Training for work

strategic line

_This is not a story of success” —Mundo Cuervo and Don Juan’s project, as a visionary— it is a story of struggle that has been built throughout all this time.

Dr. Roberto Delgado Gallart

Economic growth

We work so that university and professional education become a reality for all community, and allow the younger ones to incorporate into the new scopes of economy, tourism and culture that emerge with the social and strategic investment made by Mundo Cuervo, so that Tequila become one of the most important cultural destinations in Mexico.

Tradition and innovation come together within the local development strategy to strengthen the entrepreneurship of the inhabitants of Tequila and emphasize with great importance those subjects that tie together leisure, tourism, gastronomy, cultural heritage and service.

We wish this to allow the people of Tequila to develop businesses or be self-employed in those same lines. Our goal is to make evident the community identity elements and that holds a great richness in social values, ancestral attributes and cultural heritage.

…it is a story of struggle that has been built throughout all this time.

Strategy

We have the goal that the municipality development integrates both urban zones and rural communities around it. Training and innovation are the tools contributing to the integration of inhabitants to local development, using technology and Smart City standards.

The goal is for the Tequila community to become a center for creative economy, where tangible and intangible heritages —gastronomy, traditions, customs, agri-food production, town festivities and natural resources— be the engine to undertakings and new business proposals, that generate jobs and a constant and sustainable economy, both for the inhabitants and for the visitors.

The means to reach these goals are education and training: virtual, technological and in person, all throughout the year, with a schedule for workshops, conferences, seminaries and discussions to develop the identity of the community in an innovative way, being attractive to the region residents and a differentiator for outsiders around the tequila culture.

Rancho Chiquihuitillo Rancho Chiquihuitillo

Beneficiaries

The Foundation works to facilitate the living conditions of the Tequila inhabitants and bring development opportunities, both personal and social. The groups of interest that are benefited by these actions are: entrepreneurs, artisans, owners of restaurants, bakeries, small inns, micro-producers and local inhabitants.

Desarrollo local Desarrollo local

Our allies

Allies Allies

The consolidation of the reached goals is the result of the work of several institutions and strategic participants, in alliance with the Foundation. Thanks to this bonding and to the union of organized efforts, you can strengthen initiatives with team work spirit and social growth.

Tecnológico de Monterrey. Opening of the Virtual Learning Community Center, with excellency academic programs and a line of model products.

Universidad de Guadalajara/CUCBA.

  • Scientific dissemination of mycology, and promotion of mycological related tourism in the Volcán de Tequila.
  • Support for mapping and research of birds in the Tequila volcano as an indicator of biological conservation, since the volcano is the more important source of water collection for the tequila industry.

Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Occidente.

Through their Professional Application Projects (PAP):

  • Feasibility diagnosis for the creation of Vías verdes en la Ruta del Tequila, in the Agave Landscape, World Heritage.
  • Program for the better use and conservation of activities in heritage sites: preservation of craft techniques for the design of textiles and agave products, and the creation of a social map that includes the whole population to promote the mobility of tourists all over the territory, beyond the historical center.

Tequila City Hall. Bonding with strategic areas.

Chamber of Commerce. Pairing their activities with the specific areas of impact; this way, resources and efforts are optimized.

Multi Attention Center CAM#37. Impulse to the creation of NGOs and social ventures, specially to this institution for people with special abilities, for the creation of opportunities and job inclusion.

Allies map Allies map

Virtual Learning Community Center-Tec de Monterrey

Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey

Local development practice is a basic premise, entrepreneurship and social innovation must go hand in hand with those elements that give identity to the town’s life. This vision is a directive of the work made in all areas.

The Foundation initiatives are carried out because there is investment in Tequila. A training platform is being approached to the population in order to associate the local identity with the rest of the territory, and increase the job opportunities.

