Over the last 5 years, Meztli Projects has operated without a space but with the fantastic support of partners like the El Sereno Community Garden, Legacy LA, Oxy Arts, and the Goethe-Institut Los Angeles Project Space among other locations. Through the pandemic, we were able to continue providing art programs and in some way also expand the reach of our work. As the pandemic has subsided, many of the folks we serve shared the need and desire for in-person engagements. Being in person was a way to battle the isolation and disconnection that the pandemic also pressed upon us. We looked and looked but could not compete with the multi-year cash payments that dispensaries could provide building owners much less also invest the little resources we had into building out a space.
Fortunately, we found a space that didn’t require the level of investment it usually takes to build out and move into a new location. We have seen many other organizations struggle with obtaining permits, paying more and more money to get walls prepped, light fixtures approved, and what can feel like a stream of endless costs.
At the start of the year, we signed a 5-year lease for a 1,500 sq ft studio where East LA and Montebello meet along Whittier Blvd. One of the areas in LA County with the most need and we’ve spent the last 6 months learning what this studio can be. We have been very real with ourselves about what this space is and is not. It is not a community center but it is a nexus point. It is the only space with know in LA County that is dedicated to the creative development of Native and Indigenous artists and so this is a creative workspace for those efforts.