2012
A Hotel with a Different Premise
Hotel El Ganzo opens in Puerto Los Cabos, founded by Pablo Sánchez Navarro with the idea of creating more than a hotel—an evolving space for art, music, and community. From the start, artists were invited to stay not by paying, but by contributing their work: a performance, a mural, a moment. With no hierarchy between emerging and established voices, El Ganzo positioned itself as a cultural platform rooted in exchange, creativity, and a deep connection to its local context.
2013
The Residency Program Begins
The Artist Residency Program officially launches, turning the original vision into an ongoing practice. Artists begin to live and create within the hotel, leaving behind works that transform rooms and common spaces into a living collection. With each residency, El Ganzo grows into a dynamic platform where disciplines, perspectives, and stories converge—shaping an ever-evolving cultural identity.
2013
The Residency Program Begins
The Artist Residency Program officially launches, turning the original vision into an ongoing practice. Artists begin to live and create within the hotel, leaving behind works that transform rooms and common spaces into a living collection. With each residency, El Ganzo grows into a dynamic platform where disciplines, perspectives, and stories converge—shaping an ever-evolving cultural identity.
2015
A Safe Space for Creativity
L'École is founded by Pablo Sánchez Navarro and François Paris as a safe, creative space for children in La Playa community. Through El Ganzo’s Artist in Residence Program, visiting artists also spend time at L'École, sharing their practices and creative processes with the local community.
The project would later grow into La Playa Community Center, extending El Ganzo’s cultural vision beyond the hotel walls.
2016
Art Expands Beyond the Canvas
Collaborations with artists including Pedro Reyes, Saner, Shelby and Sandy, Desmond Mason, and SOMA continue shaping El Ganzo’s evolving identity. Through murals, installations, and interventions, the hotel becomes an increasingly immersive artistic environment—inside and out.
2016
Art Expands Beyond the Canvas
Collaborations with artists including Pedro Reyes, Saner, Shelby and Sandy, Desmond Mason, and SOMA continue shaping El Ganzo’s evolving identity. Through murals, installations, and interventions, the hotel becomes an increasingly immersive artistic environment—inside and out.
2017
The Community Center Opens
L'École grows into the official El Ganzo Community Center, expanding its programs and impact within the community. As the project evolves, collaborations between the hotel and the center begin to emerge organically, creating a stronger bridge between artistic practice, education, and social connection.
2018
A Living, Breathing Intervention
Collective Street Art Chilango intervenes multiple areas of the hotel, transforming El Ganzo into a vibrant, immersive artistic experience. Murals, textures, and unexpected visual moments turn the property itself into a living, breathing trip.
2018
A Living, Breathing Intervention
Collective Street Art Chilango intervenes multiple areas of the hotel, transforming El Ganzo into a vibrant, immersive artistic experience. Murals, textures, and unexpected visual moments turn the property itself into a living, breathing trip.
2020
Art in Times of Crisis
Following the global pandemic, Hotel El Ganzo temporarily closes its doors and launches Ganzo Ayuda, a community-driven initiative supporting local families and La Playa Community Center. Former artists in residence contribute specially designed T-shirts, turning art into a direct tool for solidarity, fundraising, and collective care during uncertain times.
2022
Ganzo X — Ten Years of Creative Chaos
To celebrate its 10th anniversary, El Ganzo hosts Ganzo X: a multi-day gathering of artists, musicians, and creatives from Mexico and abroad. Installations, exhibitions, performances, and immersive experiences take over the hotel in a large-scale celebration of the community, collaborations, and artistic spirit that have shaped Ganzo over the past decade.
2022
Ganzo X — Ten Years of Creative Chaos
To celebrate its 10th anniversary, El Ganzo hosts Ganzo X: a multi-day gathering of artists, musicians, and creatives from Mexico and abroad. Installations, exhibitions, performances, and immersive experiences take over the hotel in a large-scale celebration of the community, collaborations, and artistic spirit that have shaped Ganzo over the past decade.
2023
A Program in Constant Transformation
El Ganzo hosts the inaugural edition of ABC Art Baja, a landmark contemporary art fair that brings together artists, galleries, collectors, and cultural practitioners from across Mexico and beyond. The milestone reflects the ongoing evolution of El Ganzo’s Art Program, which continues to grow as a platform for encounters, conversations, and projects that foster meaningful cultural, personal, and social transformation.
2024
New Conversations, New Scale
El Ganzo hosts the first edition of FURIA, a contemporary art auction created to raise funds for programs at La Playa Community Center, further connecting collecting, philanthropy, and cultural action.
That same year, the hotel inaugurates its first large-scale rooftop mosaic mural by Omar Rodríguez-Graham. Developed in collaboration with SAIC, Taller Perdomo, and MVM Studios, the piece becomes a new visual landmark for El Ganzo—linking the hotel to a long lineage of public art, muralism, and collaborative craftsmanship.
2024
New Conversations, New Scale
El Ganzo hosts the first edition of FURIA, a contemporary art auction created to raise funds for programs at La Playa Community Center, further connecting collecting, philanthropy, and cultural action.
That same year, the hotel inaugurates its first large-scale rooftop mosaic mural by Omar Rodríguez-Graham. Developed in collaboration with SAIC, Taller Perdomo, and MVM Studios, the piece becomes a new visual landmark for El Ganzo—linking the hotel to a long lineage of public art, muralism, and collaborative craftsmanship.
2025
Art Meets Ocean Conservation
The Art Program joins Azul Pacífico, El Ganzo’s annual Oceans Week forum dedicated to ocean conservation through dialogue, education, and community engagement. Bringing together artists, scientists, and environmental advocates, the 2025 edition featured a talk and workshop by artist Emilio Chapela, an exhibition of Baja landscapes by photographer Santiago Arau, and a sound intervention in the Underground Studio centered on whale recordings—exploring the intersection of art, ecology, and collective action.
