning \u2013 while maths fell 22 points over the same period; science, this cycle\u2019s focus, held broadly steady. Far from the rebound some had hoped for after the pandemic-era collapse recorded in 2022, scores in rich countries have fallen further still, with the decline in literacy actually accelerating, according to\u00a0The Economist<\/em>. Among the 23 OECD countries that have sat every round of PISA, scores peaked around 2012 and have fallen ever since; today\u2019s 15-year-olds are testing at the levels in maths and reading that 14-year-olds achieved a decade ago. The gap between the strongest and weakest students is now the widest PISA has ever recorded, and one in five 15-year-olds across the OECD is a low performer in all three subjects, up from 16 per cent in 2022.<\/p>

Analysts point to several overlapping causes: lingering pandemic disruption, elevated pupil absenteeism, and the effect of phones and social media on reading stamina. The OECD\u2019s Andreas Schleicher highlights a rise in \u201chasty readers\u201d who rush through comprehension tests inaccurately, and has criticised schools for becoming complacent about classroom standards and for treating pupils as untested guinea pigs for ed-tech. Asian systems \u2013 led this year by China\u2019s wealthiest provinces, alongside Singapore, Macau, Taiwan and Japan \u2013 have proved comparatively resilient, as has Estonia. Turkey is rising fast, and Britain has climbed into the global top ten across all three subjects, even as neighbouring Scotland, which spends more per pupil, continues to fall behind.<\/p>

Mexico\u2019s own average (403 points across the three core subjects) is its lowest in 20 years, placing the country 37th of the 38 OECD members assessed, against an OECD average of 469. Compared with 2022, Mexico\u2019s scores fell seven points each in mathematics (to 388) and reading (to 408), while science rose four points (to 414), still 66 points below the OECD average, the widest gap of the three areas. Only 0.5 per cent of Mexican students reached the highest performance levels, against roughly 42 per cent who scored low across all three subjects, more than double the OECD average.<\/p>

Mexico\u2019s PISA history has swung sharply. After finishing near the bottom of the OECD in the inaugural 2000 round, and dipping further in 2003, the country staged one of the organisation\u2019s strongest recoveries, posting the biggest gain in mathematics of any OECD member between 2003 and 2009. Results then plateaued before declining gradually, a slide that sharpened between 2018 and 2022, when reading and science both fell below their 2000 levels. Bernardo Naranjo, director of Proyecto Educativo and a former member of the now-defunct Instituto Nacional para la Evaluaci\u00f3n de la Educaci\u00f3n (INEE), argues the 2025 results should be read against that longer trajectory rather than as a single snapshot. He also cautions that Mexico risks slipping into the ranks of Latin America\u2019s middle performers, as Chile continues to lead the region, Uruguay maintains stronger results, and Colombia and Costa Rica narrow the gap.<\/p>

The results have reignited debate over the Nueva Escuela Mexicana, the controversial curriculum model introduced under Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador. President Claudia Sheinbaum defended the model, highlighting the modest gain in science and questioning PISA\u2019s cross-country comparability. She attributed the reading decline chiefly to digital platforms, an explanation that aligns with her administration\u2019s efforts to regulate phone and AI use in schools. However, most analysts treat technology as only one contributing factor among several, rather than the primary cause.<\/p>

The Uni\u00f3n Nacional de Padres de Familia, which has a history of criticising the 4T\u2019s approach to education, called the PISA results confirmation of a longstanding crisis and rejected the idea that screen use alone explains the decline. Marco Fern\u00e1ndez of the Tec de Monterrey\u2019s education equity initiative linked the results to skills shortages already visible in Mexican workplaces.<\/p>

With INEE dissolved since 2019 and its successor, Mejoredu, itself extinguished in 2025, Naranjo\u2019s and IMCO\u2019s assessments converge on the same point: PISA is now effectively the only reliable measure left to assess what Mexican students are learning. IMCO notes that Mexico will have no comparable evaluation of its own until the next PISA cycle in 2029, and is calling for a national evaluation system to be reinstated in the interim, alongside clearer grade-by-grade content standards in mathematics and reading.<\/p>

Fiestas Patrias celebrations: More than just fireworks<\/strong><\/h3>

Towns and cities across the country are celebrating the Fiestas Patrias with a programme of fairs, concerts and cultural events running well beyond the \u201cGrito de Independencia\u201d.<\/p>

