Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - After the success of its first edition, the 'Second International Forum of Sculptors' will be held in Puerto Vallarta from November 12-24, 2018, once again bringing national and international artists together to create the public art works that enrich the cultural and artistic heritage of our city.

Five of the thirteen large-format sculptures created during last November's 'First International Forum of Sculptors,' organized by the University of Guadalajara's Centro Universitario de la Costa (CUCosta), were donated to Puerto Vallarta and installed in public spaces throughout the municipality in September of this year.

During last week's press conference, Suny Ramírez, the executive coordinator of this forum, announced the artists that will be participating this year are from Taiwan, Poland, Puerto Rico, France, Turkey and Mexico. After the participating sculptors and the projects they will be working on were introduced, Mayor Arturo Dávalos Peña celebrated the fact that this event is being held in Puerto Vallarta once again.

"Puerto Vallarta is an open-air gallery, a place where art and culture are intertwined with tourism in the city," he said, adding that sculptures not only adorn the Malecón and other popular tourist zones, but also public spaces in the colonias that now house the works created during the First International Forum of Sculptors and that, today, give identity to these areas of the municipality.

The Mayor thanked the Centro Universitario de la Costa for the creation of this event, as well as the sponsors who make it possible for the sculptures to be donated to colonias throughout the municipality for the enjoyment of the people of Puerto Vallarta.

The rector of the CUCosta, Marco Antonio Cortés Guardado, said that this second edition reaffirms the purposes of this project: to offer a first-class educational opportunity to the student community, to contribute to the artistic heritage of the city, and to improve the urban landscape with works that become a collective reference point and focal points of community identity.

He also thanked Mayor Arturo Dávalos Peña, saying "From the first time we talked with him, the Mayor was very enthusiastic about the project; he not only gave us encouragement, but also the full support of the municipal government, which in the first edition materialized very quickly in the construction of the foundations needed to install the public art works."

He added that some of this year's projects will be created at the location where they will be placed due to size and weight, given that the sculptures will be made from stainless steel and concrete, and some of them will measure up to 7 meters high. He said that the CUCosta team worked in a coordinated manner with the Puerto Vallarta Public Works and Social Development Departments to determine the best places to display the sculptures that will be created during this second edition of the International Sculptors' Forum.