This year an alliance was established with Tec de Monterrey to make the Virtual Learning Community Center a reality. Its purpose is that all youth can study and, through technology, take short and diploma courses, bachelor and master degrees or doctorates in hospitality and gastronomy, with the best teachers, and without the need to move outside their territory.

To set down this imminent promise is momentous for the Foundation, promising to the future of Tequila and an example to other people.

  • 1 ongoing collaboration agreement Tec de Monterrey/Beckmann Foundation
  • 3 online diploma courses (Gastronomic management, Hospitality and tourism and Five steps to make your business grow)
  • 80 interviews with people interested in diploma courses
  • 10 interviews with scholarship applicants
  • 1 microsite for the Virtual Learning Community Center
  • 10 computer equipment sent by Tec de Monterrey
  • 7 visits to reference centers
  • 2 activity collaborators
  • 1 agreement for internships on the Gastronomic management diploma course
Local initiatives and SDG alignment

The Foundation initiatives are carried out because there is investment in Tequila…

Professional Application Projects (PAP)

Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Occidente

In alliance with the Western Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESO), we seek the best use and conservation of the context surrounding the patrimonial development of Tequila, through the development of two strategic PAP’s:

Feasibility diagnosis for the creation of Vías verdes en la Ruta del Tequila, in the Agave Landscape, World Heritage. A network of local leaders is conformed in the territory of the Tequila Route, Arenal, Amatitán and Tequila to identify the elements that will build one of the most important mobility routes of the territory for hiking and cycling.

Program for the better use and conservation of activities in heritage sites. The Foundation, through the Craft school and in hand with ITESO —through PAP’s— looks for the rescue and rethinking of crafts or hand works made in the community, the preservation of craft techniques for the design of textiles and agave products, and the creation of a social map including all the places of interest related with the life dynamic of the community and its inhabitants. The purpose of this program is to increase the mobility of tourists all over the territory, beyond the historical center.

  • 2 academic experts
  • 18 students working on the field, from communication, design, industrial engineering and marketing careers
  • 5 communities and 10 families benefited
  • Communities: El Chiquihuitillo ranch, Mitlán, Tapexco and head municipality of Tequila
Local initiatives and SDG alignment

PAP projects developed

Rancho el Chiquihuitillo

El Chiquihuitillo ranch

In the Tequila canyon, there’s a community that produces plums, pumpkin, vegetables and agriculture inputs and organic foods that supply to traditional and regular restaurants in Tequila. The intervention work is their branding development to help them increase their sales points on social networks and strengthen their production system.

  • 1 family
Local initiatives and SDG alignment
La cocina de Evalia Rivera

La cocina de Evalia Rivera-Traditional gastronomy of Tequila

Convert Tequila in one of the best gastronomical destinations in the region requires go deep to its gastronomy origins, and to rethink in an imaginative way the elements that craft this ancient tradition: hobs, metates, oven bakery, pumpkin seed mince. The intervention work is the branding development and the integration of a marketing strategy.

  • 1 family
Local initiatives and SDG alignment
Bordadoras de Mitlán

Mitlán embroiderers

In the Tequila mountain range, in Mitlán, there is a tradition inherited from grandmothers to mothers and daughters. In order to support their initiative for growing the commercialization of their products, a branding was developed, new design models were set along new embroidery techniques to make the work of the embroiderers more attractive to the visitors.

  • 7 women and their families
Local initiatives and SDG alignment
Artesanos del agave

Agave artisans

From the agave plant, the artisans of Tequila extract raw materials that they harness to make handicrafts and the employ their techniques in the production of quality objects for touristic consumption.

  • 2 participations in fairs and expositions
  • 5 artisans
Local initiatives and SDG alignment
Mujeres del vidrio

Glass artisan women

In the head municipality of Tequila, there is a group of entrepreneurial women who receive in donation the glass bottles from La Antigua Casona restaurant, the Solar de las Ánimas hotel and the Hacienda Centenario Lázaro Gallardo. They use diverse techniques to reuse these glass materials creating decorative objects, lamps or jewelry. To back up their self-employment initiative, they are being supported with the development of an image, branding and a product catalog.

