Albuquerque's Arts and Culture

to our you Hello, I'm Chris Schuler and welcome to this special half hour program presented by the Albuquerque Arts Alliance and K&METV. With an excellent lineup of guests, we will be discussing

the significance of art in Albuquerque and the impact of art in our lives. Just a moment will be premiering an eight minute video tape that is produced by the Albuquerque Arts Alliance. It's called Albuquerque City of Art and Artists. Featured in the video is a very diverse and dynamic group of Albuquerque personalities from poet Jimmy Santiago Baca to basketball coach Dave Bliss. They're going to be sharing their view on the arts. After that tape, we'll be discussing Albuquerque's cultural plan. We'll be discussing that with Gordon Church, who's the director of the City of Albuquerque's public art program, Patsy Catlett, who is the executive director of the Albuquerque Arts Alliance and Janet Kahn, who's the fine arts coordinator for Albuquerque public schools. Now, please sit back and watch the Albuquerque Arts Alliance video Albuquerque City of Art and Artists. Anything that you do that connects you closer to who you are and to God is art. So if you wake up

in the morning besides you're going to try to be a better person, that's art, the art of living. It's a poetry dance. Those are all sort of the peacock's fan tale of the many faces of art. How far does the umbrella under art go? How many different things are really classified under art? It's an awful lot. I don't think that any of us realize that art is all around us, the way you dress, even down to the cooking, you know, how you prepare these beautiful dishes, the way you decorate them. So, art is involved in many, many ways.

In Albuquerque, art is all around us. It's in our history, in our rich mix of cultures and in our natural environment. Albuquerque is home to many artists working in a variety of media. Our extensive public art program makes painting, sculpture, and other visual work a part of everyday life. In our community, the fact that we support arts at the level that we do, I think tells the rest of the country a lot about us, about what we value, and what we see as important part of our lives. Sandia employs some of the best engineers and scientists that our country produces, and because of that, they come from many of our large centers where there is a tremendous amount of art, and you will find them looking for those opportunities as they look at Albuquerque is a place to live and raise their children. The arts are good for Albuquerque, and they should not be left to chance.

With that understanding, a cultural plan has been created for the city. Approved by the city government, the plan acknowledges the vitality and creativity of our diverse communities, and guarantees that the possibility of experiencing the arts will be available to everyone. Sam a lawyer, or say I'm an engineer, and I don't go to the museum, I don't read poetry books, I don't read novels. I just like to streamline my activities into this general area of them and my career in. You're not going to get anything out, it's pretty much like being black and white, visioned, and a color society. You never get to really appreciate the colors of that society. My father was an artist, he was a painter, and he was a landscape painter, and what he would do when I was riding around the country with him, he would look at clouds or look at landscapes, and he'd tell me a different way to look at them, and I think that's the part that I really enjoy out here. And I think art's good for your health. I think art raises our spirits, I think it allows us to look at the world in a way that we would ordinarily not look at the world,

because it allows us to use senses that we don't ordinarily use. I really enjoy having classical music on here in the garage during the work day, because the work is so frenetic, and that it just helps us get through the day, it has a calming effect on us. Well, a lot of times I'll see people, I'll be up on the scaffolding, and I'll see them walking by, and just grinning. When we were working on the Route 66 mural, I saw a man go up and he touched the wall, he touched where the stones had been painted, and he went up and he felt it. And that's when you see those kind of reactions, you know, that you've made a connection. Hi, I'm sitting here on a low rider bench, which is part of the 1% for art projects with the City of Albuquerque.

It's a, it is a bench of handmade tiles done by the artist Pedro Romero, which deals with the relationship of the automobile and nature. You can enjoy the piece of art while you sit here, maybe have your lunch, and we also have people coming in and having their cars repaired to reduce the impact of the automobile on nature. We all make choices every day, and must rely on our human judgment. A familiarity with the arts develops an awareness of choices, not just in the arts, but in all aspects of life, including the sciences. In the scientific process, you start with a very abstract idea, and you need to be able to give it structure and form. And backgrounds in the arts, I find very beneficial in doing that, and there's an indication of that. I have seen in my almost 20 years at Sandia that most of my colleagues have some type of an artistic application, and I believe they bring these skills to play in doing their work every day.

