Museo Estatal de Arte Popular de Oaxaca

The Museo Estatal de Arte Popular de Oaxaca, commonly known as MEAPO, is a state-run museum in San Bartolo Coyotepec, a municipality just south of Oaxaca city in Mexico. Founded in 2004, it serves as the primary institutional showcase for Oaxacan handcrafts and folk art, with a particular concentration on barro negro pottery, the signature craft of its host community. Operated by the state of Oaxaca, MEAPO combines a physical collection with digital outreach, international collaboration, and live programming to promote the region's artisan traditions and the cultures that produce them.

MEAPO opened in 2004 with the purpose of conserving and promoting Oaxacan handcrafts, folk arts, and their makers as vital components of the state's culture and economy. Carlomagno Pedro Martínez, a native of San Bartolo Coyotepec and accomplished barro negro artist, was instrumental in shaping the museum in its current form and continues to serve as director. The institution has pursued growth through government sponsorship and partnerships with foreign foundations. One notable collaboration is with the Friends of Oaxacan Folk Art, based in New York City, which has supported projects including scholarships for young artists, five of them valued at 10,000 pesos each authorized in 2008. Over its first five years, the museum hosted approximately fifty temporary exhibitions designed to introduce audiences to artisans within their social contexts and to provide emerging popular artists with critical feedback.

The permanent collection traces the history of Oaxacan handcrafts and folk art from the pre-Hispanic period to the present. It contains samples of most crafts produced in the state, with particular strength in works from the Central Valleys region. The holdings are divided between three permanent exhibition halls and an online cyber-museum. Because of limited physical space, not all objects can be displayed at once in the galleries. The cyber-museum at museo-meapo.com was developed by MEAPO staff with Gema Ríos Rosario as part of her master's thesis; it allows broader public access to collection images and is designed to transform visitors into active navigators of the material.

The museum occupies the former grounds of the Constancia y Progreso School on the south side of San Bartolo Coyotepec's main plaza. Its physical plant consists of three permanent halls.

MEAPO is located in San Bartolo Coyotepec, immediately south of Oaxaca city, within the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. As a state-run institution, it is owned and operated by the government of Oaxaca. In addition to its permanent galleries, the museum sponsors craft markets, conferences, and temporary exhibitions, often in coordination with organizations such as Raíces de Oaxaca and with support from the Fondo Regional Zona Centro, the Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (Conaculta), and the Secretaría de las Culturas y Artes de Oaxaca (Seculta). Its cyber-museum extends access to those unable to visit in person.