Tijuana's El Nopal home to arts diversity
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20050805-9...
Cafe celebrating its 10th anniversary
By Pablo Jaime Sainz and Lilia O'Hara
August 5, 2005
TIJUANA ? El Lugar del Nopal, the cafe, gallery and performance space that has become this city's temple of trova music, is celebrating its 10th
anniversary this year.
"The years passed very quickly," said Adelaida del Real, co-founder of the venue. "I'm surprised how much we've accomplished."
It was 1995 when the space, in the city's downtown district, opened its doors as El Lugar del Nopal, "The Place of the Cactus" in Spanish. Nowadays,
most people refer to it simply as El Nopal.
But the space has a history that goes back further.
In the 1980s and early '90s, Tijuana painter and architect Felipe Almada operated the Nopal Centenario. It was a small cafe where patrons could
comfortably read a good book, admire artwork or listen to a concert.
Almada died in 1993, and for several months the space remained closed. In 1995, Del Real and Alma Delia Mart?nez, a journalist and promoter of
cultural events, banded together to open El Lugar del Nopal as a successor to another performance space that had been called El Lugar del Juglar,
which had occupied three locations previously.
"We started it with very little, but with a lot of hard work," said Del Real. Diverging interests, however, led the partners to go their separate
ways. Mart?nez opened another cultural space, La Escala, in the east side of the city, while Del Real teamed up with her significant other, plastic
artist Jos? Pastor, to keep El Nopal going.
In 10 years, the space has hosted rock concerts, plays, movie screenings, performances by experimental artists, poetry readings and more. Nonetheless,
one genre caught on and has given its stamp to the place: trova music.
"It was the music I listened to when I was young in Mexico City cafes, and it's what's really clicked here," explained Del Real.
Independence
In Mexico, including Tijuana, cultural organizations have relied on government funding, but private donations have emerged as a source in the last few
years. El Nopal is an exception because it has always been self-sufficient. In fact, the original venue has grown to include a couple of studios
adjacent to the original cafe.
"It's the first independent cultural space in the city that not only has survived but even has grown," said Mart?nez, who also serves as editor of the
cultural weekly Bit?cora. "I think it offers another alternative for those who have something to share with an audience that's interested in
experiencing different things."
Pedro Ochoa, who headed the Centro Cultural Tijuana when El Nopal opened and is now a cultural attach? at the Mexican consulate in San Diego, agrees
that El Nopal has nurtured artists and events that, because of their scant commercial content, haven't found a home at official venues like the Centro
Cultural or the city's larger cultural spaces.
But this independence come with a price.
El Nopal survives "literally thanks to the love for art," said Del Real.
The owners worry when attendance drops, because rent, employee wages and their own economic survival are in the balance every day. Profits, when there
are any, are pumped back into El Nopal for upkeep and to attract high-caliber artists.
But the work and perseverance have not been in vain.
A visit to the space also means enjoying good wine, a cold beer or a dish with Mediterranean flair.
"I've been coming to El Nopal since it opened," said Mar?a Elena Meyer, one of the establishment's most loyal patrons.
"El Nopal gets stronger every day. The sense of community gets stronger. Adelaida and Pastor forge friendships with the customers that are rarely seen
elsewhere," she added.
Meyer has participated in several workshops at El Nopal, including one on literature presented by writers like Luis Humberto Crosthwaite, who is a
columnist for Currents and The Union-Tribune's weekly Enlace.
Aside from the many events held at El Nopal, the place has a genuine warmth, due in part to its small size, said Pastor. It has a maximum capacity of
150 people.
"The audience comes to sit close to the performer, not in front of a barrier. It's not the impersonal space of a large concert hall. Here, there is a
warmth between the performer and the audience."
This intimacy has prompted Tijuana theater director H?bert Axel Gonz?lez to stage his productions there.
"I know there hasn't been anything as constant as El Nopal," he said. "There were other places, but none that have lasted 10 years (or) that have
offered this great variety."
The challenges
Despite the success, Pastor and Del Real are the first to cite the challenges they have faced in moving the venue forward.
"Aside from the economic matters, the most difficult part has been to encourage the public to take a risk and listen to something they're not familiar
with, to get them to lose their fear when quality events are presented," said Del Real, who, along with Pastor, hosts a trova show on Radio Frontera
(FM-102.5).
And it sure looks like El Nopal has won the hearts of younger generations. Young trovador Russell Amhir plays there every Thursday and Friday night.
With him, a new generation of patrons has arrived, an audience that was barely in elementary school when El Nopal was founded.
"El Nopal's public is becoming very diverse," said 21-year-old Amhir. "It's a range of people that includes several generations. We can't say that
there's only a young audience or an older audience."
For Amhir, who launched his career as a trovador four years ago, being El Nopal's artist-in-residence has meant achieving a professional goal.
"It's a great privilege to play here because it's a very important stage for those of us who play trova."
El Nopal's 10th anniversary is proof that culture in Tijuana goes far beyond painted donkeys and dollar beers.
"If it weren't for projects like El Nopal, artists from other cities and countries could not have come to Tijuana," Del Real said. "And people here
would not have had the chance to listen to the works of noncommercial artists and composers."
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El Lugar del Nopal is on Callej?n Cinco de Mayo, No. 1328, in Tijuana's Zona Centro. For more information on workshops and events, call
01152-664-685-1264 or go to:
http://www.lugardelnopal.com
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Sites offering art and culture in Tijuana
El Lugar del Nopal is celebrating its 10-year anniversary with a series of events throughout the year, but there are other sites that offer examples
of art in Tijuana. Among them:
Alborada
Avenida Aguascalientes, No. 286, Colonia Cacho; (01152 664) 684-1947.
Various cultural activities.
Antigua Bodega de Papel
Calle 11, No. 2012, Zona Centro; (01152 664) 633-9174.
Coffee, drinks and various cultural and artistic events.
Caf? Latitud 32
Malec?n No. 19 Playas de Tijuana; (01152 664) 609-4200.
Cafe, gallery, literature and concerts.
Caf? Literario de la Casa de la Cultura Playas
Avenida del Agua No. 777, Playas de Tijuana; (01152 664) 630-1825.
A Bohemian ambience with works by local artists.
Caf? de la Opera
Calle Quinta, No. 351, Colonia Libertad; (01152 664) 686-3280.
For lovers of coffee and opera.
La Casa de la 9
Calle Novena, No. 8831, Aona Centro; (01152 664) 688-0113.
Caf?, workshops, gallery.
Sortilegio
Blvd. S?nchez Taboada No. 10050-B, Zona del R?o.
Concerts, literary presentations.
? COMPILED BY PABLO JAIME SAINZ
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