[Sound of waves crashing on the beach] [Strumming folk like guitar music with vocals] My name is Jennifer Ensley Smith.

I have been living in Akumal for almost 20 years.

My husband and I first came to Akumal on our honeymoon and fell in love with the area.

So, when my husband and I moved here, we actually purchased Turtle Bay Bakery & Cafe, it was a pre-existing restaurant.

We had never been to it.

So, it was a very big leap of faith.

We had no money, never saw a set of books, never even saw a menu, it was just I knew that I wanted to be in Akumal.

Cancun was very well established, but that's when Playa (del Carmen) was really growing.

Nobody had really heard of Akumal.

[Hispanic inspired guitar music with vocals] ♪ JENNIFER: The formation of the arts festival actually started about a conversation of changing light bulbs.

And, I was meeting with Iran Beltran, who was the "Delgado" at the time.

JENNIFER: It really stemmed from my staff, who are my family down here.

When they come to work in the morning, it's dark.

And when they leave at night, it's dark.

And when the tourists are coming in on the highway, it's dark.

JENNIFER: I asked him if he could help me get the permission to maybe do like a mural or two, just to cover up the graffiti on the bridge.

JENNIFER: By the end of our conversation, we had this idea of actually doing, like, a little festival.

[Up beat rock music] JENNIFER: Never in a million years did we ever think we'd have what we did the first year, which was a hundred artists that came from all over the world, we did a hundred art classes with all of the kids, we were in every single school, every single classroom, um and they painted a hundred murals the first year, with the bridge and all through the town, and really completely, like, changed the look and the feel of Akumal.

[Rock music ends] [Jake speaking in Spanish] JAKE GARDINER: So, my name is Jake Klone.

Um, I'm helping to run all the artists around and organize all of their paint supplies and stuff like that.

[Jake quietly converses with locals, dogs barking] JAKE: To be a part of such a big network of artists is really amazing, it's, it's, it's like a big family.

♪ Artists are really good at playing a role in helping people become aware of various issues around the world, whether it's climate change, or, you know, community-based projects, political stuff, and you know, the lists endless.

They really do have a power, the artists.

♪ A lot of the selection process is based on community engagement.

So, like, it's not just about how many Instagram followers you have or how good your painting is, because who am I to say who's good and who isn't, you know?

It's about what you can bring to the community and what you can bring for the people of Akumal.

♪ GRETA MCCLAIN: The pandemic has kind of shown us that we can live in different places and just kind of converge on a community and be like "What's up?

Let's hang out!"

and paint together and then go back to Mexico or Minneapolis and make it all work.

PRODUCER: How'd you get the buy-in of the homeowners and the businesses?

JENNIFER: We just asked.

I'm Luca Babini, aka A Cool 55, which is my pseudo name for street art.

I'm from, originally from Italy, born in Italy, but I lived exactly half of my life in Italy and the United States, in New York.

What I like about Akumal, is the connection with the community.

It's a real one.

Also, what I love here is what art is doing to the community.

'Cause we are in ah, it's easy to say, you know, art is a great healing power.

True.

But here you see it in action.

GRETA: We do a lot of work when we bring the community out to paint all together, helps people kind of reconnect and actually is a very important ingredient in public health.

♪ DR.NESTOR MENDOZA: In questions of mental health, the festival is helping the people.

They have seen that their town is getting prettier.

You want to see something bright, you want to see colors.

Um, right now, with the festival that is what is helping the people.

♪ [Chatter of children speaking in Spanish] My name is Jon Webb.

A few years ago, we built a house in Akumal and we've enjoyed coming here every year, of course, even more so since we found the Akumal Arts Festival.

I assumed, but wrongly, that it was kind of an outsider's view of what was needed here in the community.

And I think...she quickly convinced me - that she wasn't outside the community, but was part of the community, in fact, the larger community, not just the sort of the expat American side of Akumal that's on the beach side, but also part of the pueblo.

And, she made an excellent bridge between the two communities.

She being Jennifer Smith.

[scoffs] I had a bit of skepticism about it at first, but I was quickly convinced that it was the real deal.

There was community buy-in, there was buy-in from everybody involved in the festival, both the artists from around the world, the local community, particularly the children in the pueblo, and it was just, uh you know, a fabulous event.

MADELINE SPENCER: What this festival at Akumal has done is essentially taken a complete pueblo, a town, and the whole town has become a part of the artistry, of the place.

I do believe that art is different.

When anybody builds something together, designs something together, come together to create something, there's some sense of participation that makes you really feel connected.

And, I think that having that at the heart of a experience changes the dynamic of the group to understand themselves as able to actually be actors rather than passive observers of their reality.

LUCA: You see that, you know, the pride of the owners of the houses that are being painted, and you know, the beautification makes them feel, you know, good about where they live and the attention.

You know, you bring people attention, and these people have been left behind.

JENNIFER: In Akumal, we were kind of like the forgotten pueblo.

JENNIFER: This was a beautiful experience, because they come here, they pay their way here.

I call them magical creatures.

And they always want to paint, I mean, it's always amazing how they always want to paint.

[Uplifting piano music continues over credits] ♪