We were speaking with Maria Salas, director of Agenda Magenta, a platform for cultural and independent projects in the centre of Madrid. Agenda Magenta just started a few weeks ago, but the project is promising. Its objective: to push for independent artistic infrastructures and collectives in Central Madrid.

What is Agenda Magenta?

Agenda Magenta is a platform for spreading independent projects and creations in Madrid and giving them visibility. On the one hand, it is an online cultural agenda dedicated to promoting events and workshops for initiatives which do not usually have either the resources or the capacity to reach the usual channels of information. Additionally, Agenda Magenta realises productions and activities in collaboration with spaces and artists that form part of the independent cultural scene. In this sense, the idea is to find formulas so that we can continue to grow and develop in every way. 

How, when and why was Agenda Magenta started?

Agenda Magenta is a project that started to take form a couple months ago when I decided to leave my previous job. I have worked in small cultural spaces and in public or subsidized institutions. My experience in the institutions has been pretty catastrophic, at least in my case I have been through places where they wasted their resources, where there was no competent administration and where objectives were measured in numbers only. This is not the way to create culture that interests me, nor the way that is satisfactory to me. However, in the small spaces there is usually another type of involvement, of closeness, that for me is much more attractive. Agenda Magenta was a project that started as an answer to the difficulties that these small-scale initiatives have in order to become known.

What are you trying to create with Agenda Magenta? What are your goals?

The basic idea idea is to create a channel where independent projects can become visible, without interference from another type of entity. I am not saying that these others do not do incredible work, only that it is difficult to find publications that do not merely echo the activities in centres that we already know. Also, Agenda Magenta works as a platform to help make things happen, whether they are collaborations, activities or simply the search for new formulas to continue doing what we like to do, what we believe and make our living off these.

How many people have helped make Agenda Magenta a reality? (voluntary or not)

Right now, Agenda Magenta is the work of one person – me. However, at the moment two more people are set to join, and also we will have collaborators that will begin to work with the agenda shortly.

What type of infrastructure are you? Association? Business? Public institution? Why have you chosen to become an association/business/…?

As the one responsable for Agenda Magenta, I am a freelancer. I haven’t planned the formula for association because I am sure that I am doing what I like and I am living from it. In addition to it being my passion, this is my professional activity and what pays my bills.

What type of projects, spaces or artists can appear in Agenda Magenta? How can they get in contact with you?

The fundamental requirement for a space or a project to become part of Agenda Magenta is simply that it is an independent initiative, that is, outside of public or subsidized institutions and entities.

And, at the moment, Agenda Magenta, for purely logistical reasons, is for projects and creators who work in the central district of Madrid. If we grow enough to expand to new zones that will be great.

To get in touch they can do so via Facebook, Twitter, by filling in the form on our website or by writing to [email protected].

What advice could you give from Agenda Magenta to emerging creators or young cultural promotors that would help them advance with their careers?

I don’t know if there is a piece of advice other than “do what you want and what you really believe”. Learn more about yourself, know the technical and legal requirements, etc. In the end, I think that what matters is what you want to do. And the formula for this can only be found by yourself. And it may be that it has nothing to do with anything else, so sometimes it’s better not to listen to the advice of others. Every case is unique. That, and you have to have a lot, but I mean a lot of determination. You have to really go for it.

How do you see Agenda Magenta during the next 3 years?

Well truthfully I see it going well... hahaha. I believe that within the next three years Agenda Magenta will be a consolidated project. I think it will be the channel of reference for those who want to know what is happening in the alternative cultural panaroma in Madrid. Also I believe that the the work in being an intermediary in putting creative people in touch with each other, realizing projects, etc. will have intensified and will be well known.

What are the projects for Agenda Magenta in the medium term?

To continue giving form to the first coproductions with associated spaces, to bring together collaborators from all areas and to grow in all senses possible. This has already begun, so really the objective is to continue developing all the capacities of the project in due time.