  • 2 women
Local initiatives and SDG alignment
Encuadernado y papel de agave

Agave paper and bookbinding

We have a group of youngsters who are dedicated to work with agave paper and professional bookbinding, and they are also in a process of continuous training with a professional bookbinder. The goal is to stimulate the use of agave paper to become quality objects that can be offered to visitors.

  • 1 professional bookbinding workshop
  • 8 practice sessions with regional materials
  • 15 workshop attendees
  • 6 members of the bookbinding network
Local initiatives and SDG alignment

Leather goods workshop with Tec de Monterrey

At the Innovation Center in the Tecnológico de Monterrey, through the leather goods workshop —where leather is worked in many forms and uses—, it was developed a project with students from the design career, to train the young people of Tequila on a craft, and favor the generation of jobs.

The first stage was launched and we will continue with this relationship through 2019. The expectation is to consolidate a collective group that designs items and crafts with leather, and offer them for sale to visitors, and in that way support to improve their income.

  • 10 students
Local initiatives and SDG alignment

A Struggle Story

Family legacy and tradition: El Chiquihuitillo ranch

All these investments made by the Beckmann Foundation are based on the life of the people who support this chain. It has to be productive enough so their children do not abandon the fields, so we use this strategy called 2G: we work with two generations, this is the case of El Chiquihuitillo ranch.

A small community located in the Sierra de Tequila, where since years ago the family produces organic supplies, vegetables, corn, chili, bean, pumpkin, cattle, milk, cheese and meat.

Working with the ITESO alumni, we helped them to accelerate their business model and the marketing strategy of their produce, in addition to professionalizing the processes with which they had already been working and standardize the service they offer. Currently they sale their products as suppliers to the Solar de las Ánimas hotel and the Antigua Casona restaurant.

Their production and business model allows them to receive guided visits to the ranch, where tourists can experience the rural life and participate in the production activities accordingly to the season, for example helping with the harvest of plums and traditional cuisine.

But the most important is that the next generation was integrated. They are actually studying agronomy, so they can find attractive to keep working with the family legacy and do not lose the generational transition.

They receive training, advice, and are presented with timely information so they can make decisions about their business and investments. We work hand in hand for Tequila to be an attractive destination, seedbed of creative industries and innovating processes, without losing the essence of tradition.

Tequila destination

The rural life is an important element of the Tequila development as a destination. Besides enjoying the elaboration process and culture of tequila, our visitors can repeat their visit along different times of the year: each season has something different to offer!

Our task is to establish mechanisms that allow those who visits us, to touring and knowing another elements of the Tequila territory, the valley, the canyon, the volcano or the mountain range, which feed an enrich the municipality.

Integrating the Tequila rurality to the existent dynamics means to secure the experience, as well as creating reasons and cultural events so the visitors return several times a year. This way we can offer a diversity of customs, traditions and climates.

We are sons and heirs of three generations, of families that make the tequila in a traditional tavern, instead of the agave, now we put the plum to ferment and distill it. It is an innovation of something that is typical of Tequila, the plum. Jorge y Sergio Contreras

A story about growth

Innovation in Tequila towards the future: Tapexco, Sierra de Tequila

It is a picturesque ranch nestled in the Sierra de Tequila. It is part of the rural communities of the municipality that produce in May the different varieties of plum, an endemic product of this region. The Contreras family, who are experts in producing artisan tequila, were worried about giving plums an innovative use, so they created a distillate from the fruit. With this, they can take advantage of the surplus of the plum harvest and fuse a knowledge inherited by more than three generations in the artisanal distillation of agave for tequila.

Traditionally the first cut of plums is sold at the Central de Abastos in Guadalajara. However most of the time the following cuts are not well paid, so that they were no longer made and the fruit was wasted. Now it is piped to distill and prepare a crystalline plum distillate.

