But when it’s about art or interventions, eventually it will make sense.” Inspired by the poten-


tial for unexpected art to make a lasting and wide- reaching impact, Espinosa put out an open call to create public art leading up to the 2012 presidential election. About 20 artists of all ages — from teen- age alleyway painters to tenured university profes- sors — convened at the Zona Norte apartment of muralist Panca to devise a plan. “Some friends and I


believed that art could be a really powerful vehicle to give information,” says Espinosa, who works as an architect, graphic designer, and teacher at the Escuela Libre de Arquitectura. “Our friends didn’t want to vote because they didn’t believe in democracy… some- times it’s really obvious why. Other generations already have their vote. They don’t care about the candidate; it’s about the party. So we realized that we couldn’t just say, ‘Hey, vote, because it’s important…democracy and stuff,’ because people just get bored.” Instead, the collective


staged an intervention at the downtown hub from which the route taxis deliver commuters to all points of the city. About 40 participants wearing political messages painted


in blood-red over white T-shirts marched to the cathedral on Plaza Bicen- tenario, where they lay prostrate on the cement as onlookers gawked and argued. “One person can get


a ring of people around them, and that’s really cool,” Espinosa says. “If you try to hand out fli- ers, people pass right by. But when something sur- prises you, physically, you turn your attention to it. We had a political scene on the street and one person started scream- ing, ‘You shouldn’t do that,’ and someone else shouted, ‘No, you should do that. We have to fight back.’ People were speak- ing about something that maybe they wouldn’t have, and they’ll talk about it at home, and so on. So that was our philosophy. For us it was all about voting, how it’s important to be involved. Tijuana was an important location to give information in real time about what was happen- ing in Mexico City.” Coyote has gone on


to stage 86 (and counting) multimedia interventions, pop-up galleries, and events from Playas to Otay in collaboration with over 100 artists and supporters. “Everyone brought


their skills,” Espinosa relates. “There are visual artists, sociologists, phi- losophers, communica- tions, and public relations.


Whatever the problem is, we can approach it from different perspectives. Friends with bars let us do whatever we wanted, so we had murals, perfor- mances. Artists do what- ever they want, but it has to be positive. Try to make people think.” After the elections,


Coyote redoubled its efforts to reach popula- tions that have limited access to culture. One approach was to organize and promote local artists via a roving showcase called Murmuren. Espi- nosa calls it “our kind of PR event, our cultural cocktail.” Last April, Coy- ote hosted their fourth annual installment of Murmuren at co-working space Estación Federal with live music and 18 artists, including Celeste Byers, Ruin, and David Peña. The name Mur- muren comes from a prov- ocation between taxis and bus drivers. It’s a challenge to speak up and talk shit, but Coyote flips it into a positive entreaty along the lines of: “say something, talk about us, let’s do shit.” Another outreach is


Public Transit Interven- tion, a set of six buses that have gotten free interior makeovers from local art- ists. The collective first runs the proposed art by the bus driver and owner. Once it’s approved, they pay the driver a full day’s wage in order to keep the


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bus empty for the paint- ing process. Once it’s done, the bus returns to its normal route. “Sometimes people


are afraid of each other,” Espinosa says. “They won’t speak to each other. Then someone will say something about the art and people start to chat. We never know what to expect.” The collective’s third


outreach is the Coyote Cultural Module, a mobile gallery in a shipping con- tainer that is slated to be outfitted with solar pan- els and ventilation. That project has been delayed by the founding of Coy- ote’s first permanent headquarters at Nett Nett, a creative space in Pasaje Rodríguez managed by cultural curator Haydeé Jiménez. The space is also home to Haydeé’s Vibro- acústica sonic therapy lounge, a co-working office, a live-music venue, and a rare and exotic bookstore called El Mur- ciélago. Located on the pasaje’s second level in the historic Foreign Club, Coyote’s office will host meetings, workshops, films, exhibitions, and a workspace for Espinosa’s architecture and graphic design business. They are working on a residency program for visiting art- ists and plan to experi- ment with the locale’s commercial potential by selling prints of featured


artists at accessible prices to help keep the collec- tive sustainable. Get caught in Nett


Nett on Saturday, Feb- ruary 11, for the third annual Because We Love You Fest, featuring over 20 musical acts from border- land and beyond.


EVE KELLY


San Diego, we lay our scene The great weather. The beaches. The Navy and Marines. The zoo and SeaWorld. Bad to medio- cre (and exiting) sports teams. Comic-Con. Free associations on San Diego call up these images. But, “Oh me, the gods,” our fair city enjoys a quiet reputation as a Shake- speare town. And ’tis not only the Old Globe (1363 Old Globe Way, Balboa Park) and its high- end productions driving this reputation. A cast of Shakespeareans such as Cherie Peacock, founder and director of the Shake- speare Academy and for- mer boardmember of the San Diego Shakespeare Society, is one among many playing parts large and small to make San Diego–upon-Pacific the Bard’s beach town. “I founded the Shake-


speare Academy in 2013 to share my love of Shake- speare with kids,” says Peacock. “I travel all over the county offering classes


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to home-schoolers and am now looking to start after- school programs. The Academy is unique in that the focus is first on under- standing the literature. We also do performance, but the literature is primary. The kids really learn Shakespeare and learn to love Shakespeare. And, it turns out, so do their parents. There’s noth- ing quite like having the parent of a nine-year-old say that she finally under- stands Shakespeare after watching her daughter perform it. “My next goal is to


bring Shakespeare to some of our under-served com- munities, so I am starting the process of becoming a non-profit to seek funding for that endeavor. I have tremendous respect for schoolteachers, and they are under so much pres- sure with testing. I think an after-school program could be a great support to their classroom work.” Eve Kelly: Tell me about the Shakespeare Soci- ety’s activities. Cherie Peacock: “I love the Shakespeare Society and served on their board until I got too busy with the academy. We sup- port one another in ‘Raising the Bard in San Diego,’ the motto of the San Diego Shakespeare Society. Their Open Shakespeare Readings are super fun and very casual. You just show up


46 San Diego Reader February 9, 2017


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