Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Rosario Calatayud-Serna. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Rosario , appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
The word “resilience” sometimes feels like too large of a word to unpack – but interestingly enough, just this week, in a conversation with my mom and my sister, my mom explained to us that our strength as women who are “abriendo brechas” comes from my great grandmother and my grandmother. This translates literally to opening gaps, and what my mom was explaining to us is that our resilience comes from our heritage, that it is in my blood – and I really like thinking about it like that – that my resilience comes from my abuelas. Although I do not know too much about the details of their lives when they were alice, I can only imagine that they did not open their own paths alone – their community was there for them. This knowledge and understanding is where my resilience comes from. The resilience of my community, of my family, my friends, the cultural movers and shakers, the advocates, the creatives and those not afraid to ask questions and grow – these too are the roots of my resilience.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
In 2020, I opened up a gallery and cultural programming agency in the SELA (Southeast Los Angeles) city of Huntington Park, CA. Art Space HP, the first and only cultural space in HP is a space for art and community related activities like art exhibitions, community market places, concerts, pop-ups, meetings and other events. We also offer music programming, non-profit consulting and site-specific activities. With the goal of pushing the arts and creativity and the center of everyday life, Art Space HP has been like a little flame that grows larger every month. It has been a space for the creation of countless other creative projects led by community members and also a “lab” of sorts for independent artists and creatives. This past May, we produced a project titled “Mi México Querido”, a concert reviving the music of Mexico, with Tenor Leonardo Sánchez at Carnegie Hall in New York City, and will be collaborating with LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes PST ART as a Community Hub. We are currently hosting two pop-up residencies with For The People Cafe & Midnight books and are open Wednesday – Sunday with great programming among the three projects.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Three things that have been the most impactful in my journey: Being afraid and doing it anyway, developing my Spanish-language skills, understanding my own strengths and weaknesses.
In my case, I had to have a clear understanding of who I was as an individual and what I was aiming to achieve. It is so easy to just move and go from one thing to the next, to go from one job to another without thinking about long term goals or to think about the goals for your life as a whole and although THIS is what may be scary, it is a good exercise to do for both the short term and long term. For folks who are early in the journey I would say to start understanding this as you start your career and your jobs. Be honest with what your strengths and weaknesses are so you can be open to growing and finding the knowledge and support you need for balance.
Looking back over the past 12 months or so, what do you think has been your biggest area of improvement or growth?
My biggest area of growth in the past 12 months has been my personal growth and in feeling more confident in my work. The best way to really get over an insecurity is to do it more often. So if I ever have an opportunity to talk about Art Space HP, I have taken it – I have spoken on panels, on a podcast, on stage, in front of audiences – and in doing so, I have learned to enjoy it!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.artspacehp.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artspacehp/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/artspacehp
- Linkedin: n/a
- Twitter: n/a
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@artspacehp1971
- Yelp: n/a
- Soundcloud: n/a
- Other: n/a
Image Credits
n/a
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