Ciudad de M\u00e9xico<\/strong><\/p>

On the night of 15 September, President Sheinbaum will preside over her second Grito as head of state from the National Palace balcony; norte\u00f1o-tejano band Intocable headlines the free Z\u00f3calo concert, opening around 9pm and pausing at 11pm for the official ceremony. Boroughs stage their own free concerts alongside the central event, including Aleks Syntek in Benito Ju\u00e1rez and Lila Downs in Ecatepec, State of Mexico.<\/p>

The Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura (INBAL) has also announced free programming marking the 216th anniversary of independence, spanning music, cinema, sound art and performing arts. The Orquesta de C\u00e1mara de Bellas Artes opened its second 2026 season at the Palacio de Bellas Artes as part of the offering.\u00a0Celebraciones con M\u00e9xico<\/em>\u00a0runs on 10 September at the Palacio\u2019s Sala Principal, repeated on 13 September at the Jard\u00edn Esc\u00e9nico. On 13 September, the Patio de Carteros at the Palacio Postal hosts\u00a0N\u00f3mada, arte itinerante<\/em>, bolero and ranchera standards arranged for string quartet under Fernando Montes de Oca. And on the weekends of 19\u201320 and 26\u201327 September, the Fonoteca Nacional\u2019s Sonidario presents CEPROMUSIC performing Stefano Scodanibbio\u2019s\u00a0One Says Mexico<\/em>, conceived as a tribute to the country he considered his second homeland.<\/p>

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Celebrations on 15 September in San Miguel de Allende. (Photo: Guanajuato.mx)<\/em><\/p>

Guanajuato<\/strong><\/p>

The state remains the emblematic heart of independence celebrations, home to Dolores Hidalgo, cradle of the movement that launched in the early hours of 15 September 1810. San Miguel de Allende\u2019s Fiestas Patrias y Patronales programme, running to 2 October, layers civic, religious and cultural events atop the national date. The 15th brings the flag-raising, the Cabalgata de los Conspiradores and the 79th Carrera Simb\u00f3lica, followed that night the Grito ceremony and fireworks; a civic-military parade and motorcycle route follow on the 16th. San Miguel\u2019s calendar continues with concerts and the 25th-anniversary Alborada, closing in early October with a mariachi night, the Hermanos Aguascalientes\u2019 concert and the Corrida de las Luces. The Fiestas Patrias Dolores Hidalgo, already underway, continue through 27 September with Yuridia, Los Tucanes de Tijuana, Calibre 50 and Grupo Frontera.<\/p>

Quer\u00e9taro<\/strong><\/p>

Santiago de Quer\u00e9taro, birthplace of the conspiracy that helped set independence in motion, stages historically themed events: Governor Mauricio Kuri leads the Ignacio P\u00e9rez cavalcade on 12 September, and a theatrical performance on the capture of Josefa Ortiz takes place at the Plazuela del Convento de Santa Clara on 19 September.<\/p>

Monterrey<\/strong><\/p>

Nuevo Le\u00f3n\u2019s capital celebrates with the Macro Fiesta Mexicana in the Macroplaza from 6pm on 15 September, headlined by Palomazo Norte\u00f1o, uniting veterans Rosendo Cant\u00fa, Ra\u00fal Hern\u00e1ndez, Eliseo Robles and Lalo Mora, alongside Volver a la Cumbia, Norte\u00f1azo and the Grupo Folkl\u00f3rico Fandangos de M\u00e9xico, before Governor Samuel Garc\u00eda leads the Grito from the government palace balcony.<\/p>

Guadalajara<\/strong><\/p>

Jalisco\u2019s capital marks the Grito at the Plaza de la Liberaci\u00f3n, where Governor Pablo Lemus Navarro leads the ceremony ahead of a free concert headlined by Grupo Frontera. It then extends into the Fiestas de Octubre (2 October\u20132 November), its 61st edition, spanning Ha*Ash and Gloria Trevi to Grupo Firme and Manuel Turizo, with El Tri and Carlos Rivera closing the fair; a ticketed Palenque stage adds Alejandro Fern\u00e1ndez and Banda MS.<\/p>

