Warehouse 21 pursues reinvention.
Throughout its 10-year evolution, Warehouse 21 has provided a vital step for teenagers onto Santa Fe's adult-centric art scene. W21 provides a creative oomph, vamped up with the youthful declaration to define, discover and control their lives. Approximately 38,000 teenagers have participated in programs or stage dived at shows. As it packs up its home and steadies itself for a new chapter with a tricked-out new facility and lofty goals at the forefront, W21 remains rooted in its mission while moving to a well-earned seat at the adult's table.
W21 began as an offspring of the Center for Contemporary Arts teen project known as the CCA Warehouse, and in 1997 inherited the current space on Paseo de Peralta from the CCA. "The
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purpose of W21 is to create cutting-edge programs personally and socially relevant
to young people that are interested in pursuing their skills," Ana Maria Gallegos y Reinhardt, executive director of W21, says. "It's a common complaint in most communities where there is no socially relevant place for young people to hang out, so the purpose of the CCA starting this whole project that W21 is continuing on with is to find a creative outlet where young people have ownership of a cultural organization or institution."
W21 is entering another stage of reinvention by closing the doors on its adopted facility on Dec. 30. The city-owned building is slated for demolition early next year. As part of the Railyard redevelopment whirlwind, W21 has secured a spot for its new 15,000-square-foot facility (a considerable upgrade from the current 3,500-square-foot space) next to SITE Santa Fe. Construction on the new facility will officially commence once the funding goals for phase one of the new building are fully met. In the meantime, plans for the transition from one facility to the other are well under way.
The Ark Project is a collaboration of W21 alumni, current students, staff, teens and local artists. The walls of W21's main performance room have been painted with murals on removable panels of varying shapes and sizes that will eventually be auctioned off. The murals depict the four metaphorical stages of W21: life, growth, death and rebirth. The Ark is part of a larger project called
A'Pex: A Multi-Media, Art, Music and Performing Experience
.
A'Pex
will be a multidimensional art experience that will embody W21's 10-year history as it moves forward. The majority of the building will be converted into a living archive punctuated by nightly performances and shows scheduled for Dec. 15-30 (see
). Aaron Harrington, a W21 alumni, sculptor and volunteer, summarizes the relevance of the Ark Project and
A'Pex
: "W21 is being torn down, so instead of it just crumbling down, we want to celebrate and use it as a way to gather all of the alums, teens, painters, dancers, musicians and poets."
A'Pex
is an embodiment of W21's mission to put teens at the helm of projects. "We deal with the DIY method here-do it yourself," Gallegos y Reinhardt says. "Because of the self-initiative that young people have, we give them the opportunity to create their ideas; we encourage them to be accountable for their own success."
The betrothed spot where the new building is being erected will serve as a temporary home for the administrative offices. A storefront on Siler Road will house the printmaking equipment and prints will be available for purchase. W21's prolific music programs will be dispersed throughout Santa Fe venues in the interim. Vince Kadlubek, another W21 alum who is a writer, volunteer and one of the main facilitators of
A'Pex
, describes the musical diaspora as a "supernova" aimed at keeping a community presence for W21 until construction on the new building is completed.
The most profound changes to W21 beyond the comparatively cavernous new space that awaits them is the development of more self-generating funding sources, which add to W21's touchstone of accountability and responsibility among teens. Harrington chimes in, "You have to be entrepreneurial as an artist, and a lot of this is figuring out a way of living as an artist. In Santa Fe, you see it happening, so you know it's possible." A printmaking facility, coffee shop, graphic design studio and documentary and videography services are a few of the teen-run programs anticipated for the new space. "We find young people who are really inspired to do something or are skilled at it and we hire them to help create a product," Gallegos y Reinhardt explains. "Each modality (film, music, printmaking, etc.) has links to what entrepreneurialism is all about." Kadlubek adds that the entrepreneurial side came from the amount of time spent focusing on the process where products were eventually developed into sellable items.
Jazz funerals are made up of two basic principals: remembrance and celebration. W21 realizes that ending doesn't equal stopping and that promoting art as a realistic path in forging a future and livelihood rather than confining it as a luxury or reward is a realistic goal. Just look at local troubadour, W21 alum and three-time SFR Best of Santa Fe award winner Alex Maryol, who certainly seems to have benefited from the support of W21. The Ark Project and
A'Pex
exemplify the best of what arts organizations such as W21 can accomplish and is a fitting way to remember the past and celebrate new beginnings.
