High-level Advisory Committee
Lawyer graduated from the Javeriana University. After graduation, she studied at the Institut Catholique in Paris and later pursued a Master of Laws with an emphasis in International Business at American University.
She worked with The Organization of American States (OAS) in Washington and linked to the management team of the Shaio Clinic.
She is a National Goodwill Ambassador for Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 17. Her leadership is relevant concerning body nutrition through the Great Alliance for Nutrition, and soul nutrition, promoting the national cause of zero tolerance to any form of mistreatment and violence against children, adolescents, and youth. She plays a leading role in the National Alliance in rejection of Violence Against Girls, Boys, and Adolescents.
Maria Juliana is a pioneer in mobilizing and articulating actions for young people through the SACÚDETE strategy and making visible and promoting the positive impact of national social management through the LUNNA network (United Leaders for the well-being of Boys, Girls, and Adolescents of Colombia).
María Juliana Ruiz Sandoval
First Lady of the Republic of Colombia
She was born in Ibagué, her father named Hernando Márquez Arbeláez, a lawyer, who worked in the Ministry of Finance and was Vice Minister of Mines, and her mother named Stella Tono Caicedo, an exceptionally talented dressmaker.
She graduated from Colegio San Patricio in Bogotá and studied at the Universidad de los Andes. She is a political scientist and passionate about politics.
She married Iván Duque Escobar and worked as a District Planning advisor in Bogotá, advisor to the Bogotá Ministry of Finance and SOFASA.
She has collaborated with different causes. And since getting married, she collaborated on social responsibility projects at places where her husband worked, beginning with the project for the education of the spouses of ACUEDUCTO DE BOGOTA employees to increase the socioeconomic level of families in need.
She led a vaccination campaign in Medellín, in collaboration with the Local Government and the newspaper El Colombiano, to eliminate infectious diseases from the Antioquia territory, reaching the most distant places of the region.
She has also worked in advertising and, for as long as she can remember, in political campaigns.
She has supported projects with the Tolima Conservatory of Music and projects with victims of violence in the Tolima region.
Mother of two children, the eldest is the President of the Republic of Colombia Iván Duque Marquez, the youngest Andrés, is a university professor.
Currently, she supports projects for the development of the Tolima Region and her hometown Ibagué. She collaborates and works for her country every day.
Her hobbies are music and fashion. Her favorite people are her grandchildren, Luciana, Eloísa, and Matías. Her best friend is her son Andrés, and the best counselor is his son Iván.
Juliana Márquez Tono
Cultural Agent of the Department of Tolima
Social communicator and journalist graduated from the Universidad de La Sabana, a specialist in cultural management from the Universidad del Rosario. She received a Master’s in Cultural Management from the Universidad de Barcelona.
She was a fellow of the Chief Executive Program from the National Arts Strategies (USA).
She has extensive experience managing in management of cultural organizations and the design and implementation of sociocultural projects at the local, national, and international levels.
She has worked as Director of Regional Development of the Ministry of Culture of Colombia, Director General of Bogota’s Philharmonic Orchestra, and Executive Secretary to the Colombian Commission of Cooperation with UNESCO. She was Director of Cultural Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Colombia, Technical Assistant in the Culture Area of the Andrés Bello Agreement, Director of the International Art Magazine of the Museum of Modern Art of Bogotá, advisor to the Directorate of Arts of the Ministry of Culture, among other outstanding responsibilities.
She is a university professor and an Executive Council of the International Music Council (IMC) Member, a Leadership Committee of the International Teaching Artist Collaborative (ITAC) Member, and a member of the International Society for the Performing Arts of New York.
María Claudia Parias Durán
Executive President of Fundación Nacional Batuta
Economist graduated from Universidad Javeriana and a Colombian Cultural Manager. She is the founder of the Colombian classical music organization Salvi Foundation.
She has promoted cooperative relations between Italy and Colombia in the field of arts and culture. This work has resulted in a positive social impact and the generation of new job opportunities.
Among various initiatives developed, the Cartagena International Music Festival, the Lutherie and Wind Instrument Centers, and the Salvi de Arpa Chair program.
Julia Salvi
President of Fundación Salvi
She was born in Ibagué, she has lived much of her life in the Huila region.
Thanks to her work for culture, she has consolidated the identity of Ibagué as the Musical City of Colombia.
Her working life began in 1997 with INRAVISIÓN in Cultural and Social Welfare Work.
In 1980, she worked with the TELECOM company as Human Resources Coordinator of the Regional -Tolima.
In 1987 she created the Tribute to Garzón y Collazos, currently known as the National Festival of Colombian Music, an event recognized by the law of the Republic No. 851 of 2003 and declared Cultural and Artistic Heritage of the Nation, Founder, and President of the Musical Foundation from Colombia.
National recognitions:
COLCULTURE: March 13, 1995, Resolution 0467 Recognition for the Construction of Cultural Identity.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: May 19, 1999, Resolution 324. Order of Democracy.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: March 8, 2005, Motion of Recognition on Women's Day.
SENATE OF THE REPUBLIC: March 17, 2005, Resolution 229, "Order of Congress in the Degree of Knight."
MINISTRY OF CULTURE: March 14, 2016, Resolution 0535, Medal of Cultural Merit. OF REPRESENTATIVES: May 19, 1999, Resolution 324. Order of Democracy.
CHAMBER OF REPRESENTATIVES: March 8, 2005, Motion of Recognition on Women's Day.
SENATE OF THE REPUBLIC: March 17, 2005, Resolution 229, "Order of Congress in the Degree of Knight."
MINISTRY OF CULTURE: March 14, 2016, Resolution 0535, Medal of Cultural Merit.
She has received regional recognitions, the most recent, granted by the Governor of Tolima, Mr. Ricardo Orozco Valero, on April 12, 2021, in Mariquita -Tolima during the celebration of 160 years of the creation of the Sovereign State of Tolima.
Carmen Doris Morera de Castro
President of Fundación Musical de Colombia
A pianist and concert player from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Lawyer, Specialist in State Contracting, more than ten years of teaching experience. He served as Dean of the Faculty of Education and deputy rector in 2013 of the Tolima Conservatory of Music.
He is the Rector of the Tolima Conservatory of Music since 2014.
Graduate in Biology and Chemistry, a specialist in environmental education, with experience in teaching.
He currently serves as Rector of the Ibagué Conservatory of Music, a technical-level Musical Educational Institution "Amina Melendro de Pulecio."
Francisco de Asís Arcia Mercado
Principal of Ibagué’s Music Conservatory – “Institución Educativa Técnica Musical Amina Melendro de Pulecio”