Plans include expanding educational programs, a major theater renovation, exciting museum shows, international outreach and a focus on youth

By Stephanie Hainsfurther

In the Hotel Andaluz, left to right: Shira Greenberg, Keshet Dance Company; Doug Montoya, The Box Performance Space; Gordon Bronitsky, Bronitsky & Associates; Shelle Sanchez, National Hispanic Cultural Center; Andrew Connors, Albuquerque Museum; Jon P. Chavez, UV Nightclub (Lotus). Photo by Joan Fenicle.

“It’s been a crazy year,” says Shira Greenberg, executive director of Keshet Dance Company, about planned renovations to the KiMo Theatre. Her organization now manages the performing arts program there after being selected by the city through an RFP process. “The partnership with the city of Albuquerque became official in June. Now we’re starting the design work on the facility and putting together the money to complete that work.”

Lee Gamelski Architects have just begun to draw up a design for The Freed Building next door, which will become part of the KiMo complex.

“Because of the Freed Family, we can expand the KiMo facilities. Right now, there is no loading dock area, no fly space. With the Freed we can expand all of it. For instance, we can have more expansive dressing rooms and wheelchair access to and from them,” Greenberg says.

There also will be a dedicated gallery space with an entrance directly from the street. New retail space will allow the KiMo to sell merchandise related to performances, like CDs, books and art.

“People can walk right in and say, ‘I love that piece of art; I am going to buy it,’” says Greenberg.

She feels that improving and expanding the KiMo will have a beneficial effect on the entire city.

“I’m thrilled that we are doing what we can to boost a wider spectrum of the arts in Albuquerque. This will benefit way beyond Downtown,” she says.  “There’s a lot of energy right now, with the Downtown Action Team’s Cultural District push. There is so much that can happen right now–it’s like a perfect storm, but in a good way.”

Sustaining partnerships and culture

A new director and ongoing partnerships will keep the National Hispanic Cultural Center on track in 2010.

“We have a new executive director who is very much a visionary,” states Dr. Shelle Sanchez, education director, of Dr. Estevan Rael-Galvez. “But we’re a state agency and we have intense change because of budget insecurity. We are going to continue things that are working and we are passionate about.”

Collaborations with other locally based organizations and artists are the hallmark of the NHCC’s outreach and education.  For instance, the Manoa Project in association with Tricklock Theatre Company gives teenagers the chance to act and perform a new work by a teenaged playwright every summer. VOCES, the writing program for young adults at NHCC, employs community poets and other writers to guide and teach, a “core of creative artists” that Sanchez says have worked in the program for eight years. The upcoming Women in Creativity events scheduled for March are produced in association with the NHCC by an alliance of community leaders, businesses and nonprofits.

“The best things we do are things we don’t do by ourselves,” Sanchez notes. “That’s the only way to get things done – finding partners that share our priorities. We’re physically big and we have large missions, so we work with as many organizations as possible to serve a lot of people.”

One brand new initiative, Instituto Sostener, another youth program, will focus on cultural ecology and environmental sustainability.

“It is about sustainability of culture, environment and art and how they go together,” she says. “For example, ‘green art’ is not just recycled materials but can be environmentally friendly, like screen printing with fewer toxins.”

The program will have an agricultural component that shows plants can be culturally important, too.

Junior productions nurture major talent

“We are never dark,” says Doug Montoya , executive director of The Box Performance Space & Improv Theatre, about his theater’s peripatetic schedule at its new downtown location, 114 Gold SW.

With a larger stage area and ongoing alliances with resident Blackout Theatre and Cardboard Playhouse Productions, Montoya hopes to bring in more people to see the comedy, improv and children’s productions they stage. “We are growing our [children’s] productions for audiences who want a show they can take the whole family to,” he says.

Characteristically, The Box puts on “Jr.” shows from by Musical Theatre International, like “Guys & Dolls Jr.” and Stephen Sondheim’s “Into the Woods Jr.” All “Jr.” versions are authorized by the original artists.

