Talent and youthful expression: VIBRART 2025, the Tec’s art festival

Young people singing, dancing, shouting, painting, writing, drawing, and acting... young people who dream of sharing their art with the world.

“Why are you an artist?” we asked them. “Because I couldn’t not be, because I want to tell the world what I think, because I need to express myself, to connect with others,” they said.

Over a thousand young people from all over Mexico took to the city of Querétaro to showcase their art from May 18 to 25 at VIBRART, Tec de Monterrey’s annual national art festival.

Actors, actresses, singers, dancers, filmmakers, writers, painters, photographers, and musicians from different Tec high schools and campuses shared their talent in public places such as Jardín Guerrero and Teatro de la Ciudad in the heart of the city.

Through their art, they demonstrated what worries, excites, and concerns them. They made songs, films, and plays about love, heartbreak, death, the stresses of adult life, anxiety, faith, and religion. These were seven days of artistic expression and integrated learning.
 

From Querétaro city center

Raindrops were timidly beginning to fall on the ground and trees of Jardín Guerrero, in the center of Querétaro.

To one side, the dome of the historic building of Parroquia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús bore witness to the lights and music emanating from the stage, located on the south side of the garden.

It was the opening of VIBRART, following two days of public performances and preceding the VIBRART Song final, the festival’s original song and performance competition, with further musical performances at the end of the week.

That day, seven young people with high potential and artistic accomplishments would be honored at the Talent that Inspires ceremony, and students from the Tec’s Querétaro campus (which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year) would present the HUMAN show of impressive cover songs.

Actor, comedian, and host Adal Ramones, invited by the festival as sponsor, took the microphone at the opening ceremony to highlight the Tec’s education and mission.

“Inside the heart of every artist, there’s a desperate cry that wants to come out and say: ‘Look at me! Here I am!’” he said, going on to praise Tec’s integrated learning, which includes an artistic component for its students.

“In 2019, I was invited by Tec to perform in a great play, a great musical production: A Christmas Carol.”

“And when I saw the level of the Tec graduates acting with me... (I was surprised)!

And I would ask them, but what do you do? And they would tell me: I’m a computer engineer, I have a law firm, etc. And (because of their level) I would ask them: but aren’t you a professional actor? And they would tell me: no, but we took cultural studies.”

In addition to Ramones as sponsor, prominent figures from each artistic discipline were invited to serve as judges for the various festival finals.

Among those present were Tec graduate Kenia Coronado, curator of the MARCO Museum, and Emily Greenwell, a choreographer and educator in New York with a distinguished career at the Broadway Dance Center and founder of the CLOUDE.NYC collective.

Also participating were Miguel Mier, Cinépolis Chief Operation Officer; Salo Loyo, musician and composer for Luis Miguel; and Torreblanca, a leading figure in Mexican experimental pop, among many more.

MTheatrical monologues: Faith, nostalgia, and hopes for the future

A piece of brown clay moved across the stage. And it writhed with agile and dramatic movements, while it spoke of the potter who transformed it.

This was Alejandro Pérez, an actor from Quinta Pared, the Tec’s North Sonora campus theater company, who played a clay vessel transformed by God, in a monologue that won an award for his character construction.

It was based on the Christian life testimony of the piece’s playwright, Ivana Astiazarán, and on the text of Jeremiah 18:3-6, as the monologue was titled.

But in this fifth edition of the festival, there were also monologues speaking about the stresses of becoming an adult, the giddiness of leaving childhood behind, and the anxiety that comes disguised as expectations: family, school, and work.

There was talk of heartbreak, which at eighteen seems eternal, and of death and separation from a loved one.

What’s more, there was the first-place monologue, ‘Amor en Polvo’, by Mexico City campus student Ketzali Reyes, about machismo not going away even if they say it no longer exists and how to unlearn unhealthy family habits.

Literary creation: Reinventions, social criticism, and dreams

It was the story of Pinocchio. But reinvented as a horror story.

The winner of the short story for high school level, written by Fernando Ibargüengoitia from PrepaTec Santa Fe, described a macabre home where children were turned into living dolls.

But there was also the story of a man who achieved perfection. And along the way, he realized that, by erasing the mistake, he had also erased the meaning of life.

