MADE Creatives in Residence

⚠️🎨 Artist Warning: Avoid “MADE, Creatives in Residency” in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico If you’re looking for an enriching and supportive artist residency in San Miguel de Allende, do not apply to MADE Creatives in Residence. This is not a real residency in any meaningful sense — it’s a poorly managed Airbnb-style rental run by a someone with no involvement in the local art community, who seems more interested in controlling artists than supporting them. The program claims to encourage cultural immersion and creative growth through classes and local engagement. In reality, you’re expected to take a small, handpicked list of classes taught by friends of the organizer, Yesica Guerra, the only person at this program, who becomes hostile if you choose differently. For example, I enrolled in a reputable class at Instituto Allende instead of one of her suggested options, and she was furious — not because I wasn’t engaging with art, but because I wasn’t doing it her way. She demanded to accompany residents to classes to take photos “of your process” for her promotional materials. She was even angry that I didn’t report my daily activities to her — despite the fact that I document them openly on Instagram. She seemed far more interested in inserting herself into our creative work than respecting the autonomy that most artists need to create. Another artist in the cohort, a professional writer, was bullied to attend a paper mache class that she did not want to take (from the list), just to check a box. The residency exists not to support artists but to serve as a vanity project for the organizer, and the level of control that she constantly trying to impress on us was exhausting. The facilities are unacceptable. For a one-month stay, you’re given one towel, one hand towel, and one change of sheets — with no access to cleaning supplies. Rooms are not clean upon arrival, yet residents are expected to maintain them. I upgraded to an apartment space and paid a large premium. When I requested a broom, she lent me one from her personal supply and later took it back. The on-site laundry exists but is off-limits to residents. Handwashing is strictly forbidden, You’re expected to lug your laundry down a steep 0.75-mile hill — for a 19 minute walk, especially while adjusting to the altitude.. She cuts corners at every opportunity: • No room cleaning. • Clean linens provided once for 30 days. • Promised weekly communal dinners vanish if fewer than three people are present. • Rooms are dirty and poorly sealed, letting in mosquitoes, humidity, and cold. (1/4-1/2 inch space around my front door that I could see the outside). • Basic things like heating or hot water aren’t reliably available. When the hot water ran out after four cold days, we were told to wait until “Señor ——” could come sometime next week — because apparently planning for weather is too much to expect from management. The level of control is invasive and inappropriate, the one open area to sit is monitored by cameras with lights that go on when it is too dark to film. • She enters your room to turn off lights and shut doors when you are not there. • She monitors your filtered water consumption if you are using more than what “others” have drunk. • She questions whether you “need” things like fans, heat, or basic comfort. • When a hurricane hit and temperatures dropped dramatically, we were denied heat. Instead, I was told to use a dusty, hair-covered blanket. Worst of all, Guerra, who owns and manages the property is hostile, petty, and completely unhelpful. Any question or concern is met with defensiveness or outright blame. She has no ties to the local arts community and offers no meaningful support or networking. In the end, I spent a month unable to create onsite, as a hostile environment is the opposite of what is needed to be creative.