,
Seven villagers have been named to the newly established Performing Arts Center Committee, which will make recommendations to the mayor and Village Council for a proposed space for stage productions, music and other presentations. In earlier discussions, Village officials have indicated such a center would probably be constructed where the Jones residence stands west of the Corrales Post Office. The home would be demolished, and a new facility would go in its place. The committee would recommend what would be needed.
Named to the committee at the May 24 council meeting were: Jim Wright, Linda Parker, Tony Messec, John Schumann, Jon Young, Bonnie Gonzales and Ken Duckert. The concept for a municipal performing arts center has morphed into a mixed use facility that could even include a community kitchen for farmers and growers to use to process foodstuffs for sale. That was Mayor Jim Fahey’s guidance during brief remarks at an earlier council meeting ahead of the Village Council’s adoption establishing an ad hoc committee “to explore the possibilities of the Corrales Performing Arts Center.†He said members were likely to be drawn from Music in Corrales, Corrales Society of Artists, the Parks and Recreation Commission, the Corrales Arts Center, Corrales MainStreet, Inc. and villagers engaged in agriculture. One at-large member was to be named.
Fahey said the committee’s mission is “to identify and help to implement a plan to create a performing arts center that could be used for a variety of events and classes in the village of Corrales.â€
Before councillors voted to establish the committee, the mayor suggested perhaps the new group’s name might be changed because it is no longer being thought of as exclusively for performances. “It would really be more of a mixed use facility.â€
In that context, Fahey suggested the proposed structure might accommodate a “commercial kitchen,†the need for which has been recognized for more than a decade. Such a kitchen would be used to process food from Corrales farms and gardens that is certified by the N.M. Department of Health for sale to the public.
Discussion at the May 10 council meeting also included possible use of a performance space by the Adobe Theater. “We want them coming in from the very beginning,†he told councillors, explaining that he would like an ongoing revenue stream from use of the facility such as the theater might provide.
Although it started in Corrales more than 50 years ago, the Adobe Theater now stages productions in the North Valley, north of the Alameda Boulevard-Fourth Street intersection.
(See Corrales Comment Vol.XXX VIII No.15 October 19, 2019 “CAC Seeks Performance Space, Possibly at Old Jones Residence.â€)
In 2019, officers with the Corrales Arts Center held preliminary talks with the Adobe Theater. “They’re interested and we’re interested,†the Corrales Arts Center’s Jim Wright reported in a Corrales Comment interview October 11, 2019.
Providing a better arts-related facility here would be a crucial component of the Village’s proposed designation of an arts and cultural district (See Corrales Comment Vol. XXXII No.19 November 23, 2013 “Arts & Cultural District Must Wait.â€)
Since early 2017, CAC has worked from leased space in the commercial space at 4940 Corrales Road, just north of the fire station. Arts related meetings, exhibits, talks and small performances have been held in that space.
The Village bought the 2.65-acre Jones property in June 2016. A barn and shed farther west on the parcel are now used for Corrales’ Public Works Department.