Juana Bravo Lázaro, Semilleros Creativos teacher, receives the National Arts and Literature Award 2024 @cultura_mx >>>

#SecretaríaDeCultura, #México.- In the category of Popular Arts and Traditions, the Government of Mexico awarded the National Arts and Literature Award 2024 to Juana Bravo Lázaro, textile artist, traditional cook and teacher of the Creative Embroidery Workshop in Angahuan, Uruapan, Michoacán.

Originally from the Purépecha community of Angahuan, in the municipality of Uruapan, Juana Bravo has dedicated her life to preserving ancestral techniques such as backstrap loom weaving, dyeing with natural pigments and hand embroidery. She has also played a key role in the rescue and dissemination of traditional Michoacan cuisine, with a community vocation that has led her to train new generations of bearers of this knowledge.

Teaching

For several years, teacher Juana Bravo has been a trainer in different institutions, such as the Intercultural Indigenous University of Michoacán (2013-2016), where she provided training in textile handicraft techniques.

Since 2024, teacher Juana has been part of the Semilleros Creativos program of the Ministry of Culture of the Government of Mexico, where she teaches workshops aimed at girls, boys and young people in her community on the use of the backstrap loom, with the aim of preserving this ancestral tradition within her community. Her teaching work has been fundamental to revitalize the social fabric through art, strengthening local cultural identity and pride in the Purepecha legacy.

Trajectory

In 1998, she co-founded the Angahuan Craftswomen’s Collective and, in 2006, the Santiago Angahuan Association of Craftswomen Weavers, which today brings together more than 500 women. Under her impulse, the collective brand “Tejido Artesanal de Angahuan” was born, which protects and promotes the fair commercialization of her pieces.

In the culinary field, she has represented Mexico in various international forums and was part of the team that integrated the dossier that allowed the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to declare traditional Mexican cuisine as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. In 2024, she received the Excelencias Gourmet Awards at the International Tourism Fair (FITUR) in Madrid, and in 2021 she obtained the Standard of “Preparation of Popular and Traditional Mexican Gastronomy”, this standard, certified by CONOCER (National Council for Standardization and Certification of Labor Competencies) and granted by the Conservatory of Mexican Gastronomic Culture and the Culinary College of Morelia.

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