We had the good fortune of connecting with Keram Malicki-Sanchez and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Keram, how do you think about risk?
I think of risk (measured risk) as the necessary action to undertake when dealing with the bleeding edge, or a concept that has few current analogs or comparables in the surrounding culture. I do suggest to folks that I deal with in the spatial media space not to use terms like “the world’s first,” or “the only one to ever…” because let me tell ya, it’s been done before. But things that tend to become wildly successful are mostly familiar and partially strange to the mainstream. So you are taking a risk, but its informed.

There are so many cases where I have to start to take action on things that will not be certain for months to come. Every time I put together an event and have to raise money from sponsors and ticket sales, every time I have to try to get ahead of the news by six months to be relevant when the event arrives, every time I need to stretch out of my comfort zone as an actor, as a music composer, as an indie game developer, I am taking a risk. It is faith that the preparation and the process will see you through, and help you meet success at the junction up ahead.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I began working in professional theater before I was ten years old, and had to count on myself to get through a lot of strange situations, tough challenges, and navigate many interesting personalities along the way. My creativity was never a hobby or a pursuit, it was my center. It was how I found home.

I always tried to learn about the thing I knew about least. When I was working towards my certification in Film, Television, and Digital Media Production at UCLA, I had to choose a specialization, so I chose thing that I knew about the least – Cinematography. This has been a pattern in my life. To delve in the unknown and fight my way out to knowledge and earned experience.

When the pandemic hit, I had 6 weeks to transform my real world conference into a virtual multiplayer world. I could have paid the 10-15K license for a week using someone else’s platform, but instead I asked a lot of questions and learned about Amazon Web Services, Node,js, Mozilla Hubs, ThreeJS, and other Web3D technologies for which I eventually won awards. These were all great unknowns at the time, but creativity empowered me to find solutions where there were no manuals, no roadmaps, and when most people around me were looking at me like I had lost my marbles.

Creative practice, and its process are magical powers that we all have within us, to manifest dreams and floating concepts in our minds into tangible change, and matters of fact.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
First of all I love Los Angeles. The first time I came here was when I was 17 to shoot a pilot in an industrial neighborhood downtown. I was gobsmacked by the sheers size of it all. Not like New York with its overwhelming Gothic highrises, but in kaleidoscopic nature of shifting microcosmic neighborhoods – one block to the next can represent a complete change of tone, color, culture, food, smells, fashion, tech. Sometimes (usually) many at once.

The late John Gold made a career from writing about hidden restaurants in the endless strip malls across the city, exposing wonders by first generation immigrant families that outdid Michelen Star menus.

Thom Anderson’s incredible documentary “Los Angeles Plays Itself” showed us how the many many boroughs interconnect and are often depicted as anyplace but here.

Werner Herzog, with whom I briefly studied documentary filmmaking said “to truly understand a city you must explore it on foot.”

OK look, please be aware of where you are, be careful and vigilant and don’t do anything crazy. BUT, he has a point – get out of the car sometimes, and explore something not in the Places to See tour guide. There is such and amazing richness of culture. here.

The Los Angeles that we see in the movies is often very different that experiencing it personally. Ask locals where to go to eat.

But, if you only have a few days – I’d say go sit on the huge and generally quiet beach at Playa del Rey, stopping for a bite at Playa Provisions.

Go check out Musso and Frank’s or Miceli’s in Hollywood for a truly authentic classic, vintage Hollywood experience.

Go visit the Museum of Jurassic Technology in Culver City – that place is one of a kind, and not what you expect.

Get a slice of pizza at Mulberry St in Beverly Hills – you may not like mushrooms, but their mushroom slice might be the singular best slice of pizza in the known universe.

Check out a concert at the Wiltern in Koreatown. That building is from the land of Oz and it gives you a sense of the grand old theaters that use to pervade the city.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I want to give a shoutout to my friend and colleague Aimee Reynolds who had faced some radical and unexpected change in her path when the pandemic hit and immediately set to finding a temporary solution, working as hard as possible to get across to the other side. When she did, she took some big risks, aiming for some pretty lofty positions, but she got dressed, showed up, and brought her best. Soon enough, there were bidding wars for her time. She inspires me every day. She is also co-producer on my events and I have never met a more congenial, patient, humble, hard worker. She gets the job done, and I aspire to be more like her.

Website: https://keram.bandcamp.com

Instagram: @keramsongs

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keram/

Twitter: @kmalickisanchez

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9v2RjEoBFdsttCtlaSxuQg (KeramSongs Official)

Other: https://keramsongs.com my festival https://fivars.net my conference https://conference.virtualreality.to my course at UCLA Extension: https://www.uclaextension.edu/design-arts/immersive-media-vr-ar-xr/course/blender-web3d-world-building-desma-x-48567 Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keram_Malicki-S%C3%A1nchez IMDB https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0539537/ Please choose any, all or none, as best suit your format!

Image Credits
Christian Bobak, Jaime Espinoza, Tim Leyes

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutLA is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.