La Menta Collective is a new initiative providing a platform for new and emerging artists of various art forms. The Collective seeks to provide an avenue for artistic growth. Through regular exhibitions, readings and performances (juntas), an online presence, and involvement in various arts events, they strive to provide themselves and other artists with a salon to network, collaborate, publicize and share opportunities.
The thought behind La Menta Collective was something artists and childhood friends, Alta Berri & Glendaliz Camacho, thought about several years ago but has just now come to fruition.
Alta Berri & Glendaliz Camacho
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AroundHarlem (AH): Was it always the two of you behind La Menta Collective or were there people who came in and dropped off? Or is it because of the bond and the fact that you know each other so well that you trusted the two of you to be able to bring this together?
Glendaliz Camacho (GC): Well, originally we wanted to have at least solid members who we’d regularly work with. We kind of wanted to make it a big group. What made us decide that it should only be us was that no one is going to feel like it’s their passion project as much as she and I will. We were there from the inception. We were the ones who sparked it. People can be involved and they can feel really passionate about it, but we didn’t feel it would be to our level.
Alta Berri (AB): And see it through.
GC: And see it through. So we were like “you know what?†The Collective is you and I, but we could have artists that we regularly work with. It doesn’t really change the relationship that you have with the artist. But, it just kind of makes it clearer. It’s much easier to run something when there’s only two people that you need a decision on rather than ten people that you need to go through.
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AH: Did everything come gradually or naturally in regards to your planning for the Collective: the logo, your tagline, your line up, your website, everything that comes from it. Was it this really slow process of “we don’t even know what it’s going to look like†or was it like “Oh, that would work perfectly�
AB: We wanted to be different. We didn’t want to be like all the other collectives. In talking to the Oracle, which is Glenda’s father, our advisor in the Collective. He was like you guys can’t be wishy-washy. You have to be revolutionary, like true revolutionaries in the modern times. So we knew that the logo needed to be really strong and bold and our tagline needed to be really bold.
GC: Which I actually thought of (the tagline) in the shower.
AB: We kind of split the responsibility of the inception of the Collective based on our crafts. You know, I did the logo and I’m working on the website. And since she (Glenda) is the literary artist she did all the text . Like the logo we came up with. We would consult with each other if I did a rough draft. So we kind of decided on all the decisions but as far as who worked on mainly what is based on our craft. So logo, website, visuals I do. As far as content , text, slogan she does.
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AH: And what is your slogan?
AB/GC: Good things come to those who create.
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AH: Do you feel that it’s because you’ve witnessed so many readings, performance artists, or just because you had such a passion for it that you knew how you wanted La Menta Collective to come together?
GC: Well one of the first things that we saw that we liked was the Wooster Collective. We were going to model it after that.
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AH: And what’s the Wooster collective?
GC: Basically it’s by Marc and Sara Schiller and they have this collective that promotes public art.
AB: Like graffiti art, street art, public art. Things that are found outside of the four white walls of a gallery.
GC: They get involved in a lot of projects besides that. And they have a really reputable name. So…that’s kind of what we started to model it after.
AB: And they promote emerging artists, little known artists, and then from a mention on the Wooster collective blog all of a sudden five, ten years later these guys are the hot art stars of our time. They’re very influential.
GC: I think what we had was more of a passion to work with each other. Since we both work in different genres. Cause she’s a visual artist and I work in literary. You know those paths don’t really cross and they’re kind of solitary vocations. So we really wanted to do something together. So that was one of the things that sparked it also. And then going to see performances and readings that just kind of solidified our vision for the Collective. It kind of helped us imagine who we want to be working with, who we want to draw in, what types of arts we want to get involved with.
AB: Especially a lot of art out there that, in our opinion, is only out there because of who the artist knew or who the artist’s daddy was. There’s so many good artists that we have to give a platform to that just need an open door, an opportunity to show what real, raw talent is. We just want to highlight and put a spotlight on real talent that just doesn’t have the means to be in a gallery or to publish a book because they don’t know who they need to know.
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AH: In regards to your real, raw talent it’s also subjective in regards to what’s considered raw talent. So, who moves you in regards to the people that you’d like to see perform on stage whether they’re a dancer or a spoken word artists or a fiction writer or who knows what? What really moves you to want to see that person or listen to that person?