Advised and accompanied in this process, their brand and label was developed, and they will be given continuity with the legal aspects for the commercialization of this innovative product.

Plum festival

Fiesta de la CiruelaThere are a series of events that accompany the life of the town and favor their traditional dynamics of economy. What we do is accelerate them and make them innovative, especially within the celebrations of the 20th anniversary of the Foundation. By making a plum event, the product becomes more sophisticated, it is transformed, it becomes attractive and innovative to the tourist.

The Plum Festival is a meeting between producers and families that seek to show visitors to the magical town of Tequila, the benefits of their land, the gastronomic heritage that accompanies the tequila drink, and make visible other forms of life in the production chain.

Activities Attendees
Information meeting Local plum and mango producers
Workshop: Products derived from plum 6 families of producers
Press confference Media
Educational tasting: Tequila and plum 110 attendees
Public class: Cooking with plums 50 attendees
Talk: How do the plums get to Tequila? 50 attendees
Child pass: Let's cut plums 20 children
Producers fair 14 local producers
Total attendees 250 people
Local initiatives and SDG alignment
Fiesta de la Ciruela Fiesta de la Ciruela Fiesta de la Ciruela Fiesta de la Ciruela

Mushroom festival

Fiesta del hongo

Organized in collaboration with the UDG-CUCBA, through the mycology laboratory, and the regional ecotourism agency COA. The mushroom festival is a cultural, gastronomic and scientific festival to celebrate and spread the role of the wild mushrooms that grow in the rainy season in the volcano —natural and cultural heritage of the community of Tequila—, as well as to promote the practice of mycotourism in the region.

The festival of the mushroom is a celebration of the bio-cultural heritage of the region, which is part of the projects that took place in the framework of the commemoration for the 20th anniversary of the Foundation.

Local initiatives and SDG alignment
Venue Activities Participants
Volcán de Tequila Playful mushrooms harvest 40 children, 40 adults, 30 voluntaries from CUCBA and Micoturismos México, Dept. of Mycology.

Tequila Main Square

 Living mushrooms exhibition and scientific area 80 assitants
Inauguration of the exhibition and fair of producers and artisans 7 producers, 80 assitants
La Cata (Tequila, Jalisco) Talk: Mushrooms and Tourism in Tequila with Mtro. Leobardo Padilla 60 assistants
Jose Cuervo Street (Tequila, Jalisco) Mushrooms and tequila tasting 100 assistants

Tequila Main Square

 Activities for children and young people. 10 participant children
Public class of cooking with mushrooms, with Chef Eduardo Marín 50 participants
La Cata (Tequila, Jalisco) Talk: Myths and realities of mushrooms, with Dr. Laura Guzmán Dávalos 60 assitants
Tequila Main Square Norteño dance with Las Papayas de Celaya 100 assitants
Total 757 reached people

Stave art

Arte en duela

This initiative was a creative space for the participation of Tequila youth in the special anniversary projects. Guided by six artists from Guadalajara, they intervened the staves of the barrels that already fulfilled their life cycle and that were previously used for the aging of tequila.

Besides the artistic work, a talk was given about the history, importance and art of barrel making. The objective is to make barrel producers visible, and to promote innovation to make it more attractive and mobilize the local economy.

  • 3 days of activities
Activities Participants
Stave art workshop 17 young participants y 6 emerging artists
Stave art exhibition 6 stave art
Exhibition inauguration 60 attendees
Talk about the Art of barrel making 60 attendees
Concert by Tekistraits 100 attendees
Show and public sale of traditional casks 1 family of coopers
Total attendees 248 people
Local initiatives and SDG alignment
Proyecto Arte en Duela Proyecto Arte en Duela Proyecto Arte en Duela Proyecto Arte en Duela

Voces de Tequila

Voces de Tequila

A collective initiative in which different institutions without political or religious interest, unite to help a good cause. Everything procured in the event is a direct donation to support the Multiple Care Center 37, Mercedes Hernández de Orendain.

