A crowd of local artists, writers and musicians gathered Dec. 7, 2005 in the big grey building on Wellington St., to celebrate the first anniversary of Mapalé Artes y Letras, Canada’s first bilingual Latin American arts-and-culture magazine. At one table, a young British novelist, a Canadian photographer and a French artist sat together talking, switching effortlessly between English and Spanish. Though the magazine is published half in Spanish and half in English, it is not just Latin American or Canadian, it has an international appeal, says its publisher, Silvia Alfaro.

The magazine’s name, Mapalé, is the name of a frantic, passionate Latin dance style, which evokes the frenzied activities of the magazine itself.

"We want a balance, it’s about how Latin Americans are doing in Canada and elsewhere. The magazine has an international character and also a local.”

A community

The magazine started as Alfaro’s creation and has become a community. In the three issues published since its inception, Mapalé, has featured art and writing from Argentina, Bolivia, Mexico, China, Canada, Venezuela, England, Cuba and Spain.

Alfaro is a former architect who moved to Canada from Colombia in 1996.

She says she wanted to do something to bring the artistic and cultural aspects of Latin America to the Spanish-speaking community in Canada.

Proud of culture

Though she had no background in magazine publishing, Alfaro quickly found contributors from across Canada to fill the pages of Mapalé with art, literature, history and poetry...

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(Summary)

Why would anyone in their right mind get into the small-magazine business? Never-ending workdays, a barrage of self-imposed deadlines, plus it's expensive and the odds of success aren't encouraging: of the 100-plus magazines launched in Canada each year, about 70 per cent fold within three years.

It's a fair question, although Silvia Alfaro, Ottawa publisher of the newly launched Spanish magazine Mapale, Artes y Letras, might not agree.

Alfaro, who immigrated to Canada from Colombia nine years ago, admits that getting her magazine off the ground has been tough. "It's hard for anyone to do a publication like this," she says. "Art is difficult to sell."

That may be doubly true when it's published in a language spoken by a relatively small percentage of Canadians. In Canada's 2001 census, slightly fewer than a quarter-million residents, or 0.8 per cent, listed Spanish as their mother tongue.

The case is similar in the Ottawa-Gatineau region, with roughly 8,000 of a million residents in 1996 claiming Spanish as their first language.

But Alfaro is confident there is a market for a Spanish-language magazine in Canada. She has an extensively researched business plan, and believes the potential is huge.

"I think that a lot of Canadians are interested in Latin American issues and culture," she says, citing the fact that Mexico, Cuba and Spain are among the top 10 countries visited by Canadians. She also thinks the magazine will be a great tool for Spanish students to practice their skills while reading something current and Canadian.

Mapale's first issue, released last month, is a slick package at 88 colour pages with a stiff, perfect-bound spine. The pages are glossy and the impressive cover is reminiscent of a high-end architecture or design publication.

The theme of the first issue is "Leaving their Mark," and it explores how 20th-century Latin artists have influenced literature, cinema and fine arts around the world. There is poetry from several Latin poets, a section dedicated to film and book reviews and even a recipe for spicy chicken potato soup.

The word "mapale" comes from a fishing dance that was brought to Colombia by African slaves. The dance is hundreds of years old, and Alfaro thinks it represented the spirit of the magazine. "It's about people who go from one place to another and become part of the country they join."

Mapale's weaknesses -- obvious advertising tie-ins, minor layout issues and some grainy photography -- should be easy to overcome. The biggest question for any new magazine is whether readers -- and advertisers -- will support the venture. Currently distributed only in Ottawa with a circulation of 3,000, Alfaro has applied to the Canadian Magazine Publishers Association and hopes to distribute nationally if her application is approved....