Having art in our lives enhances our ability to look at problems and to solve problems, and it also helps us deal with those people who don't look at the world through numbers and measurements. What do we leave behind? What endures? What defines our finest movement over all time? Art is irreplaceable, unforgettable, and always with us. Well, sometimes I've put in there, and my mind is blank, the paper is blank, my pants are there laying there in tubes, and looking back at me. And I began to think of things that might be happening in the pobble, and pretty soon without me realizing that I'm going to do this.

Well, here I am, this is sketching, but it's not me that's doing it, it's something else. My spirit has finally come through and meant me to do these things, and it's kind of a magical thing that I experience every time I want to do something that's very technical. The magic of an artist's vision becomes available to us when the community treasures it as a true gift. And I think art should be encouraged, especially to the young ones, they should not be discouraged no matter how rough the going gets. Art has to do with so many things in life, learning how to communicate, learning how to get along with other people. Art gives you a name, it gives you a face, and it gives you a place. That's what art does.

Art gives you a place to live, and you can see it's a place where you can live. Art gives you a place where you can live. That's what art gives you. Art gives you a place where you can live. That's what art does. Art gives you a place where you can live. Art gives you a place where you can live. That shopping street does. That is a great videotape. That's real. I'm really that's fantastic. That was Kathy Baker's voice. Yes. Kathy Baker, a star of picket fences for Guna Sake and two-time Emmy winner.

She has a home here in Albuquerque. How do you get her voice on that thing? We asked. Oh, there it is. She's a big supporter of the city. She's a great friend to Albuquerque's arts. Oh, fantastic. Well, let's get into it. Fantastic tape. You can borrow that tape by the way. We'll tell you how in a little bit. You want to get a pencil paper. We'll give you a number and get your real involved in all this. First, let's talk to the Gordon Church for just a minute. Director of City of Albuquerque's public art program. Gordon, video referred to the fact that art and culture of the city shouldn't be left to chance. She said Kathy Baker so eloquently. Give us some background as to why the cultural plan is in place. That's what it's about. Well, actually began with a goals process that the city of Albuquerque's city council has. In the mid-80s, I was writing the goals for our particular cultural affairs effort. And so I had a chance to put some input into this. But the goal that was sort of there when I sort of came to the floor on this particular issue was improve and enrich.

Whereas when it went over to solid waste, it says we're going to increase the recycling return to the city by a third of a centers. I mean, there was a disparity. I mean, improve and enrich is compared to one third of a mill or something increasing city revenues on solid waste. It was just very obvious that boy, between these other more conventional spheres of public activity and arts and culture, there is nothing here. I mean, there is nothing that is more specific that says how we're going to get to wherever it is we want to go. So the issue was right there on the table. So then we take this cultural plan, which was developed and put together by the Albuquerque Arts Alliance. Yes, under a contract to the city. Okay. And how did, how in the world do you, I mean, this thing is so rambling, there's so many artists, there's so many issues, there's so many things to consider. How was it all brought into focus by the arts Alliance? Well, the arts Alliance was appropriate agency because we represent all the arts disciplines. Dance, drama, literary, visual, and music, whereas other groups may just have one discipline.

And consequently, we were able to get a giant umbrella over all the arts and ask people to come in. But I have to say that the single biggest issue that brought people to the very first workshops and town halls that asked people to come and talk about doing a cultural plan was the issue of arts and education. Because coincidentally, at that time, the budgets at APS had to be cut. And the only arts professionals and visual arts professionals and music professionals had been removed from the elementary schools. And the drama and the apprehension in the community about what that meant to a whole education brought a lot of people to the cultural plan. And when was this? In 1991. In 1991, this is when this process started. And then we will get to you, Janet, because this all ties in very well with what you're going to talk about in just a second. But back to Pantsy for just a second. So the whole thing came into focus. It started to go together.

And then what are, you can get a copy of the cultural plan. We'll tell you how to do that in just a second, too. What were then the main folks arts and education? And what are the steps or what are the bullet points of this plan? It's a really wonderfully fine, condensed piece of work. Although it took three years, over 65 public meetings. There were 20,000 needs assessment questionnaires sent out into the community, including through the utility bills in the spring of 92. And the responses from that about how people define their culture, where they went for it, and what they considered the city's responsibility in preserving and enriching that culture came through. So it ended up with basically six major goals. The first one was arts and education. The second one was arts in the community. The third one was the preservation of the multicultural heritage in this community. The fourth thing was arts as the city as an arts haven. We like to think that what we have now is an arts colony.

