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NAVIGATION

NMSA’s Grand Opening

“Students and faculty at the New Mexico School for the Arts hold an assembly to celebrate its inaugural day of classes”
By Jessica Dyer    Journal Staff Writer

Excitement, anticipation and a little bit of music mingled in the air Tuesday as the New Mexico School for the Arts celebrated its inaugural day of classes.    Parents and other community members joined NMSA staff and students for an assembly to mark the first day at the new statewide, public arts school.    A total of 141 students in the ninth through 11th grades have come to the school’s downtown Santa Fe campus — located at the former St. Francis Cathedral School building — to receive training in their choice of dance, music, theater or visual arts, in addition to the standard coursework needed to obtain a New Mexico diploma.    Those students were welcomed into Tuesday’s assembly with a standing ovation and they left following a faculty performance of a song written for the occasion.

A series of speakers — including Academy Award winner and New Mexico resident Shirley MacLaine — took the stage during the event to honor the students as they begin their new journey.    “This is the first step in the recognition of your talent and your     commitment to your artistic disciplines. I congratulate you on your choices and on your promising future. You are our Olympians,” said New Mexico Cultural Affairs Secretary Stuart Ashman. “Yes, your efforts to date have paid off, but now the work really begins.”    Approximately 245 students auditioned last February to attend NMSA and more than 90 percent who were offered spots accepted them. Though 68 percent of the students hail from Santa Fe, the student population represents all three congressional districts. Approximately 20 students are taking advantage of a residential program that allows them to live on the New Mexico School for the Deaf campus.    MacLaine told the crowd Tuesday that she was reminded of her own experience, leaving her Virginia home for New York at age 16.    “I was trepidatious and a little frightened, but I found myself relying on the artist inside of me,” she said.    MacLaine — who abandoned the stage   in favor of talking to the students upclose — told the teens “never forget who you are” because that self-recognition serves artists well.    “Remember to go inside, and you will be the one who is producing and creating all of the reality around you. That’s what art is,” she said.

Several of Tuesday’s speakers expressed awe that the school had finally become a reality. New Mexico first lady Barbara Richardson said she sometimes doubted this day would come.    “The opening of this school is the culmination of more than six years of hard work and roller-coaster rides for many here today,” she said.    It was a sentiment shared by Catherine Oppenheimer, chair of the school’s governing board.    “Here we had this little ember of idea that we carried for so many years in our hearts and minds and it’s become threedimensional,” she said.    Oppenheimer pointed out that fundraising would always be a part of keeping the school running but said she   didn’t think that would be a problem.    As a public school, NMSA gets state funding that covers the cost of a basic academic education, but Oppenheimer noted that private donations pay for the arts element, including the instruction and materials.    The state gave NMSA $528,000 in onetime startup money since the school didn’t qualify for federal charter school funding because auditions are required for acceptance.

Prior to inviting faculty members onstage to sing “Celebrate the Arts” — a song penned by Roy M. Rogosin, the school’s director of choirs — Head of School Jim Ledyard thanked the students for making the choice to attend NMSA.    “We know since choice translates into motivation, which is passion, that the likelihood of success here is very, very high indeed — your success and the school’s success — so we set out on this adventure brimming with confidence and enthusiasm,” he said.

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