The city also marks the Teatro Degollado\u2019s 160th anniversary, with a history talk on 12 September and the exhibition\u00a0Que nunca llegue el rumor de la discordia<\/em>; on 13 September, the exact anniversary, the Orquesta Filarm\u00f3nica de Jalisco presents Donizetti\u2019s\u00a0Lucia di Lammermoor<\/em>. The Museo de las Artes shows Alejandra Ruiz\u2019s\u00a0La ciudad de las damas<\/em>\u00a0until 4 October, and the Teatro Experimental de Jalisco stages the cabaret\u00a0Me encontr\u00f3 el amor<\/em>\u00a0on 12 and 19 September.<\/p>

2027 culture budget: modest gains, tight margins, and support for the book trade<\/strong><\/h3>

The 2027 draft federal budget (PPEF), delivered to Congress on 8 September, proposes 15,858.7 million pesos for the Culture Ministry, reported in media outlets as either a 17.3 per cent or a 1.9 per cent annual rise, depending on the baseline used. Measured against the ministry\u2019s original 2026 proposal (13,097.4 million pesos), the increase looks like 17.3 per cent; measured against the higher figure Congress ultimately approved that year (15,082.9 million), it is a slimmer 1.9 per cent. The same pattern appears in the Science, Humanities, Technology and Innovation budget, which rises to 42,217.7 million pesos in 2027: 17.3 per cent above its original 2026 proposal, but only 9.5 per cent above the amount Congress approved.<\/p>

Paulina Casta\u00f1o, a researcher at the Fundar Centre for Analysis and Research who has tracked the decline in cultural spending, argues that after two years of cuts, the new budget merely holds steady and remains insufficient, with Culture\u2019s allocation equivalent to just 0.15 per cent of total federal net spending.<\/p>

The increase is unevenly distributed. Central offices grow by around 18 per cent in nominal terms, while the decentralised institutes beneath them, chiefly INAH and INBAL, together around two-thirds of the total budget, see nominal gains so marginal (0.9 and 0.2 per cent respectively) that they amount to real-terms falls of roughly 2.5\u20133 per cent and 3.6 per cent. Casta\u00f1o noted such shortfalls can sometimes be offset through in-year reallocations permitted under federal law, though this can also reflect poor agency planning, and saw little room for that this time given how tight the budget is. One exception is the ministry\u2019s own Administration and Finance Unit, whose budget would jump more than thirtyfold, from 35.1 million to 1,174.3 million pesos, an increase she expects lawmakers to redistribute elsewhere.<\/p>

Other bodies fare better: the Cineteca Nacional, whose staff recently protested labour conditions, would see a 14.6 per cent real increase; the General Directorate of Libraries a 53.1 per cent rise; Radio Educaci\u00f3n a 10.4 per cent nominal increase; and the National Institute of Indigenous Languages a 5.9 per cent real gain. The renamed General Directorate of Circuits and Festivals, which organises the Cervantino festival, would receive 452.4 million pesos, sharply up from 100.8 million the previous year under its former name. Casta\u00f1o was critical of the Eficine and Efiartes film and arts tax-incentive schemes, frozen at 65 million and 250 million pesos respectively, without even an inflation adjustment.<\/p>

Administratively, a new Unit for Living Cultures, Intangible Heritage and Interculturality, headed by former INAH director Diego Prieto, gets its own budget line for the first time, with 221.7 million pesos; the former Undersecretariat for Cultural Diversity and Reading Promotion has disappeared from the structure; and the historical-studies institute INEHRM has moved out of Culture\u2019s budget entirely and into the Science and Technology Ministry, its allocation nearly quadrupling to 131.1 million pesos.<\/p>

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Biblioteca Vasconcelos in Mexico City. (Photo: Shutterstock)<\/em><\/p>

Within this picture, the ministry and the Fondo de Cultura Econ\u00f3mica (FCE) have announced a package aimed at bookshops and publishers. A zero VAT rate for small and medium-sized Mexican bookshops has been folded into the 2027 economic package, an estimated 200 to 250 million pesos a year in fiscal benefit if approved, contingent on at least 90 per cent of a beneficiary\u2019s income coming from book sales. Casta\u00f1o welcomed the measure, tying it to years of publishing-sector lobbying and, more immediately, to the announced closure of Editorial Era; FCE director Paco Ignacio Taibo II confirmed that conversations continue on how to \u201csave\u201d the imprint, though he said its own wishes for its future remain unclear.<\/p>

Separately, the state will resume buying books for public libraries after a decade-long gap, with 50 million pesos allocated to restock the Red Nacional de Bibliotecas P\u00fablicas, a corrective, Taibo said, to what he described as the \u201carbitrary and chaotic\u201d library purchases of past administrations. A call for publisher proposals opens on 21 September, aimed chiefly at independent, small and medium-sized Mexican publishers, with large groups permitted to participate only via a single joint bid across their imprints. Support for state book fairs is also set to increase in 2027.<\/p>

