Get to know us!
This team is responsible for organizing and coordinating the Ibanasca Festival and works with a network of collaborators, including artists, cultural managers, designers, communicators, activists, and more.
Ibanasca Team
Laura Varón ✦
Executive Director
Of Tolimense roots, she has always been connected to the territory. A traveler, cook, producer, cultural manager, and hotelier, she spent years working in tourism and gastronomy across various cities worldwide. In 2019, she felt the need to return to Honda, sparking her interest in working with the local community. She served as a project coordinator at Nuluka Foundation, leading an educational bilingualism program.
Since 2020, she has been involved in the tourism sector, managing a hotel she built with her family. That same year, she co-founded Fundación Ibanasca to contribute to Honda’s tourism, social, and cultural development. In 2021, Ibanasca Festival was born, now heading into its third edition. Since 2022, she has also been working in audiovisual production.
Paula Kitaen ✦
Creative Direction
A mountain wanderer and color traveler, she is a graphic designer by profession and is currently pursuing a degree in Fine Arts to earn the title of Master in Visual and Plastic Arts. In 2016, she joined the urban art scene in Ibagué, focusing on representing the feminine figure in the city's street art.
Her work primarily revolves around mural painting and illustration, taking her artistry across her region
and various areas of Colombia.
She is the co-founder of Ibanasca Festival, the first women's urban art festival in the region, where she leads the Creative Direction, ensuring that every curatorial aspect aligns with the festival's creative and social objectives. Her work is deeply rooted in fostering inclusion and advocating for fair representation of women in the arts.
Laura Carvajal ✦
Audiovisual Producer
Filmmaker of various fiction short films, including Bendito Seas, Puedo Salir de Acá (Argentina, 2018), Mujer Crea (Colombia, 2024), and Liebres (Colombia, 2024). She worked as Director of Photography for Sesiones Monarca and the short film Auroras Boreales.
She was the founder and director of La Cueva Films (2019–2023), where she led the direction and production of audiovisual and transmedia projects focusing on social and cultural issues. She has worked as an audiovisual producer for organizations dedicated to protecting the Amazon, such as Gaia Amazonas and Ambiente y Sociedad, as well as for Ibanasca Transforma,
a foundation that promotes women's art in the territory.
Recently, she has ventured into directing short films and documentaries, driven by her passion for exploring women's struggles, as well as themes of horror and suspense.
María Paula Torres ✦
Project Management
Sociologist and cultural mediator.
A proud Hondana and avid reader.
Since 2015, she has been involved in women's and feminist collectives in Manizales and spent seven years as part of the Masculinities for Social Change research group at the University of Caldas.
In 2020,
She co-founded the "Colectivo de Mujeres: De lo Privado
a lo Público" in Honda, which currently collaborates in
managingand supporting social projects within the
Ibanasca Transforma Foundation.
Yina Obando ✦
Curaduría y Productora
Passionate about Latin American urban art, she is a designer, cultural manager, researcher, and producer. She is part of Gráfica Mestiza, Circuito Gráfico, La Grafitería Cali, and the Mesa de Gráfica Urbana in her city.
She has worked as a producer and curator in social projects with DirecTV (Chocó), Barcú, Festival Borondo, Semana de la Gráfica Urbana, Festival Internacional de Arte Urbano in Bogotá, and Arte Urbano Pichincha in Ecuador.
She also coordinated the project "Jóvenes llenando de color el territorio" in San José del Guaviare, collaborating with Cali’s Secretary of Tourism, Fontur, Bulevar del Oriente, and Parque Pacífico in Cali.
She has been invited as a speaker at CIMU (Mexico), Universidad de Palermo (Argentina), and University of Pittsburgh. She is also a member of Juntanza Danza and the Ibanasca Festival in Honda, Tolima, both dedicated to
reclaiming the role of women in urban spaces.