Intimate Miami venues showcase Latin artists

MIAMI
The Gibson Showroom in Miami's Design District, ostensibly a place for the guitar maker to showcase its various brands (including Baldwin pianos), has become a haven for all things music in Miami, allowing access to everything from rehearsals and songwriting sessions to showcases and TV tapings.
Less than 15 minutes away, in Little Havana, is another outlet designed to fulfill a previously unmet need. Esencia, a Latin songwriter's showcase, holds court every other Thursday in a club called the Place, inviting new and established songwriters to perform their compositions in an acoustic setting.
Neither Gibson nor Esencia seeks mass appeal or revenue from these ventures. Neither locale fits more than 200 people and neither charges admission.
Both are predicated on the rather quaint notion of love of art -- specifically, in this case, music. And because they're located in Miami, the emphasis is most decidedly Latin.
Esencia was launched five years ago by Erwin Perez, a writer for Spanish-language Miami newspaper El Nuevo Herald who has since gone into public relations. From the outset, the series' objective was to showcase Latin songwriters who had penned famous songs but weren't known as performers. Then it evolved to include up-and-coming acts and the occasional major singer-songwriter who stopped by.