GC: Things that move me are things that are personal to that artist. Being unafraid to figuratively open a vein in front of a crowd and kind of let it out there. Bleed on stage basically or on the page. We do hold the belief that talent is universal, that it’s universally recognized. That if someone’s talented that pretty much across the board everybody will recognize that. People in general, en masse. You can have a Pulitzer Prize winning book and there’s going to be somebody out there who didn’t like it. En masse, we just think in general people will recognize good work.
AB: When you go to the masses it’s not because an art or literary critic said this is amazing, this is a masterpiece and then the masses are like “what the hell are you talking about?†This is not where the critic is saying what is high art and what is low art. This is exing them out of the equation and there is no low or high and it’s just this moves the masses. It’s not low or only high and you obviously don’t know or understand because you are not intellectually capable of understanding this. No, we cut the critics out and it’s what the people consider good. Don’t underestimate the public when it comes to what they feel moves them and what they feel is good.
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AH: So what do you have in store for us for the inaugural junta? And I have to ask what does junta mean?
GC: Used casually junta is just a gathering. But it also has a double meaning. In Latino culture juntas are military juntas. The head of a government form a junta, but it’s got a very military connotation to it.
GC: And then for our inaugural junta we have…
AB: An amazing line up! We’re so proud and humbled by the level of talent that has come forth, that has wanted to do this for the sake of the energy that they feel we bring. They’re doing this for the love of their craft. An inaugural junta, no one is getting paid, we had to actually invest and it’s like a labor of love. We’re just in awe of the people who have come forth and wanted to be a part of the first junta.
GC: So specifically the artists that we have are Majestik Originality who’s an MC and a poet. He’s been writing poetry since he was about twelve or thirteen. Writing lyrics since he was about fifteen. Really positive person. He’s part of a poetry collective, a Latino poetry collective that’s done a lot of amazing, good work. Many, many, many performances under their belt called El Grito de Poetas. We have two amazing MCs: StarPower and Mercury the Maroon. Very independent, very socially conscious. Extremely intelligent. They’re very in tune. Educators as well. People that we respect. We have Jerry Oulds who’s a singer/songwriter and he’s going to be doing an acoustic set for us. Another amazing talent, super positive. And we also have Bonafide Rojas which we’re really, really happy to get. Because he’s somebody who’s also done a lot. He published a book, Pelo Bueno. He’s been on Def Poetry. He’s been published everywhere, he’s all over the internet. I mean he’s done a lot.
AB: And we just got Bill Santiago. He’s one of the only Latino comedians to have his own half hour special on Comedy Central. He also has a book. For our first time out the gate I’m so proud. I don’t know what to say.
AH: And I believe you forgot something….?
AB/GC: Oh us.
AB: I’ll be showing some new work. The collection is called “Oye Esa Vaina†which in Dominican Spanish means “you believe this s***?†And five pieces of my previous show which was called “Neighborhood: Reportage.†So it’s ten to fifteen pieces, oil canvas and digital drawings.
GC: And I will be reading a short piece of creative non-fiction that’s gotten a really good response. So I’m going to test the waters reading it aloud. And I’ll be reading a short story that I’m going to be including in my collection. It’s the first story that’s been completed. I’m really excited.
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AH: And who’s MCing the event?
AB: I am! Originally we were going to both MC. But I was like Glenda my work is going to be on the walls but I’m not really speaking and you are.
Yeah, I’m MCing and it’s my first time MCing so I hope I don’t make a complete…(chuckles) We’ll be lively. We’ll keep it lively. And we have an amazing DJ. Mercury the Maroon is doing double duty. He has two songs he’s doing and then he also is the DJ.
GC: We’ll have $3 sangrias all night.
AB: And it’s a catered event. And free.
GC: We wanted it to kind of feel like you were going to your aunt’s house. We wanted it to definitely have an inclusive, very kind of homey feel to it. And being Latino you can’t have something and not have food there. That’s kind of like our hallmark. We want people to really feel like they’re coming over to our house. You know, ‘cause the Collective is our house.