The announcements were made during the 20th-anniversary programme for the Biblioteca Vasconcelos, which has received close to 14 million pesos for rehabilitation, maintenance and connectivity improvements; celebrations run from 25 to 27 September.<\/p>

A Spanish holiday for Frida and Diego<\/strong><\/h3>

The Gelman Collection, including masterworks by Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and other iconic Mexican artists, has officially kicked off its European tour as the headline act opening the new Faro Santander cultural centre in Spain, leaving behind frustrated defenders and passionate op-eds in Mexico.<\/p>

\"\"<\/figure>

Ana Bot\u00edn, chair of Banco Santander, at the Faro Santander inauguration. (Photo: ROM\u00c1N G. AGUILERA\/EFE)<\/em><\/p>

The inauguration of the new centre in the Cantabrian capital on 7 September was presided over by King Felipe VI, Banco Santander chair Ana Bot\u00edn and dignitaries including Mexico\u2019s ambassador to Spain, Quirino Ordaz. The King, who did not deliver remarks, toured the building before the first visitors were admitted; Bot\u00edn spoke briefly, thanking Mexico for the temporary return of \u201cthat same energy\u201d the bank encountered on arriving in the country in 1954, and describing the centre as a symbol of the bank\u2019s commitment to its roots.<\/p>

The venue occupies the bank\u2019s former Edificio Pereda headquarters, transformed by David Chipperfield Architects (Chipperfield won the 2023 Pritzker Prize) into a 10,000-square-metre cultural venue across ten floors, with roughly 3,000 square metres of exhibition space and a 150-seat auditorium. The foundation projects more than 200,000 visits a year. Local media have reported long lines of visitors waiting to see the new cultural centre this week.<\/p>

The inaugural programme is anchored by\u00a0M\u00e9xico Moderno en la Colecci\u00f3n Gelman Santander<\/em>, curated by Marisol Arg\u00fcelles, director of Mexico City\u2019s Museum of Modern Art (MAM). The exhibition follows a hugely successful run at the MAM, where it showed from 16 February to 19 July and drew more than 310,000 visitors, among the best-attended shows in the museum\u2019s history. The Santander showing runs until 10 January 2027 and comprises works from the collection assembled by Jacques and Natasha Gelman between 1941 and 1998. Faro Santander\u2019s exhibitions director, Carolina Erdocia, called the loan a rare opportunity for Spanish audiences, noting that few Mexican modernist holdings exist in Spanish collections.<\/p>

Santander is only the first stop. Mexico\u2019s Culture Ministry says a further tour will take a selection of works to the Fondation Beyeler in Basel from January to May 2027, then to the National Museum of Norway from June to November 2027, before the collection returns to Mexico in 2028 for a showing at the Museo de Arte Contempor\u00e1neo de Monterrey (MARCO), a date Culture Secretary Claudia Curiel de Icaza has stated publicly and repeatedly. Notably, the export permit covering the move to Santander did not appear in INBAL\u2019s official transparency records as of early June, according to a Reforma review of the institute\u2019s permit history.<\/p>

The cultural centre\u2019s programme also includes\u00a0Obras Maestras de la Colecci\u00f3n Banco Santander<\/em>, spanning the Renaissance to the present with works by Titian, El Greco, Rubens, Vel\u00e1zquez, Goya, T\u00e0pies, Soledad Sevilla and Juan Usl\u00e9, and\u00a0El surrealismo sintom\u00e1tico: Leonora Carrington<\/em>, billed as the first exhibition devoted to the drawings, paintings and texts the artist produced during the Second World War.<\/p>

The collection\u2019s departure from Mexico remains a live dispute, as covered previously in this newsletter (and widely across national and foreign outlets). The Monterrey-based Zambrano family, owners of Cemex, bought the collection from Robert Littman, executor and beneficiary of Jacques and Natasha Gelman\u2019s estate in 2023 with a loan from Banco Santander, which has a management agreement permitting the bank to exhibit the collection. Fundaci\u00f3n Banco Santander maintains the agreement does not amount to an acquisition or permanent transfer, and that ownership remains with the Zambrano family.<\/p>

