In 2012 Giovanna’s mother Gioia Tama Gianni passed away suddenly. The journey through grieving created a sense of urgency to continue her mother’s work (and her very-much-alive father poet/painter John Brandi) by celebrating the work of living artists. Founded in 2015, Corazon was created as a purpose-driven, not profit-focused space.

It is an honorarium, designed to offer a potent, curated environment in support of master living breathing musicians, poets, artists, and community activists whose work nourishes the architecture of our life, individually & collectively. It was also built to serve as a community hub.

Daughter of poet/painter John Brandi and flamenco singer/dancer Gioia Tama Gianni, Giovanna (& her brother Joaquin Coyote) was raised in the high mountains of New Mexico in a hand- built cabin with no electricity or plumbing, propelled by a very creative and non-conformist “counter-culture” upbringing.

Reflecting on watching her parents build a house out of locally milled wood (most was reject wood with the bark on one side) she remembers pounding used nails straight to build with. A cast-iron wood-burning stove provided warmth and heat for cooking and bathing. A spring bubbled with fresh drinking water. And to get to this place, one had to drive a pretty bumpy “road”. It was OFF THE BEATEN PATH and dirt roads were without names.

Growing up, she often watched her father produce limited- edition hand-painted and sewn publications poetry books on his 1907 Rotary mimeograph machine for his Tooth of Time Press, part of the small press revolution. Or perhaps her mother needed help with one of her stuffed sculptures or sewing a costume on the treadle sewing machine.

After many years, their family moved into what she calls the “other world”, where her parents parted ways. Eventually her father married the poet Renee Gregorio and her mother partnered with master flamenco guitarist Carlos Lomas.

Corazόn Performing Arts aim is to provide a centrally located space in Topanga Canyon for those seeking to nurture all things expressive through supporting the works of those living & breathing their creative work.