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AH: And touching on the subject of home, what made you choose La Pregunta as the location of the first show?
GC: Uh, that was a location that Alta kind of scouted at first. She had done a show at San Palmador on Broadway in Washington Heights and she kind of heard from one of the owners there about this place. And kind of went and checked it out and told me about it and I was like “alright†and checked it out. It’s a space in a good area. It’s across the street from City College.
AB: It’s an arts café. It’s La Pregunta Arts Café. So they cater to events such as ours where it’s putting on a show. There’s a small stage within the café, there’s a projector, there’s an exposed brick wall. It’s built and decorated to hold an event such as ours where it’s a multi-genre art performance.
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AH: What are you most excited about for the first show?
AB: Everything. Just to see the reaction and the feedback. You know, there’s always things you can perfect, do different. So I’m excited about it happening, observing everything, learning. What can be done better. Just learning how to really run it like a well oiled machine. Where we really have his putting a show thing down. Entertaining people, captivating people is a difficult thing. How do you captivate people for two hours? Entertainment is very hard and they’re so many different types of people. So not everything is going to be for everybody. Just to learn what it takes to captivate people and just not captivate them but move them to think and move them to feel.
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AH: What advice for other people who might be considering starting their own collective or doing their own reading series or performance series? What kind of steps should they follow in regards to a marketing plan or a strategic plan to get things done?
GC: One of the best things that I’ve heard, that I think both of us heard was the founders of the Wooster collective have this thing called ‘Meet at the Apartment’––a creative networking event. So one of the things we kept hearing, because Alta and I both attended, was when you have a good idea and you’re working on a good project that good people will come to you. I mean that’s not to say that you should kind of rest on your laurels or anything but you also have to trust that when you have a good idea that people will be enthusiastic about getting involved as well. And it’s something that once we started reaching out to talent we saw right away. Once they heard what we wanted to do, what we’re trying to do, what we’re going to do. They were really enthusiastic about saying yes before we even finished pitching the whole idea.
In terms of advice, um, I think we’re kind of fresh in this as well. But from what we’ve done so far, I would say surround yourself with good people, positive people. It’s really important not to work with any…
AB: Salty people!
GC: (laughs) That’s what we like to call them, salty people. It’s important to work with positive people and organize yourself well.
AB: Also from a marketing perspective before you get your crowd get your identity down. Get who you are down first. Get all the logistics straightened and ironed out. Whether it’s your identity, your logo, your content, what you’re about. Get that all on paper, online. Then build buzz. Then create an event, then you build buzz, then you get the crowd. A lot of people get the crowd but then you don’t have your identity set. So you don’t have much to say. You’ve got an idea that you want to do an event. But there’s nothing on paper that you can hand someone.
We really sat down and said let’s do our art first, then create an event, and then the people will come. In that order. We didn’t just start saying “hey we’re going to have an event!†We were very meticulous and methodical about this.
GC: Yeah, I think it’s important to treat it as, I don’t want to say as a job, but as a business. I think a lot of artists they shy away from even trying to do this. It’s very cold and it’s not creative so they feel like they’re selling out. Just be organized. Don’t treat it haphazardly. And it’s important if something doesn’t pan out you just have to keep going.
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AH: And it’s good that you emphasize the part of the business aspect. But have you found it incredibly hard doing the business side considering you both work fulltime jobs and you both want to focus on your own craft and you have family obligations and all this other stuff?
GC: I mean it’s very difficult. We both juggle jobs. We both have to be creative also. And be like okay I have to edit this story or she needs to be like I gotta paint something. I’m not getting things done on my own work. It’s difficult, I’m a parent also. We both have homes. It’s definitely a lot to juggle. Yeah we definitely have lost sleep. There’s many nights we’re up ‘til twelve o’clock or something and meeting and stuff. I just think you gotta want it.
AB: You gotta want it. You gotta stay hungry. You gotta stay on your game, stay on your hustle, stay on your grind. Because if it’s really what you want…this is really what we want. But we gotta do what we gotta do to get what we want. So we’re doing what we gotta do to get what we want. To put this together to catapult our own individual creative careers. You just gotta want you can’t give up on yourself. And you can’t sit in a corner, sit in a studio and romanticize the idea of being an artist and I’m just gonna paint and my work will sell itself because it’s so great. No! You have to market yourself. You have to know where in the market your work fits.
