Address | 1501 Cerrillos Road Santa Fe |
---|---|
Coordinates | 35°40′20″N105°58′04″W / 35.672358°N 105.967787°W |
Capacity | 650 (est.) |
Construction | |
Opened | 1970 |
Closed | 2010 |
Architect | Paolo Soleri |
The Paolo Soleri Amphitheater is an amphitheater in Santa Fe, New Mexico, which opened in 1970 and closed in 2010. The structure, which was never considered finished, was designed by Italian architect Paolo Soleri. [1]
The amphitheater was built in Santa Fe in the late 1960s [1] on the campus of what was at the time the Institute of American Indian Arts and is now the campus of the Santa Fe Indian School. The concrete structure was created using Soleri's methods of earth-forming to create a type of desert-scape. The venue's wing-like, organic shapes emerge from a bowl-shaped depression in the high desert floor. Soleri's design was influenced by Native American themes. [2] Seating only about 650, the small theater hosted notable North American performers including Carlos Santana, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Crosby, Stills, and Nash, Widespread Panic, Phish, and Leonard Cohen [ citation needed ] In later years, in the absence of the establishment of the educational courses for which it was intended, an inclusive Native Performance and Expressive Arts training program, theater operations became unprofitable. The last performance hosted at the venue was a concert by Lyle Lovett on July 29, 2010. [3]
In 2011, the amphitheater was marked for demolition by the Santa Fe Indian School, which cited maintenance costs of about $100,000 per year and said that the amphitheater is only used twice a year. [4] Because the amphitheater is managed by the nineteen Native American Pueblos of New Mexico, it is not protected by state or local preservation laws. [5] No schedule for the structure's demolition has been set and a "Save the Soleri Amphitheatre" initiative on the part of Santa Fe Indian School alumni has inspired a movement to preserve the unique building.[ citation needed ]
As of 2022, the structure is still standing, but is not publicly accessible. [6] [7]
New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona, and bordering Texas to the east and southeast, Oklahoma to the northeast, and the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora to the south. New Mexico's largest city is Albuquerque, and its state capital is Santa Fe, the oldest state capital in the U.S., founded in 1610 as the government seat of Nuevo México in New Spain.
Albuquerque, also known as ABQ, Burque, and the Duke City, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Founded in 1706 as La Villa de Alburquerque by Santa Fe de Nuevo México governor Francisco Cuervo y Valdés, and named in honor of Francisco Fernández de la Cueva, 10th Duke of Alburquerque and Viceroy of New Spain, it served as an outpost on El Camino Real linking Mexico City to the northernmost territories of New Spain. In 2006, the city celebrated its 300th anniversary.
Paolo Soleri was an Italian-born American architect. He established the educational Cosanti Foundation and Arcosanti. Soleri was a lecturer in the College of Architecture at Arizona State University and a National Design Award recipient in 2006. He coined the concept of 'arcology' – a synthesis of architecture and ecology as the philosophy of democratic society. He died at home of natural causes on 9 April 2013 at the age of 93.
Taos is a town in Taos County in the north-central region of New Mexico in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Initially founded in 1615, it was intermittently occupied until its formal establishment in 1795 by Nuevo México Governor Fernando Chacón to act as fortified plaza and trading outpost for the neighboring Native American Taos Pueblo and Hispano communities, including Ranchos de Taos, Cañon, Taos Canyon, Ranchitos, El Prado, and Arroyo Seco. The town was incorporated in 1934. As of the 2010 census, its population was 5,716.
Rio Arriba County is a county in the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,363. Its county seat is Tierra Amarilla. Its northern border is the Colorado state line.
Kewa Pueblo is a federally-recognized tribe of Native American Pueblo people in northern New Mexico, in Sandoval County southwest of Santa Fe. The pueblo is recorded as the Santo Domingo Pueblo census-designated place by the U.S. Census Bureau, with a population of 2,456 at the 2010 census.