The works left Mexico after closing at the MAM on 19 July, where members of the Colectivo en Defensa de la Colecci\u00f3n Gelman (now organised as Defendamos la Colecci\u00f3n Gelman) staged a symbolic farewell with mariachis performing \u201cLas Golondrinas\u201d outside the museum. Art critic Blanca Gonz\u00e1lez argued the best outcome would be a permanent home in Mexico with rotating displays, rather than years abroad repeating what she called Littman\u2019s pattern of removing the works from public view. The collective has filed amparos seeking to annul the export agreement, arguing INBAL approved the departure as a single block rather than conducting the case-by-case review it says the law requires for each Artistic Monument-designated work, and has raised concerns the terms leave open the possibility the collection may not return in 2028 as promised.<\/p>

The collective does not dispute the legality of the export in principle (Mexican law permits private owners to hold such works and allows INBAL to authorise temporary export) but has pressed for firmer written guarantees rather than verbal assurances. At least one prominent legal commentator has countered that Mexico\u2019s restrictive heritage-protection rules, compared with countries such as France, Italy and the Netherlands, do more to keep art hidden in storage than serve the public.<\/p>

Geles Cabrera, pioneer sculptor, dies at 100<\/strong><\/h3>

Geles Cabrera, widely regarded as one of the first women to practise sculpture professionally in Mexico, died in Mexico City on 1 September; she had celebrated her one hundredth birthday on 2 August.<\/p>

\"\"<\/figure>

Geles Cabrera at an exhibition of her work in 2018. (Foto: Teresa de Miguel\/El Pa\u00eds)<\/em><\/p>

Over more than seven decades, she built a sculptural practice centred on the human figure, working the body into abstracted, often voluptuous forms across stone, bronze, wire, terracotta, plexiglass, wood, plant fibre and papier-m\u00e2ch\u00e9, and, most distinctively, the rough black or grey volcanic stone known as\u00a0recinto<\/em>, also historically used in Indigenous construction. She preferred her materials left unpolished, saying she rarely worked in marble for that reason.<\/p>

Born \u00c1ngeles Mar\u00eda Cabrera Alvarado in Mexico City in 1926, Cabrera grew up around pre-Hispanic sculpture: her father, a civil engineer, oversaw building projects in the capital that included archaeological excavations, an early exposure she later credited with shaping her interest in the human form. An aunt, Rosario Cabrera, was herself an artist who led the Open-Air Painting Schools movement. In the 1940s, Cabrera trained at the Academia de San Carlos while also joining dance teacher Alfonso Pallares\u2019s experimental troupe; her grounding in dance fed directly into the movement and strong figuration of her sculpture. A family move to Cuba in her twenties took her to the Academia de San Alejandro, where she began exhibiting and won two awards, before she returned to Mexico City in 1949 to continue her studies at \u201cLa Esmeralda\u201d, the national school of painting, sculpture and engraving.<\/p>

That same year, aged 22, Cabrera held her first solo exhibition at the Galer\u00eda Mont-Orend\u00e1in, and was a founding member, alongside 52 other artists, of the Sal\u00f3n de la Pl\u00e1stica Mexicana. Over her career she mounted more than 20 solo shows and around 50 group exhibitions across Mexico, the United States, Japan, Austria, Belgium and Israel. In 1966 she opened the Museo Escult\u00f3rico in her own home in Coyoac\u00e1n, described as the country\u2019s first independent, artist-run museum founded by a living artist, funding it herself on her salary as an art teacher and charging no admission; it operated until 1990. Between 1975 and 1976 she belonged to the avant-garde collective GUCADIGOSE alongside \u00c1ngela Gurr\u00eda, Juan Luis D\u00edaz, Mathias Goeritz and Sebasti\u00e1n.<\/p>

Recognition from major institutions came only very late in her life. She had her first solo show in the United States at New York\u2019s Americas Society in 2022, and in 2025, at 99, she received her first individual exhibition at Mexico City\u2019s Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes,\u00a0Geles Cabrera: Partituras corporales<\/em>, curated by Joshua S\u00e1nchez and bringing together 100 of her sculptures. She was awarded the Medalla de Oro de Bellas Artes in 2023, with the presentation ceremony itself held the following year; her son spoke at the event, framing artistic recognition as something that comes once viewers can enter and appreciate the artist\u2019s world, an achievement that endures over time.<\/p>

