Wikimania:Expressions of Interest/2024/Mexico

Expression of interest: Mexico

Abstract/description

The community of Wikimedia Mexico is glad and excited to welcome again our friends, family and colleagues in Mexico. As shown in one of the best evaluated Wikimania editions in the history, the community of Wikimedia Mexico would love to be your host in our country, a pole of cultural, historical and traditional richness in the world.

On its 11 years of history, Wikimedia Mexico has accumulated a lot of experience organizing public events on a periodic basis, such as Wikimania 2015, Iberoconf 2013, WikiWomenCamp 2017, among other activities: editathons ─including a Guinness record laureate!─, contests, and gatherings. All these activities show our professional and volunteer experience in the management of large attendance events.

Nowadays, Wikimedia Mexico is one of the most active Wikimedia affiliates in the region and worldwide. Our Editatona program has helped to reduce the gender gap within the Wikimedia projects, and its learning patterns have been adopted by decens of affiliates, organizations, and people in Latin America and Spain, building an active network for collaboration and sharing of collective knowledge.

Our chapter has solid and long-standing collaborations with Mexican government agencies, universities, and cultural recints (museums, libraries, galleries, and archives), including activities with the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) ─ the largest public university in Latin America ─, the Secretariat of Culture, among others.

Organizers

Who is submitting this expression of interest? List individuals or groups.

• Wikimedia Mexico

Requirements

We have learned a lot in the last seven years since we hosted Wikimania 2015. We evaluated the less functional aspects of that edition, in order to anticipate those eventualities and offer a great experience to the global community.

Our community agreed that our expression of interest would be at this point as a country level, since we could offer two viable options:

	Option A: Mexico City	We would like to host Wikimania again in the capital city, but this time in a separate venue from the hotel, at a walking distance or easily accessible through public transportation.
	Option B: Guadalajara	The second largest city of Mexico fulfills all the requisites to host a Wikimania. Guadalajara has a huge historical, cultural and gastronomical richness; also called the Mexican Silicon Valley for having a hub for the technology and software industry.

In the two options we have a number of public and private venues to comfortably accommodate both the event and the attendees in a safe and efficient way.

Besides the information we provided in 2015, we would like to add:

• A new international airport (Felipe Ángeles International Airport) that will have a station of Tren Suburbano line connecting directly with Mexico City by the time of the event.
• A new runway at Guadalajara International Airport will be inaugurated in 2024, expanding the capacity of flights to be received, especially international flights.
• Our chapter has dedicated staff now, financial and organizational solidity, a larger and more mature community, including a lot of volunteers that helped during Wikimania 2015.

Travel + visas

• Travel and visas info can be consulted on Mexico's Wikivoyage article

Time

• Our assessment indicates that August is a suitable month for the event.