From Columbia University's Columbia Community Affairs:

February 2003

Columbia title

BY GABRIELLA LEFF
El Taller Latino Americano (The Latin American Workshop) was created to help "bridge the distance between Latin Americans and North Americans through the language of art and the art of language," as described by Bernardo Palombo, El Taller's artistic director and founder. Palombo, along with his sister Maren Christina and friends Femando Persico and Toni Maples, opened the doors in 1979 to a space where Latinos and North Americans could meet. The four scraped together as much money as they could and found an inexpensive space in Chelsea. "We didn't want it to be a Latin American ghetto," said Palombo. "We wanted to participate with the North American community."

And so it has. Located now at 2710 Broadway for more than six years. El Taller has been facilitating exchanges between culturally and linguistically mixed audiences on the common ground of creativity. El Taller has an "open wall" policy for art shows and musical performances, allowing exiled and controversial artists to perform. With this policy. El Taller aims to be a place where people can enjoy the globalization of culture in a city with a penchant for embracing all peoples. "The space grew as a product of New York City," Palombo said.

El Taller's policy is also double- edged. El Taller faces the difficulty of mixing major corporate sponsors with a program that refuses to heed political climates. It is also a volunteer operation and has yet to develop a consistent fund-raising strategy. Despite these challenges, El Taller has survived, mostly through regular revenue from its Spanish classes.

While primarily a composer, Palombo has taught language and music at schools such as Sarah Lawrence, The New School, and the Center for Cuban Studies. He developed the "acoustic method" of Spanish language education, a conversation-focused technique taught by all teachers at El Taller. Sound and dialogue are the basis of this method, which gets students communicating in Spanish more quickly than they ever thought possible. "We are alive because the program works," Palombo said.

Typically, each beginning and intermediate class is divided into two parts: the first half of each class is dedicated to grammar exposition and verb drills in" call and response" format, while the second part focuses on developing conversational ability.

At El Taller, classroom teaching is enhanced via a "living curriculum," with students meeting the musicians, artists and poets who spend time there. They also explore the community. Students might have a "cafe con leche" (coffee with milk) at the nearby La Rosita restaurant or sit in on a musical session with Argentinean folk singer Mercedes Sosa.

Community and student support has kept El Taller in operation. Former students, such as musicians David Byrne, Paul Simon and Philip Glass, have come to the aid of El Taller by performing at benefits for the organization. Another musician, Columbia student Jamie Begian, recorded his first CD at El Taller. It is those bits of exposure that El Taller relies upon.

For a changing roster of musical performances and art shows at El Taller, see www.tallerlatino.org or call 212-665-9460.