Sculptor Pedro Reyes, who began working to revive interest in Cabrera\u2019s work in 2016 (by which point she had gone roughly 40 years without exhibiting) wrote on her death that it had become impossible to discuss the history of sculpture in Mexico without mentioning her. OMR gallery, which represented her, remembered her as both artist and her own muse, someone who had not waited for the world to make a place for her but shaped one with her own hands.<\/p>

Chatter Box<\/strong><\/h3>

France and Mexico launch bicentennial cultural programme.\u00a0<\/strong>Mexico\u2019s Biblioteca Vasconcelos opened\u00a0Francia-M\u00e9xico, 200 a\u00f1os de relaci\u00f3n y amistad: resonancias, disonancias y contrapuntos<\/em>\u00a0on 1 September, marking 200 years of diplomatic relations and launching the Gran Fiesta Franco-Mexicana, a three-month cultural programme. Curated by Philippe Oll\u00e9-Laprune and Conrado Tostado, the exhibition traces shared history through documents, photographs and testimonies from scientists, writers, artists and diplomats, including figures such as Octavio Paz and Gabriel Orozco. Organised by the French Embassy and IFAL with Mexican and French institutional partners including the Louvre and the Centre Pompidou, the show runs until 18 October at the library in Mexico City.<\/p>

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The\u00a0Francia-M\u00e9xico, 200 a\u00f1os de relaci\u00f3n y amistad: resonancias, disonancias y contrapuntos exhibition at Biblioteca Vasconcelos. (Photo: Biblioteca Vasconcelos)<\/em><\/p>

Chamber opera brings Mar\u00eda Sabina\u2019s voice to the stage.\u00a0<\/strong>Composer Marcela Rodr\u00edguez\u2019s\u00a0Invocaci\u00f3n oper\u00edstica a la sabia de los hongos<\/em>, devoted to Mazatec healer Mar\u00eda Sabina, receives its world premiere on 10 September at Cenart\u2019s Foro Experimental Black Box, running to a sold-out house through 13 September. Rodr\u00edguez spent over two decades on the piece, drawing its libretto from \u00c1lvaro Estrada\u2019s testimonial book on the healer and building the score around Sabina\u2019s own recorded chants alongside invented material, scored for five voices and a small chamber ensemble. Director Jesusa Rodr\u00edguez, the composer\u2019s sister, staged the piece around the interweaving of voices and instruments rather than attempting to depict Sabina herself, declining to represent her on stage out of respect for her name and image. The healer\u2019s great-grandson, Bernardino Garc\u00eda Mart\u00ednez, will travel from Huautla de Jim\u00e9nez to attend the premiere and receive a tribute.<\/p>

Mexican cinema features across three titles at Venice 2026.\u00a0<\/strong>The 83rd Venice Film Festival, running 2 to 12 September with roughly 170 productions across its official and parallel sections, gives Mexico a notable presence alongside dominant European and diverse international selections. Mexican cinema appears in three forms: contemporary fiction through Gael Garc\u00eda Bernal\u2019s\u00a0Hombre al agua<\/em>\u00a0and Gabriel Guti\u00e9rrez Morales\u2019s\u00a0Tijuana, todav\u00eda<\/em>, and historical restoration through Bu\u00f1uel\u2019s\u00a0La ilusi\u00f3n viaja en tranv\u00eda<\/em>. Actress Nathalia Acevedo also makes her directorial debut at a major festival with\u00a0Sal\u00f3n de Belleza<\/em>, adapted from Mario Bellatin\u2019s novel of the same name and screening in the independent Giornate degli Autori section. The main Venezia 83 competition, capped at 21 world-premiere features and juried this year by Maggie Gyllenhaal, runs alongside sections including Orizzonti and Venice Spotlight, with George Clooney receiving an honorary Golden Lion for career achievement.<\/p>

Cervantino Circuit expands to 32 cities across 16 states.\u00a0<\/strong>This year\u2019s Circuito Cervantino, running 26 September to 28 October, brings 39 national and international companies to 32 cities in 16 Mexican states, part of the Festival Internacional Cervantino\u2019s push to extend its reach beyond Guanajuato. In Mexico City, venues include Cenart, the Centro Cultural Hel\u00e9nico, Complejo Cultural Los Pinos and Centro de Cultura Digital, with some programming free. France, this year\u2019s guest of honour marking 200 years of diplomatic ties with Mexico, features prominently, including a Mexican reinterpretation of (LA)HORDE\/Ballet National de Marseille\u2019s\u00a0Room with a View<\/em>, danced by sixteen Mexican performers. Highlights at the Palacio de Bellas Artes include Mike Patton\u2019s\u00a0Mondo Cane<\/em>\u00a0and Antonio Gades\u2019s\u00a0Carmen<\/em>.<\/p>