Although people think of small villages. There is a small village within the big metro area of Albuquerque that is definitely an arts colony. And the final thing was the economic impact of the arts and how that could affect tourism and the city's economy. Gordon, what do other cities have cultural plans and has it affected them and will this affect us? Yes, it has affected them because I think what we all realize, and certainly the public realizes this, arts groups and the arts environment just doesn't thrive just because people are willing to go and buy the ticket. That's a great way to sort of sustain and we're fortunate to have a lot of talent. But without goals and plans of how to get there and improve the overall environment for the arts community, they're going out and raising money or selling those tickets is not enough Chris. So therefore it's the larger communities concerned too. The public sector and businesses and so forth to get together to improve the environment collectively so that we can allow artists and arts organizations to thrive and bring and offer all of those things to those of us maybe who don't do this ourselves.

Or also allow us to participate in our own cultural framework in our own ethnic tradition, for example. Do most cities have cultural plans? I would say right now it's generally the larger communities. We're the only ourselves in San Jose would be the only communities right now in New Mexico that have them. All right, good for us and we're branching out. Now let's move to Janet Conn. Janet is the, again just as a reminder, she's the fine arts coordinator for the Albuquerque Public School System. And Dunder had me, I didn't know there was a fine arts coordinator for the Albuquerque Public School System. I mean I didn't know until I met you. And then I went, wow, this is pretty good stuff. I mean what is that about? Is this position? This is a real positive thing for art, isn't it? Especially in the schools. Yes, and we have had this position in the past. And as Patsy mentioned, APS went through about 10 consecutive years of budget cuts.

And in that process we lost our elementary music and art program. And we also lost administrative positions that oversaw those programs. When Dr. Hiroshiak came, he got an earful. He got two ears full, actually. And where was this in the time frame of thing? He will be beginning his fourth year in our district in July. So I'm thinking 92, 93. Because the plan is being formed in 91. Right. And did that, I mean does this relate? The timing actually was just right. Well it all fit. It all fit. The circumstances were unfortunate, but the revival process has all kind of fit very nicely. But when he came, he heard a lot from the community. And the community being defined primarily as parents and arts advocates about what they considered the deplorable loss of this program in our district. And what exactly did he intend to do about it? And he is a real true believer in the value of the arts in public education.

But what do you do? What's the fine arts coordinator position? Well, what I do is a result of that community input because he made the arts one of his instructional goals. And as such, the first step was to hire a fine arts coordinator once again. And my first job was to put together a plan for the district. What would a fine arts program look like for this district? We had a lot of community input and we put a plan together. The first page of it is a rationale. And one of the major points in the rationale was that arts in education is a major goal of the city's cultural plan. And as Patsy mentioned, the lack of arts in education was one of the prime motivators for people to get active in putting the cultural plan together. Now we can all sit here in the studio and say, we got this great cultural plan and we got this great videotape and it's all there.

And everything's in place without the funding, everybody, without the funding. What can we do? What are some of the accomplishments that have been made? The thing is totally unique and wonderful about Albuquerque and I hope that everyone will thank their counselor and thank the mayor is a lot of cities go through this drama of creating a cultural plan out of a direct need in the community to do certain things. And then somehow this catharsis of doing the plan relieves everybody of their apprehensions about the problems and oftentimes then all the energy dissipates and the plan sits there. We give our community the recognition that they didn't do that. They funded it. They put an RFP out for an agency to implement the cultural plan and the arts alliance was lucky enough to win that award and we now have a contract and we have funds. And those funds so far have paid for an economic impact of the arts report. They're funding a Heritage Council made up 22 people on arts and education task force. Now what about, so here I am, I've just moved to Albuquerque and I'm working somewhere downtown and how is the cultural plan for the city of Albuquerque going to affect me?

