“Art helps me survive,” Emma Montenegro says. “It’s always been a vessel for me to cope with life. Every song is like a diary entry; every piece has purpose.”
At 20, the Wappingers Falls resident is the lead singer and media manager of The Schwegs, an alternative band working the DIY circuit. Offstage, she photographs concerts, organizes lineups, and is preparing to launch Cecropia Art and Booking this summer, a four-person collective focused on amplifying women and LGBTQ artists in the local underground music scene.
Cecropia, co-led by Kiera Stack, Erika Zhunio, and Carl Munoz, plans to provide free or affordable coverage of local shows, book events with venues, and publish interviews with artists and collective founders. “We want to create a hub for our community so we have somewhere to showcase and promote artists,” Montenegro says.
Her entry point to the arts came in second-grade, when she watched a classroom video about Ellis Island featuring Celtic Woman performing “Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears.” She was “enamored by their voices.” Performing in talent shows followed soon after, then musical theatre and training in jazz and R&B vocals, eventually leading her to alternative bands while studying at Dutchess Community College. Today her sound leans pop punk, emo, and alt indie, shaped by the Hudson Valley’s heavier local sound.
Montenegro’s experience assisting her family’s wedding photography business, beginning in 2019, gave her the technical skills to document shows from the pit. Managing The Schweg’s online presence evolved into booking shows and coordinating lineups, expanding her role from performer to organizer.
Like many young creatives, Montenegro operates with limited infrastructure. DIY gigs rarely pay much, so she balances a part-time retail job with business studies online at Arizona State University. “Finding resources comes from going out to DIY events, meeting people, and not being afraid to reach out,” she says.
What drives her is uplifting alternative girls—women with anti-mainstream values. “To be alt is inherently political, manifested as music, fashion, or lifestyle,” Montenegro says. “In an industry where there’s no shortage of us, we still get overshadowed,” she says, recalling female-fronted and LGBTQ bands, including her own, being passed over for opportunities. “It’s unfortunate that alt girls still have to scratch and carve ourselves a space, but it would be even more of a disservice if we quit.”
Her response is to create the spaces she wants to see: prioritizing women-led acts, curating cohesive bills, and building rooms where alt girls feel safe dancing, moshing, and screaming. “I even find myself more comfortable when I’m performing and my girls are in the crowd,” she says.
Last December, Montenegro organized The Schwegs’ first Manhattan show at Mercury Lounge, a dream venue after seeing Hot Freaks perform there in 2024. After posting a video of the band captioned “Can’t wait to play places like this,” and tagging the venue, she received a reply: “You’ll be playing venues like this soon!” “It made me realize that I can make anything happen,” she says.
This article appears in April 2026.