San Ildefonso Pueblo is a census-designated place (CDP) in Santa Fe County, New Mexico, United States, and a federally recognized tribe, established c. 1300 C.E. The Pueblo is self-governing and is part of the Santa Fe, New Mexico Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 524 as of the 2010 census, reported by the State of New Mexico as 1,524 in 2012, and there were 628 enrolled tribal members reported as of 2012 according to the Department of the Interior. San Ildefonso Pueblo is a member of the Eight Northern Pueblos, and the pueblo people are from the Tewa ethnic group of Native Americans, who speak the Tewa language.
Tesuque is a census-designated place (CDP) in Santa Fe County, New Mexico, United States. It is part of the Santa Fe, New Mexico, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,094 at the 2020 census. The area is separate from but located near Tesuque Pueblo, a member of the Eight Northern Pueblos, and the Pueblo people are from the Tewa ethnic group of Native Americans who speak the Tewa language. The pueblo was listed as a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
Arcosanti is a projected experimental town with a bronze bell casting business in Yavapai County, central Arizona, United States, 70 mi (110 km) north of Phoenix, at an elevation of 3,732 feet (1,138 m). Its arcology concept was proposed by Italian-American architect Paolo Soleri (1919–2013). He began construction in 1970 to demonstrate how urban conditions could be improved while minimizing the destructive impact on the Earth. He taught and influenced generations of architects and urban designers who studied and worked with him there to build the proposed town.
Santa Fe Indian School (SFIS) is a tribal boarding secondary school in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It is affiliated with the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE).
Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter was an American architect and designer. She was one of the very few female American architects in her day. She was the designer of many landmark buildings and spaces for the Fred Harvey Company and the Santa Fe Railroad, notably in Grand Canyon National Park. Her work had enormous influence as she helped to create a style, blending Spanish Colonial Revival and Mission Revival architecture with Native American motifs and Rustic elements, that became popular throughout the Southwest. Colter was a perfectionist, who spent a lifetime advocating and defending her aesthetic vision in a largely male-dominated field.
The Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) is a public tribal land-grant college in Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States. The college focuses on Native American art. It operates the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA), which is housed in the historic Santa Fe Federal Building, a landmark Pueblo Revival building listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Federal Building. The museum houses the National Collection of Contemporary Indian Art, with more than 7,000 items.
Nambé Oweenge Pueblo is a census-designated place (CDP) in Santa Fe County, New Mexico, and is also a federally recognized tribe of Native American Pueblo people.
Rezball, short for "reservation ball," is a style of basketball associated with Native Americans, particularly at the high school level in the Southwestern United States, where many of the Indian reservations were created in the country.
Santa Fe is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. With a population of 87,505 at the 2020 census, it is the fourth-most populous city in the state. It is also the county seat of Santa Fe County. Its metropolitan area is part of the Albuquerque–Santa Fe–Las Vegas combined statistical area, which had a population of 1,162,523 in 2020. Human settlement dates back thousands of years in the region. The city was founded in 1610 as the capital of Nuevo México, replacing previous capitals at San Juan de los Caballeros and San Gabriel de Yunque; this makes it the oldest state capital in the United States.
Margarete Bagshaw was an American artist known for her paintings and pottery. She was descended from the Tewa people of K'apovi or the Kha'p'oo Owinge, Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico.
New Mexico music is a genre of music that originated in the US state of New Mexico. It derives from Pueblo music in the 13th century, and with the folk music of Hispanos during the 16th to 19th centuries in Santa Fe de Nuevo México.
Christine McHorse, also known as Christine Nofchissey McHorse, was a Navajo ceramic artist from Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Derrick J. Lente is an American politician, attorney, and businessman serving as a member of the New Mexico House of Representatives. Elected in 2017, Lente represents the 65th district.
Albuquerque Indian School (AIS) was a Native American boarding school in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which operated from 1881 to 1981. It was one of the oldest and largest off-reservation boarding schools in the United States. For most of its history it was run by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). Like other government boarding schools, AIS was modeled after the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, using strict military-style discipline to strip students of their native identity and assimilate them into white American culture. The curriculum focused on literacy and vocational skills, with field work components on farms or railroads for boys and as domestic help for girls. In the 1930s, as the philosophy around Indian education changed, the school shifted away from the military approach and offered more training in traditional crafts like pottery, weaving, and silversmithing.