This institution not only receives people with disabilities, it also cares for children with learning problems or other special educational needs. They are dedicated to train and educate autonomous people, capable of integrating to Tequila’s work environment, seeking the inclusion of their students in regular schools. In this way, the barriers of discrimination that are systematically faced during their development are transferred.

  • 1 event
  • 11 participant institutions
  • 5 promotional pieces
  • 50 benefited students
Local initiatives and SDG alignment

Conference: Cultural and creative tourism opportunities

Given by Dr. Arch. Monica Solórzano Gil to learn how other destinations manage to attract tourists and retain them by having a proper management of its tangible and intangible heritage.

There, it was shared that with the use of cultural products it can be given impetus to creative and cultural activities in the traditional neighborhoods of cities, can encourage a new model of creative tourism, participatory or alternative, also called orange tourism.

  • 3 talks
  • 237 assistants
Local initiatives and SDG alignment
Oportunidades del turismo cultural y creativo Oportunidades del turismo cultural y creativo

Workshop: Design Thinking for service and hospitality

Cámara de Comercio delegación Zona Agavera

The workshop was held in the classroom of Design Thinking at the facilities of the Tecnológico de Monterrey Campus Guadalajara. Participated a group of executives from the business units of Solar de las Ánimas hotel, Hacienda Centenario Lázaro Gallardo, Villa Tequila hotel, Beckmann Foundation, Tequila Adventure, Fonda Cholula, Juan Beckmann Gallardo Cultural Center, Tequila Red Cross and Mexico Tequila Tours. The main topics that were worked on were:

  • Innovation and trends in service
  • Journey maps
  • Design Thinking for the development of services
  • Inspiration (knowing the needs of our clients)
  • Development (search for solutions)
  • Evaluation (feedback of solutions by the client)
  • Application (feasibility and viability)
  • 20 people
Local initiatives and SDG alignment
Taller Design Thinking Taller Design Thinking Taller Design Thinking Taller Design Thinking

Tequila cultural richness

To share our pride with the whole community, but also to remember our commitment to education, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Foundation this year we designed a special activity for children where we teach them, through a small talk, the main richness of the region, many of which they already know and live on a daily basis, so we refocus them on their intangible value.

n this workshop, given by MS Iztaccihuatl Castro Medina, the children had the opportunity to identify the main elements of their heritage and translate it in their own way, through various techniques of acrylic painting.

  • 100 participant children
  • 2 days workshop
Local initiatives and SDG alignment
Taller de pintura Taller de pintura

Local heritage management

For the Foundation, intangible heritage management, in accordance with what the World Tourism Organization (WTO) indicates, is to rescue and preserve the traditions and customs of a people, which give identity to the community.

From the Foundation, in several of the areas, what we do is to identify and work with the inhabitants together, through the dissemination of traditional gastronomy, the promotion of traditional festivals and art, endemic products, dissemination of the uses of agave and awareness of the protection of natural landscapes, whether to generate productive projects or to strengthen educational values.

Gestión del patrimonio cultural Gestión del patrimonio cultural Gestión del patrimonio cultural Gestión del patrimonio cultural Gestión del patrimonio cultural Gestión del patrimonio cultural

Workshop: Panza llena, corazón contento

The main objective of this event was to bring children to the knowledge of the gastronomic treasures of the town and raise awareness of the importance of caring for and respecting their treasures, as well as integrating them to anniversary activities, as key actors throughout these 20 years of work.

They had the opportunity to get in touch with scents, smells and tastes that represent regional food. On the other hand, these children met and tasted some seasonal fruits that grow in the ravine and are considered treasures by the tequilenses.

