Art With Me: Habitas’ Eduardo Castillo is Building a Global Community

Art With Me *GNP took place May 10–13 in Tulum, Mexico. It was the area’s first arts and cultural festival, focused on preserving the natural environment and strengthening the artistic community of Tulum. This first year looked at waste management and the threat to the Mesoamerican Reef System, the ocean, and the local population. Over four days, panel discussions, exhibitions, and performances took place involving artists (like Tatiana Trouvé and Marcos Castro), business leaders, and environmental activists.

Whitewall spoke with Eduardo Castillo, the DJ and music producer behind Habitas hotels (now in Tulum, Aviva, Malibu, and Namibia). Habitas began as a series of weekends, evolved into a community, and now is offers a travel experience that embraces connection, interaction, and sustainability.  

WHITEWALL: What first brought you to Tulum?

EDUARDO CASTILLO: What initially attracted us to Tulum was its beauty—and it is one of the main reasons we are still here today. Beyond the beautiful views, we fell in love with the people and community who have continued to inspire us to along this journey.

 

WW: What was your initial idea for Habitas, which started out as a series of weekends bringing together a creative community in Tulum?

EC: Our series of intimate weekends set the foundation for Habitas and were based on our shared desire to live a purposeful life and engage in deep human connections; a lifestyle we longed to share with anyone of a similar mindset. Our goal wasn’t to recreate something existing, but to get back to the basics of why and how similar events brought people together.

WW: How did that evolve into a hotel?

EC: As the Habitas community developed, we began to realize that these events could have a permanent home where anyone could experience them year round. The idea that our curated programming could exist in a permanent space appealed to us. We see these spaces as homes where our doors are always open.

 

WW: What kind of atmosphere and experience did you want to maintain and even elevate?

EC: We have a lot of fun bringing our community together through dynamic programming. Our five pillars serve as a steady undercurrent of creativity and action. Music, wellness, food, conversations, and adventure have given Habitas a foundation on which to build a global community of like minded individuals.

WW: How central is sustainability to your mission at Habitas?

EC: Every decision we make is based on the impact, both positive and negative, that we will leave behind. Sustainability is at our core and in helping educate others, we are educating ourselves. Our Mar | Tierra foundation was created to help improve the ways in which we treat our environment through talks, screenings and action-based events. Habitas | Rise, our philanthropic initiative to create community through culture has been in place for over a year now at the Nakivale refugee camp in Uganda. We are proud of every project implemented and thankful to our community who support and fund this initiative through their participation.