Cuauht\u00e9moc Medina to curate 2027 Bienal de Arte Paiz.\u00a0<\/strong>Mexican curator, critic and historian Cuauht\u00e9moc Medina has been appointed to curate the 25th Bienal de Arte Paiz, Latin America\u2019s second-oldest biennial after S\u00e3o Paulo, running November 2027 to February 2028 across Antigua and Guatemala City. The edition marks 50 years of Fundaci\u00f3n Paiz, the non-profit behind the event. Medina, a full-time UNAM researcher since 1993, a former Tate Modern Latin American art curator, and MUAC\u2019s chief curator from 2013 to 2024, has also curated Manifesta 9 and the 12th Shanghai Biennale. Foundation director Sonia Hurtarte said the milestone edition would question, speaking from Guatemala to the international art world, what a biennial should do today.<\/p>

INAH expands free admission.\u00a0<\/strong>The federal government has proposed free admission to 53 INAH-administered museums, monuments and archaeological sites from next year, as part of amendments to the Ley de Derechos. The measure targets venues where the administrative and operational costs of charging are \u201cdisproportionate\u201d to revenue collected. Sites include Bonampak, La Venta and Tamtoc, alongside numerous smaller museums, former convents and archaeological zones across the country. Presidencia framed the change as simplifying administration while broadening public access to cultural heritage. Charges will remain in place for a further 122 INAH sites under the same proposal, now before Congress.<\/p>

Fancy tacos take Madrid.\u00a0<\/strong>La Once Mil, the Mexico City restaurant billed as the world\u2019s only taquer\u00eda with a Michelin star (following the star\u2019s removal this year from El Califa de Le\u00f3n), is opening its first European branch in Madrid\u2019s Justicia neighbourhood on 22 September. The venture is a partnership between founder C\u00e9sar de la Parra and Nacho Ventosa and Sara Aznar of Los 33, the acclaimed sandwich bar next door. The Madrid site, in the former Bar D\u00e1vila, has imported nixtamalised maize, a steel comal and a trompo spit from Mexico to replicate the original\u2019s tortillas and pastor-style tacos, reinterpreted here with pica\u00f1a beef. De la Parra has sourced Spanish ingredients where they surpass Mexican equivalents, pairing premium products such as Discarlux beef and Wagyu with an informal taquer\u00eda atmosphere; the aim is a meal under thirty-five euros despite the luxury setting.<\/p>

Culture Outing<\/strong><\/p>

Julian Rosefeldt\u2019s\u00a0<\/a><\/strong>Manifesto<\/a><\/strong><\/em>\u00a0at MUAC<\/a><\/strong><\/p>

German artist Julian Rosefeldt\u2019s 13-channel film installation\u00a0Manifesto<\/em>\u00a0opened at Mexico City\u2019s MUAC on 5 September, running until 6 December. The work plays with 20th-century artistic and political manifestos, from Futurism to Dogma 95, using 13 collages, each performed by Cate Blanchett as a different everyday character. General admission costs 60 pesos, with free entry Thursday evenings.<\/p>

Culture Conversation<\/strong><\/p>

Foro El Pa\u00eds: Econom\u00eda en Pantalla<\/a><\/strong><\/p>

El Pa\u00eds, in partnership with CFILMA, held its inaugural Econom\u00eda en Pantalla forum at Mexico City\u2019s Museo Nacional de Antropolog\u00eda, bringing together producers, platforms, creators and public officials to examine Mexico\u2019s audiovisual industry as an economic driver. The roundtables covered the economics behind storytelling, Mexican content\u2019s global reach, women reshaping the industry, homegrown talent achieving international recognition, and pop culture\u2019s economic weight<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The OECD\u2019s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2025, the largest cycle to date, tested more than 760,000 15-year-olds across 91 countries<\/p>","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":19824,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture-chatter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/miranda-partners.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/miranda-partners.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/miranda-partners.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miranda-partners.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miranda-partners.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19823"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/miranda-partners.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19823\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19830,"href":"https:\/\/miranda-partners.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19823\/revisions\/19830"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miranda-partners.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/miranda-partners.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miranda-partners.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miranda-partners.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}