“We pay the royalties to MTI and follow their guidelines for production,” Montoya explains.  “Some themes are reworked – for instance, right now in ‘[Disney’s] Beauty and the Beast,’ we cut out a few songs that were a little heavy to make them more suitable for children.” Songs are also reworked for the children’s voices, but the integrity of the storyline remains.

“By no means is this a recital,” he says. “We audition the children and choose the very best. They are so incredibly talented. In this current production, there are two or three who have never been in a production before. It’s on-the-job training – they get a crash course in theater.”

Unlike some other children’s theaters, The Box does not charge tuition to be in a show. Everyone is invited to audition. “We are looking for children and young adults who have a confidence and a presence,” Montoya states.

Kristin Berg is artistic director and co-directs The Box with Montoya.

In January, Blackout Theatre’s original work “The Poe Project: Merely This and Nothing More” will be performed at The Box. In February, the space is planning a month of improv. “Puss in Boots” will mark the start of The Box’s official season in March. For summer 2010, Montoya is planning more improv camps for children.

“Improv is the foundation of all we do,” he says. “There is nothing so empowering to a child as making decisions.”

It’s a small (indigenous) world

If you’re in the market to book an Inuit heavy-metal band this year, call Gordon Bronitsky. “I believe very strongly that indigenous performance is marginalized all the time and I don’t think that’s valid anymore,” he says. “My job is not to tinker with the message; my job is to crank up the volume.”

Bronitsky and Associates showcases the diversity of indigenous performers by booking them all over the world. Bronitsky is taking Mariachi Imperial de America, a Houston band, on a tour of Albania and Macedonia in March, sponsored by the U.S. embassies in those countries. In April, Sami rights pioneer Magne Ove Varsi will lecture in New York, partly funded by the Norwegian embassy, and Bronitsky will accompany as tour manager. The Chinle Valley Singers, another Bronitsky and Associates-managed band, will travel to Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada for a special concert leading up to the Alianait Festival there in June.  In August, Bronitsky is bringing Inuit throat singers Lois Suluk and Maria Illungiayok from Arviat, Nunavut, Canada to Indian Market in Santa Fe.

Bronitsky grew up in New Mexico wanting to be an archaeologist. With a degree from the University of Arizona, he taught American Indian culture all over Europe and at the Institute of North American Indian Art. His strong interest in indigenous cultures eventually led him to “unearth” the musicians and others he now represents. “I just ask ‘What’s the most exciting thing happening in your community?,’” he says.

Bronitsky’s next big project is laying the groundwork for an international Indigenous opera event, with Indigenous opera composers from the U.S., Canada, Sweden and Australia. He has generated interest for this event in Los Angeles, London and at the University of Minnesota, which has given him extensive support for his programs over the years.

His next big idea, he says, will be an amalgam he calls “Klezmerachi,” for which he finds much interest in Mexico City and in Israel. “In both traditions, the themes are the same,” he points out. “There are three of them: ‘The old country is wonderful,’ ‘Let’s dance’ and ‘You broke my heart.’”

Young adult venue to open this year

John Chavez , general manager of Lotus and VIP Ultralounge, announces that his new 18-and-over, non-alcohol, members-only dance club will open early this year. “We want to attract young adults and promote a healthy lifestyle,” he says.

To that end, youth groups and other community organizations with a healthy lifestyle message will be invited to hand out materials and talk to club members.

UV Nightclub will open in the old Pulse Nightclub space in Nob Hill at 4100 Central SE. The venue will open at 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights with live DJs. The current non-alcohol, 18-and-over event will still continue every Thursday at Lotus, but Chavez feels there is a need for Friday and Saturday night entertainment.

“I’ve seen the demand,” Chavez says. “Unfortunately, the only things for young adults to do are illegal raves and underage house parties. There are a lot of bad options out there. We’re providing them with a safe, controlled environment.”

Membership fee is just $10/year, plus a $10 cover charge each time. Gatorade and other non-alcohol energy drinks will be sold. Chavez expects a 300-500 patron turnout at UV Nightclub throughout each night.

–Stephanie Hainsfurther is publisher and editor of albuquerqueARTS.