Mission
To inspire, engage, and transform a multi-cultural, neurodiverse, and multi-generational audience through innovative and inclusive theatrical work, professional education in theatre and film, and accessible performing arts spaces that welcome diverse local, regional, and international voices to create and explore.
Vision
We strive to recreate and enhance the legacy of the Greer Garson Theatre Center; re-envisioning performing arts for the 21st Century and reinventing styles of presentation more fitting to today's audience. We will accomplish this effort in a variety of innovative ways: creating a two-year accredited conservatory program (LiveArts Conservatory), a resident professional repertory company (LiveArts Rep), and holding space for local and international artists (LiveArts Community Programs).
Values
Inspire both artists and audiences to be artistically linked to their community and to elevate Santa Fe's reputation as a vital performing arts destination. Santa Fe has been recognized as one of the best arts cities in the world. We will enhance that excellence by providing a vibrant, accessible performing arts center that propels Santa Fe’s established reputation beyond the visual arts.
Transform the expectations of traditional theatrical work, structures, and concepts with visionary new pieces and fresh interpretations of the past. In this space we create brave work with disenfranchised voices that include all races, genders, and abilities.
Engage audiences at all stages of life with entertaining and affordable programming that starts a conversation and builds new bridges between cultures. Our engagement welcomes current theater goers and expands to those who are still discovering the value of live performance.
Conservatory
LiveArts Conservatory is a theatre and film training program, designed to prepare graduates for careers in professional theatre, film, and other live and recorded media. This two year program provides students with the opportunities to learn all aspects of theatre and film creation, from performance and design, to writing and producing.
All teaching faculty are working professionals in the theatre/film/performing arts industries, with many of them also serving as company members in LiveArts Rep. We will have standard classes in acting, design, and tech like all theatre programs, but there will also be courses dedicated to new work creation, producing, and business. We will offer specialty courses based on the strengths of the faculty: for example, if a faculty member has puppetry skills then we may offer a course in puppetry or puppet construction. The goal is to stay alert, flexible, and provide students with a rounded education that doesn’t just prepare them for auditions, but also inspires them to take charge of their own creative identities.
Conservatory graduates will have all the knowledge to navigate the worlds of professional theatre and film, but they will also leave with the skills needed to create, produce, and monetize their own theatre, film, or performance art projects. We don’t want to train triple-talents, we want to train infinite-talents.
At the end of the two year program, exceptional students will be invited to participate in the advanced company. This third year program is an opportunity for students to hone their skills through a rigorous calendar of theatrical and film productions. With guidance from the Conservatory Director, the advanced company spends a school year creating their own projects, supporting each other's visions, and building collaboration skills.
When students graduate from the two year program or the advanced company, they work closely with faculty advisors to secure gainful employment in their target industries. These positions could be jobs or internships with various film and theatre organizations, some students may even be invited to join the resident company.
Repertory
LiveArts Rep is a new kind of performing arts company. We aim to remove the obstacles that prevent artists from being able to get the most from their talents and creativity. In conjunction with LiveArts Conservatory, company membership will provide full-time employment that pays a reasonable salary. We expect that 60% of company members' time will be spent on creative projects, 30% on teaching and mentoring, and 10% on community engagement. Similar models have been successful in programs like PCPA in California and ART in Massachusetts.
Where LiveArts Rep departs is our unique process for project development. Instead of an artistic director making all of the producing decisions, each company member in turn has the opportunity to lead a project. This artist chooses the material, defines the vision, and decides what position they and other company members will hold in the production process. The rest of the company will offer support, guidance, and their creative talents to bring the leader's vision to fruition. We want all company members to be financially, emotionally, and artistically invested in the success of each project, and the company at large. Through this process of creative cross-pollination, LiveArts Rep will produce dynamic creative projects that challenge and inspire our local community, and enrich America's performance landscape.
The artistic vision of the company will be steered, but not dictated, by the artistic director. Project leads are allowed to follow their inspiration, and in place of a rigid style coming from the top, all projects will adhere to a list of artistic values.
LiveArts Rep projects are:
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Entertaining
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We are not trying to make elitist art that is only enjoyed by the chosen few. Our projects have a broad appeal. People like them. They are not academic or sermonic. They are brave yet accessible.
