Intertribal youth offered free opera tickets
Indian Center partners with SF Opera
Young Native Americans from all tribes can receive free Santa Fe Opera tickets through a new partnership with Santa Fe Indian Center. Youth Nights, which the opera has held since 1959, offers more than 1,500 Santa Feans ages 6-22 in various youth organizations or local colleges free admission to dress rehearsals. The shows offered this year started with “Die Fledermaus” and “Lucia Lammermoor” earlier this week, and continue with “The Golden Cockerel” on July 11.
Most Native American children who have attended Youth Nights in the past were part of its Pueblo Opera Program, something Santa Fe Indian Center director Karen Gala said she used to attend. But when she met with the opera officials earlier this year to create a partnership, she said she
did so with the idea that her organization could expand the opera’s reach.
“When you go [to the opera] at a young age, you tend to appreciate the performing arts,” said Gala. “I approached the opera and said, ‘I know you have this program, but what about all the other children in Santa Fe that aren’t Pueblo? Kids from other tribes?’”
With its new office and rented facility, the SFIC aims to offer more programming and community engagement to all Native Americans in Santa Fe, specifically within the arts. The center also formed a new Urban Native Youth Council this month to get young people more involved and to bridge generation gaps between those who use the center. Gala said she wants to get those kids taking advantage of the free tickets, but anyone with a Native American background can ask for the tickets on a first-come, first-served basis. Twenty tickets are available for each opera.
As the organization tries to find more community partners, the opera is appropriate because of the SFIC’s desire to offer more cultural opportunities, said Kyle Gray, Santa Fe Opera’s Community Engagement Liaison, who organizes Youth Nights.
“It seemed like a good fit for what they’re doing,” said Gray.
Considering that Santa Fe Opera director Charles MacKay first came to the opera on a Youth Night in 1959, Gray said you never know who will be in the audience.
“If we touch one child with Youth Nights, that’s okay with us,” he said.