  • 60 60
  • 2 day workshop
Local initiatives and SDG alignment
Panza llena, corazón contento Panza llena, corazón contento

Fogones y Metates: 2nd traditional cooks and local producers gathering

_Flavors and knowledge that have been inherited from grandmothers to daughters, to granddaughters. We want to rescue those systems of productive life, because the agricultural part feeds the gastronomic authenticity of the town.

De fogones y metates Tequila destination, producer of the most important drink of Mexico in the world. In a few years it will be one of the destinations that will have one of the most important gastronomic offerings in the state of Jalisco. To achieve it we work tirelessly in the mapping and conservation of the elements that constitute the culinary wealth of the region.

To celebrate this continuous work, every year the Foundation calls for a meeting between traditional cooks and local producers of Tequila, a space for conversation, collaboration and innovation, this gastronomic festival is called Fogones y metates:

  • 680 people
  • 20 producers
  • 10 traditional cooks from the communities of Mitlán, Atemanica, El Roble, El Chiquihuitillo and Jala
Cultural activities Master conferences by culinary experts
Photographic exhibition Rafael Mier–Fundación Tortilla Mexicana, A.C.
Public tasting for the brave Tequila y chile PhD Araceli Aguilar Meléndrez
Universidad de Xalapa, expert in biodiversity and peppers
Tasting of dishes from the Sierra de Tequila Maru Toledo
Chef, researcher and expert in traditional cuisine of Jalisco
Dishes contest between restaurants Jaime Lubin Zermeño
Sloow food tapatío and Workshop of amazement
Local initiatives and SDG alignment
Fogones y Metates Fogones y Metates Fogones y Metates Fogones y Metates

Day of the dead and Bread festivals

Festival día de muertos y Feria del pan The Day of the dead festival, is part of the celebrations for the Foundation’s anniversary, but it also goes on this annual calendar of events that allow to culminate some type of previous investigation activity or documentation of customs and traditions or intangible heritage of the community.

The Day of the dead festival, is held on the date on which the community has activities related to this theme, and in parallel, an altar of the dead is built in the square, and activities are carried out with children, young people and adults.

This year we called the bakers of the community, this is possible to a research and mapping work that the Foundation did with them 3 years ago, —Tequila has more than 20 traditional bakeries— and the bread fair was held, where people could buy and taste pan de muerto or any other variety of typical Tequila bread.

Venue Activities Participants
Tequila main square Opening and tour of the Tequila bakers fair
Inauguration of the Dead festival of Tequila 2018 (welcome, reading, ribbon cutting) 800
Procession of the souls
Beckmann Foundation Choir
Exposition and lit of a giant altar of the dead
Offering for attendees: pan de muerto, chocolate and champurrado
Tales of pure fright / Street theatre 200
Movie projection “Coco” 200
Total reach 1,200
Local initiatives and SDG alignment
Festival del Día de Muertos Festival del Día de Muertos Festival del Día de Muertos Festival del Día de Muertos

Training for work
indicators summary

Virtual Learning Community Center 80 interested people interviewed / 5 pilot students
PAP´S ITESO / Crafts school 18 students
“El chiquihuitillo” rancho 1 family
La cocina de Evalia Rivera 1 family
Bordadoras de Mitlán 7 mujeres
Glass artisan women 2 women
Agave artisans 5 artisans
Energizing of the agave paper factory 15 workshop attendees / 6 network members
Leather goods workshop with Tec de Monterrey 10 students
Plum festival 250 people
Tequila Mushroom festival 757 people
Stave art 248 people
Tasting with a cause 50 students
Conference: Cultural and creative tourism opportunities 237 attendees
Workshop: Design Thinking 20 participants
Workshop: Tequila cultural richness 100 children
Workshop: Panza llena, corazón contento 60 attendees children
2nd traditional cooks and local producers gathering 680 people, 20 producers, 10 traditional cooks
Day of the dead festival 1,200 attendees
Total 3,782 people