Greetings from the Peñasco Theatre!
2020 was a year of great challenges, powerful social uprisings, collective grief and prospects of new ways of being. Artists are at the forefront of change, innovation and healing. Creative expression provides outlets for processing difficult emotions, connecting to ourselves and each other and imagining and manifesting the world we want.
Having a space we can come together in is as critical as the process in which we gather. The Peñasco Theatre is a historic venue established in 1940, located on the traditional homelands of the Picuris people, has been a community gathering place for generations.
The Peñasco Theatre Collective is a group of artists that has spent the last 20 years hosting workshops for youth and adults, live performances for local audiences and an artist residency program that has brought hundreds of nationally and internationally recognized cutting edge creative visionaries to our rural community.
This vital community space requires regular and project-based physical infrastructure maintenance. This was the year to work on both the “top” and the “bottom”. New roofs were installed on some of the old leaking flat roofs, and a wastewater overhaul has begun. Through the local non-profit MAS Comunidad, the theatre was awarded a USDA grant to upgrade the septic system and renovate the restrooms to be ADA compliant.
The USDA funding requires a match of $11,000, about 10% of the project total budget. A donation towards the match will get the theatre one-step closer to leveraging this large funding opportunity to improve the theatre property.
Your donation will assist us in providing an accessible community space that directly impacts the young people and artists who attend our classes, workshops, residencies, and performances. It will bolster the economic viability of the Sugar Nymphs Bistro which employs Peñasco residents including young people, purchases locally grown products and provides locals and visitors with delicious homemade food!.
Please donate online at
https://www.paypal.com/
or mail a check to P.O. Box 313 Penasco NM 87553, made out to Peñasco Theater LLC.
We look forward to the day when we can be together again at the theatre in person.
In gratitude,
Alessandra Ogren
Co-Director
Peñasco Theatre Collective,
a program of MAS Comunidad- a 501c3 based in Peñasco, NM since 1980
A HUGE thank you to Avanyu Contracting for doing this work, and Allen Environmental for the plan and to MAS communidad for managing the grant.
Some photos of the project so far:
Trenching the septic lines and installing the grease trap.
