FIRST WHAT, THEN HOW ?
SFUAD FACULTY MEMBERS WORK TO CREATE A NEW PURPOSE FOR EXISTING FACILITIES
SANTA FE — Scott Jarrett describes himself as “the last man standing” in the contemporary music department at the Santa Fe University of Art and Design, which will shut down operations on its city-owned campus next spring.
But he and other faculty members at the school are hoping their idea to keep the music alive will resonate with city officials as they try to figure out what to do with the 64 acres of prime real estate near the geographic center of town, at the intersection of Cerrillos Road and St. Michael’s Drive.
“I’m working on a business plan,” he said of his idea to create an “arts education collective” utilizing current facilities at SFUAD. “There are some people who may invest and they’ll want to see a business plan, as well. And I think we would need to ask the city for some help.”
Jarrett is trying to work out an idea for a publicprivate partnership for a music or arts school. He has pitched the idea to the City Council’s Finance and Public Works committees and to the full council when it last month approved a resolution that aims to bring a vision for the future of the campus into focus.
Jarrett believes his goal is achievable. Just this
year, Boston’s prestigious Berklee College of Music entered into a public-private-nonprofit partnership to establish a center at the famous Power Station Studios in New York City.
But Santa Fe may not be in a position to offer much help. City government bought the property in 2009 after the College of Santa Fe closed and still owes roughly $27 million on the loan. The lease payments from SFUAD, a for-profit school under Laureate International Universities, to date have covered the annual debt service. Without the rent, the city is left with a $2 million annual hole in its operating budget.
“We can’t give it all away for free,” City Councilor Carmichael Dominguez, who chairs the city’s Finance Committee, said at a council meeting two weeks ago. “Taxpayers need to understand that there is a mortgage to be paid on this.”
Dominguez and his colleagues agreed the City Council has a fiduciary responsibility to taxpayers to make something of the property, and the sooner the better.
The longer it takes to decide, “The more it will cost taxpayers,” he said.
“The first order of business for me is the what,” said Councilor Mike Harris of plans for the campus, in an interview. “The next big question is how.”
Jarrett’s idea for an arts school started as an effort to salvage SFUAD’s contemporary music program after the university closes at the end of the current school year, but it grew into something bigger after speaking with faculty at the film school. A new arts education collective could also incorporate studio arts, he said.
“If someone wanted to paint, they could come here to paint. If they wanted to sculpt, they could come here and sculpt,” he said. “We don’t really have that in the Santa Fe community. We would be the magnet.”
The City Council’s October resolution on plans for the campus indicates a preference for retaining at least a portion of the property for educational purposes, as well as expanding film and sound studios, but it also encourages residential development, and seeking out partnerships with businesses, government agencies and neighboring landowners.
Bolstering Jarrett’s case for an arts education center, the resolution was passed with an amendment from Harris that gives special consideration to “purposebuilt” buildings. In fact, the suggestion came from Jarrett, who offered the idea during a meeting of the council’s Finance Committee.
“It makes sense that, to the greatest extent possible, we maintain the usage for what they (campus facilities) were created for, and certainly there’s a lot of sentiment and drive to keep the same kind of usage of those buildings,” Harris said.
Harris said “purposebuilt” would apply to buildings housing Garson Studios, a long-standing professional film facility;, Greer Garson Theater; the film school; the Driscoll Fitness Center; and to some degree Fogelson Library and the dormitories on campus. And while Benildus Hall may not have originally been built to house a recording studio, there’s one there now with a newly installed $150,000 Daking recording and mixing audio console.
Jarrett said he was surprised the console was put in this summer after it was already known the university was going to close.
“For whatever reason, it’s here and it’s working,” he said, adding that it ought to be utilized both as a practical piece of equipment that can be used to record and mix music, and as a teaching tool for those aspiring to make it in the music business as recording engineers, audio technicians, music producers or recording artists.
“I’m not asking anyone to change the building,” Jarrett said. “I’m saying that Santa Fe could save some money if it didn’t have to tear it down.”
Councilor Harris said it’s unlikely Benildus Hall would be torn down in any case because it’s still in good condition.
He also said when the SFUAD lease terminates June 30, the city and Laureate International will have to negotiate the distribution of “FF&E” — furniture, fixtures and equipment. It’s not a sure thing the Daking recording studio stays.
Saving the film school
While the film industry has exploded in New Mexico, there’s still room to grow. Jarrett sees an opportunity at the nexus between film and music. That’s where the composition of his original idea came to a crescendo to include SFUAD’s film school.
Liam Lockhart chairs the film school. He says that while the college may have failed, the film school is a success story, helping to produce a workforce that propels the film industry in New Mexico.
“What a shame it would be to throw it all away,” he said.
Lockhart says Santa Fe would be losing more than a film school if the program fizzles out; it would also lose human assets.
“We have so many talented individuals at the school,” he said, rattling off the names and accomplishments of several students and faculty members. “What are they going to do when the college shuts down? They’ll leave.”
The film school is attached to Garson Studios, making it a natural fit.
“There needs to be integration,” he said of the assets offered by the university. “It has to be a practical model where students build skills that will lead to careers.”
Lockhart, too, is speaking with potential investors. Seeing the film school shut down would be a tragedy, he said.
“Anything we can do to keep it going,” he said.
What will become of the idea of an arts education collective remains to be seen. Councilor Harris is heading a working group that includes fellow City Councilor Signe Lindell, City Manager Brian Snyder, Economic Development Director Matt Brown and Asset Development Director Matt O’Rielly. The council’s SFUAD resolution calls for undertaking various outreach and planning efforts within 90 days.
Harris says it’s still unclear where that might lead. But he noted that one of the objectives of the resolution is to envision a site focused on innovation and developed “in a supportive, inclusive, and risk-taking culture.”
“That’s what happened nine years ago when the governing body took a risk by voting to purchase the campus,” he said, adding that he appreciates the ideas of Jarrett, Lockhart and other faculty members. “I applaud their effort to put themselves out there and take some risk, whether its a film school or a music school.”
What first needs to be determined is what. And then comes the how.