GC: We tend to schedule a lot our lives and it might be kind of cold…
AB: Thanks to Google.
GC: Yeah. (laughs)
AB: Google Calendar.
GC: It might be like a cold way of looking at it. Some people, especially creatives, they don’t want to plan every second of our day. Not that we do it to that extent. But we do have to say I’m going to carve a chunk of time to write or to paint. Okay you and I have to talk whether we do it over the computer or on a conference call. We have to schedule that. We have to schedule our own personal time or family time. We have social lives.
AB: Our personal lives one depends on the other. Other creative souls we support, they’re our support. So we can’t just not be social. It’s all a part of the Collective and being a creative person and putting your own name out there.
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AH: So the day after the 17th is that going to be relief swelling over you or will there be a bit of sadness that it’s over for the time being?
AB: Every two months! Every two to three months there will be another junta. Work doesn’t end. We will sleep when we die. Right now the website is in its barebones skeletal phase. By the 17th once it’s over on the 18th I’ll be up and at ‘em working on the site to making it nice and glossy and flashy. I’m going to continue working on my art, I’m pretty sure Glenda’s going to continue working on her writing. ‘cause we’ll probably do another junta in October/November. Hopefully every time we do a gathering some new artists will pop up. I wanna see those artists that we put a spotlight five years from now in a gallery, five to ten, fifteen years from now with a published book, a published article.
I wanna be Clive Davis. ‘Cause everyone I work with is just a star.
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AH: Or Berry Gordy.
AB: Or Steven Spielberg.
GC: I think the 18th it’ll be two things. I think it’ll be fuel for us for the next one. I’m sure the morning after there will be little productivity in our lives because we’re going to be chatting away. We’re going to be celebrating that we pulled it off. I think it’ll be fuel. We’ll be processing everything. We’ll be on a little high. But yeah, I think it’ll be fuel. I think it’ll be euphoric. It’ll be awesome.
AB: August 18th will be a great day for La Menta Collective.
AH: And do you already think you have a bit of a line up for October?
AB: It’s amazing the response has been amazing. We had to turn people down for the inaugural junta. So we’re a nearly closed set.
GC: Yeah definitely, October. Yeah, we had such a good response. Plus the artists that we work with they work with people in their own craft, so when they see it’s good they want to tell their contemporaries “oh you should sit down with them†So we’ve gotten stuff through there. We already have a really big set list. We’re thinking of having a literary night. We’re trying to bring as diverse a set as possible whether it’s dance, visual, music, literary, performance. It’s just a wide door there.
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AH: So do you feel that you might focus also on having a platform for artists of color? Or is it really just about the art?
GC: I think primarily we want to focus on good art, universally good art. Just because I think we’re Latina in New York City our circles just happen to be Brown. We definitely want something inclusive. It just happened to work out (that way).
AB: We’re not trying to specifically spotlight or give a platform to people of color.
GC: I think we’re very wary, we’ve discussed this, of being pigeon-holed.
AB: Not that we aren’t representing our people. We love to represent. But also if we do not cross over into the White world that runs the show right here we cannot bring up our people to that level if we just surround ourselves with our own people. It’s not good to be separate, but it’s not good to pigeon-hole.
GC: We want to be the Benicio Del Toro of Collectives. You know he can get a role that isn’t necessarily Latino and he can get a role that’s very Latino.
AB: And he’s one of the few Puerto Rican men that has been Oscar nominated.
GC: Yeah, we want to kind of follow that.
AB: People have very strong emotions about that. Like you’re selling out. But they don’t understand. You just have more pull, more power when you are amongst the circles that do control the money.
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La Menta Collective’s Inaugural Junta will be at La Pregunta Arts Café
(1528 Amsterdam Avenue) on Monday, August 17th at 6:30pm.
You can become a fan of La Menta Collective on Facebook or go
to their website: www.lamentacollective.com.
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INTERVIEW: Jennifer Baker-Henry
AUDIO EDITING: Thurmon A. Henry