What am I going to see in the next two or three years and I just sort of throw this out maybe Gordon you can help me. I think one first of all the person needs to get a copy of the cultural plan which is available from the Albuquerque Arts Alliance. But two I think they can identify what are their areas of interest whether it's personal development or they want to be an audience for maybe theater or a particular kind of music. I think with increasingly now we have the resources, the information resources to connect every individual to the range of arts and cultural opportunities that they're interested in and that's really one of our very first goals is to be able to connect the public to what it is they're looking for in the arts and cultural activities. Going back just for a second to the education which was initial push to get this plan into place, what has changed now on a positive side Janet in the last couple of years from a fine arts standpoint in elementary schools? We now have this year the 96 97 school year we have 11 music teachers and 11 art teachers for our 78 elementary schools is by no means enough but it is a first step.

And hopefully an answer to the question that you just asked what will we see? We will see that program expand our goal is to eventually have a halftime music and a halftime art teacher at every school to be able to add dance and drama to that component. So that fine arts will at least be defined by four disciplines. Hopefully we'll be able to see. You know you say I don't mean to interrupt you say halftime this and I think oh man at least give a full time teacher in the group. Well it would be great we have 78 elementary schools in this district and that number will probably grow. I mean it's not going to decrease this is a growing community so common sense will tell you that that's a very expensive proposition. And so to be realistic what we're looking at is if we can at least have halftime music and art simultaneously because the way it is now half the schools have an art teacher this year the other half have a music teacher and the next year they'll switch. And those people are only in the schools depending on the size of the school maybe for a minimum of about four weeks a maximum of about 12 weeks.

Why do we need arts in the schools anyway? I mean come on hey it costs money and it's one of those frills right. I mean that's that's you hear this I mean you really you hear this you're still here today. What tell me Patsy? Well the easiest thing I can say and it was on that video is without a background in the arts you may not know you have choices in life because everything else has a formula two and two makes four. And the arts it could be 524 because you learn to make choices based on other things other realities than formulas. You can teach any content area through the arts the arts while when the program was eliminated when they eliminated the specialist art and music teachers art and music remained in the core curriculum. Meaning classroom teachers were still responsible for teaching it if you look at what kinds of skills business people want in employer in employees when they hire. They want people who are creative they want people who are problem solvers they want people who are appreciative of diversity and multiculturalism and they want people who are team players.

What else what other disciplines can provide all of those process skills better than the arts. Finally I think many people now always talk I'm I'm working out of the right or left brain at this particular moment in my life. I think we've increasingly sort of joke about this but the point is that along with our logical pet capacities we have a creative capacity we are now calling that right brain. The thing is that has to be exercised and developed just the same way that our logical and reason and our other faculties. And if we don't have all of those to bring to bear on each other we may be a great technician but we can't move our society forward because we don't have the vision and the arts are about the vision. How long have you been with the city Gordon? 14 years. What do you think of this time for Arts and Albuquerque 1997 right now. I'm really excited because through my lifetime I've seen the arts go this up and down and up and down and when the economy was good the arts were up and then it would go down and there was nothing.

I think part of what we realize with the cultural plan is that we like our community in general have to create a momentum that keeps going and growing and improving and that's why we needed the cultural plan to make sure that we don't go this up and down route but that we can gradually keep improving. And improving the arts environment for everyone and for every organization. That's fantastic. The most visible sign of that is the fact that the arts alliance on June 22nd will formally open the first arts and cultural resource center for the city. And that has an arts incubator, it has a resource library. And if you want to find out more about that and get a hold of the cultural plan and get a hold of this videotape if you'd like to show it to your friends. Or your club or whatever you can call the Albuquerque Arts Alliance that will listen to the phone book and we're going to put the number up on the screen for you. And do that.

I mean this is an exciting time to be in Albuquerque especially if you're an artist and with all the things that are happening here it's fantastic. I want to thank Gordon Church and Patsy Catland and Janet Cohn for coming down today and sharing their expertise with it. It is an exciting time for us to be here. It really is and the arts alliance is doing some incredible work Patsy. Thank you. Congratulations to you. And what a great video too. That's great. You can get a hold of it again by calling the Albuquerque Arts Alliance and you can get a hold of the Albuquerque Cultural Plan. Just call the number on your screen and they'll be glad to get that for you. Thank you for joining us and have a good rest of the day. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you.