This was the first-place short story at higher education level, written by Gusto Medel from the Tec’s Toluca campus.

Awards were given in the creative writing final for short stories, novels, and poetry, recognizing the approach and originality of the topic, language skills, and precision of words.

There was writing about art as a counterpoint to torture and war, lost love, family identity, faith, and human vulnerability, among other topics.

Songs that struck a chord

“Who’s going to be up there? Is a singer coming?” asked a father at Jardín Guerrero, when he saw the stage and the sound check.

“Not just one, but many,” he was told, with the explanation that it was an arts festival for young people from Tec de Monterrey all over the country who would take the stage with their original songs.

That night, there was a bit of everything: boleros, mariachi music, pop, rock, acoustic ballads, tropical music, and trap corridos.

Last year’s winners, musicians from the Tec’s State of Mexico campus, dazzled the audience with a new regional song, La Tierra del Pulque, which got many people moving and generated a wave of applause.

Marian González, last year’s Best Vocal Performance winner, stood out this year with a bolero sung with a mariachi band, shining once again and this time earning recognition for Vocal Personality.

The hosts from Querétaro stole the night with their hit group Cumbiamor, which captivated the audience as the panel deliberated. They also won second place with their song Luna y el Sol, composed and written by Arturo Esteller.

And first place, which also received multiple additional recognitions and mentions, went to Diego Alejos, from PrepaTec State of Mexico, who impressed the audience with his style and song El Sueño, played only on his guitar.

Cinema that looks at society and strongly expresses itself

In cinema, there were experimental, fictional, documentary, and animated films.

The themes touched on the guilt experienced after a death; memory in the age of artificial intelligence; and the urgent need for something authentic.

They also included the resilience of indigenous women who plant maize to ensure that their cultural roots don’t disappear, LGBT+ identity, popular art that endures, and the sonidera culture that still beats in the streets, among others.

An all-female film production team stood out twice, taking home the award for Best Documentary for Mientras yo viva, which portrays the indigenous worldview across the country, and also an honorable mention in fictional film for the short film Xoco.

Chucho Martínez, creator of short film La oreja de Loto (about a rabbit trapped in the darkness of its own reflection), won the award for Best Animated Short, and Alberto Maya won the award for Best Experimental Short for Qué puta mierda.
 

Photography, painting, drawing, and visual arts that evoke emotion

Paintings, photographs, videos, and artwork that portrayed family connections, critiqued romance, illustrated the feminist struggle, and captured the beauty of sport in the midst of a rainy match were part of the Visual Arts final.

There were awards for PrepaTec and Higher Education students in the Digital or Alternative Media and Traditional Media categories.

Of the more than 600 projects developed by Tec de Monterrey students, 40 were presented in the national final and 12 were announced as winners.

Art in motion: The magic of TecDance

In the TecDance final, the choreographies ranked as the 20 best in the country (10 classical dance and 10 urban dance) performed before the audience.

There were leaps, pirouettes, drama, comedy, precision, synchronicity, and even tributes and throwbacks to eras these young people haven’t experienced firsthand, such as a tribute to Michael Jackson and the winning urban choreography 1985.

The Monterrey dancers actually shone again, winning first place in both categories, both choreographed by the talented Juan Pérez (or Juanito, as he likes to be called).

These students brought choreographies to the stage that spoke of community, hope, and emotions such as anger, joy, and terror.

Limitless Talent: TecTalent

At TecTalent, the stage transitioned into a territory of exploration and diverse talents.

There were bodies suspended in the air that challenged vertigo with aerial dance; saxophones that captivated the audience;  and performances that explored the loss of one’s own shadow and the path to conquering it again.

There were tap, huapango, and folk dances that weren’t just tradition, but rituals to remind people where they come from, to connect with their roots.

It was the show where artistic talents that weren’t directly included in the other categories were also awarded and recognized.

VIBRART 2025 celebrated the highest level of artistic talent among students at the Tec, which seeks to provide integrated learning to all its students, as expressed by its leaders.

Young people singing, dancing, acting, and dazzling with their gifts and exhibits spent an entire week together, sharing experiences and life lessons.

In 2026, the Valley and State of Mexico will be the setting for the next VIBRART.