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Moving
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LiveArts Rep projects make you feel something. Some will be comedy, some tragedy, many something else all together. But all projects will take the audience on an emotional journey, and leave them changed.
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Creative
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Every project must be something that we have not seen before. Does that mean we are only producing new works? No. But every project must give something original to the audience, the artists, and the global theatre community.
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Intentional
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It is not enough to be entertaining, moving, and creative. Great art must also be intentional. It must have a reason for existing. It should not proselytize, but it should have something to say and a reason to say it.
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We are living in an era of unprecedented connectedness. People are losing interest in the stuffy formal performing arts organizations of the past and are searching for something new. By sharing our passion and our process through online channels, LiveArts Rep will get people excited about our artists, and the work they are creating. We will be candid and transparent with fans and followers about the goals, challenges, and victories of creating in this new way.
We will move past the barriers that have been holding back our industry. Historically, theatre has reinforced racial stereotypes. It has tokenized and subjugated people of color, and systematically excluded anyone who doesn’t fit into its mold. It’s time to move intentionally away from that model. The core of this creative process is radical equity, diversity, and inclusion. We use the faces, voices, and creativity of our diverse company of artists to build authentic connections with the local community and create a following that stretches beyond the borders of Santa Fe, and eventually around the world. These followers become donors, audience members, and even students at the conservatory. The company feeds the conservatory and the conservatory feeds the company, and all the while we create groundbreaking art that doesn’t exist anywhere else.
COMMUNITY PROGRAMS
The final wing of LiveArts Santa Fe is focused on the local community. This wing is primarily concerned with facility rentals and engagement efforts. The goal of “providing an inclusive artistic home” extends to other organizations and individuals in our community. LiveArts supports Santa Fe arts organizations by providing affordable space for rehearsals and performances, it enriches the community by making performing arts experiences accessible to underserved groups, and it broadens the artistic landscape of the city by presenting unique educational opportunities.
Rentals
Various spaces will be made available to rent at affordable rates. Presenting groups like Performance Santa Fe, and Aspen Santa Fe Ballet have expressed interest in the main stage venue. At over 500 seats, The Greer Garson main stage is the perfect mid-size venue, sitting right between the Lensic (821 seats) and the other local venues such as the James A. Little (400 seats) and the Scottish Rite Temple (214 seats).This auditorium is perfect for dance, theatre, and music groups as well as speaking engagements and panel discussions.
The Weckesser Studio Theatre, a 90 seat blackbox space, is of interest to local theatre companies. The dance studio, rehearsal room, and classrooms will be rentable when not occupied by the conservatory or company, allowing the Greer Garson Theatre Center to become a hub of creativity and innovation. We will even have supervised hours available for people to use the costume and scene shop, allowing them to function as theatrical makerspaces.
Rush Tickets
Following the lead of performance venues in larger markets, LiveArts will have a Rush-Tickets program: 30 tickets from each mainstage performance and 8 tickets from each blackbox performance will be offered free of charge to students, tribal members, and anyone living in the following zip codes: 87010, 87507, 87532, 87535, 87567, and 87574. This includes performances by LiveArts Rep and Conservatory, but extends to all organizations that rent the facilities. This means we will be offering free tickets to thousands of residents every year, providing opportunities for locals to see performances that may not have been accessible to them before.
Other Educational Programs
In addition to the conservatory curriculum, this organization will also offer workshops, master classes, and youth classes that are open to the community. Workshops and master classes will be offered based on public interest and faculty expertise. We will also have opportunities for touring groups and local performing artists to utilize classroom space for workshops and classes.
By the fifth year of operations we will launch a Youth Theatre Program that offers performing arts experiences to children between the ages of 8 and 18. This program will be focused on building performance skills, but also building confidence, improving literacy, and allowing students to discover their unique creative voice. We plan to have a robust scholarship program,
funded by grants and sponsorships, so that any student who wants to participate is able to enroll, regardless of their family’s ability to pay.
Offsite Programs
LiveArts Community programming will extend beyond the four walls of the Greer Garson Theatre Center. We have learned that inviting people into our space is not enough to truly engage underserved communities, we will also take programming into neighborhoods and meet people where they are. We will create traveling productions that can be performed anywhere, and provide free classes in public libraries and community centers. We will constantly be evaluating our programming and looking for ways to reach a broader and more diverse audience.