Meet Abre Camino Collective Vanessa Garcia/Victoria Collado | Radical Storytelling Company

We had the good fortune of connecting with Abre Camino Collective Vanessa Garcia/Victoria Collado and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Abre Camino Collective, any advice for those thinking about whether to keep going or to give up?
There are so many moments when you want to give up. When you really think: wow, are we going to be able to do this? This giant thing we’ve set our minds and hearts and souls to? When there’s no money, no funding, everybody’s disappeared because it got hard, when no one, not even those that say they are committed really are, when they are not putting their everything in and you’re exhausted. Just wiped out from sleepless nights and days out in the field and immersed in research and when deals fall through. When all of that happens, you sometimes feel like: Where is there to go?

We’ve come to the understanding that even at the edge there’s somewhere to go and there’s always the possibility that instead of falling, you’re about to be airlifted to a higher mountain.

In the past, individually, we’ve lived long enough that there have been really tough moments where we’ve given up on something and regretted it — so we’ve committed to, together, not giving up. This really truly isn’t always easy — it’s actually why we feel even more strongly about what we do. As the children of refugees, we think about everything that was taken from our parents, about how they had to start over, everything they’ve given us, the ladder and we go, go, go. We have to. We have to do this. Giving up is not an option.

It also helps that usually when one of us feels tired, the other invigorates, when one of us feeling down, the other lifts up, and vice versa… that see-saw is incredibly helpful to the equilibrium of a company.

So in other words, there are a million times when you want to give up== we’re just not going to do it.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
We call ourselves radical storytellers because we build universes and worlds with multiple platforms. But it’s not just about exporting story into different mediums, it’s about allowing the audience a constant sense of agency and perspective in terms of how they want to receive and interact with story. We make an immersive show and then we make an immersive instagram experience on the same story (for example with @theamparoexperience on Instagram) but it’s totally different — and what we’re saying is: get deeper into the story if you want to. Just like our character, Amparo — go back, see what you missed. How important was that? How does that affect your life? Your world? Not just the world of the story you’re interacting with but you and your world too. We want people to be able to move horizontally through story and vertically through character and theme.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Key Biscayne on a weekend. Going to El Farito (the lighthouse), going to Bill Bags, riding those fun family and friend bikes where multiple people can peddle. Being able to get in the water, taking a boat out. It’s a really Miami weekend thing.

La Tropical Brewery — the best brewery in town with a hell of a story. It’s about a man who took back his own history and story — Manny Portuondo is the owner, we just love this place. Plus there’s an amazing nod to its Cuban roots in every corner from the botanical elements, curated by Fairchild, to the Cuban national bird on its murals. It’s just a magical spot with spot-on beer to boot.

Nite Owl Drive-in Movie Theatre — just love going here to catch an oldie but a goodie or a new independent film, or, for example, we saw Andy Señor’s documentary about taking the musical Rent to Cuba and then had a real community moment with him and fellow Miami’s there — it was awesome.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
There are so many people, but we feel like right now, in this moment in time, we want to give our shoutout to George Cabrera. He was one of the producers of The Amparo Experience, a true connector, a friend. He passed away at the age of 44 and it was way to freaking soon. We’ve been talking about the moments we remember and there’s one that stands out lately and it’s when we first met. He said: “Write your Santa List.” He taught us to ask for what we wanted. To ask for everything. And then, what’s more, he was the bridge to those things. He taught us that relationships are everything — not surface level networking, but the real deal. Friendship, kinship, partnership, collaboration, love… it’s what makes the world go round. Cheesy as that sounds, it’s the truth.

Website: www.abrecaminocollective.com

Instagram: @abrecaminocollective

Twitter: @AbreCaminoCo

Facebook: Abre Camino Collective

Image Credits
All of these are Courtesy of Abre Camino Collective