WITH ROBERT MARTIN
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SFR: So it's the Lensic's five-year anniversary. As the general manager, has the Lensic's rebirth been what you thought it would be?
RM:
Yes, but I think it's been more than I thought it would be. Because I didn't imagine that at this point there would be so much going on. My goal was to sort of make it feel like it was happening at least every weekend, that there'd be maybe a couple things, and that was even a bit of a stretch at first. And now on average there can be three to five things every week. The amount has really surprised me.
I pretty much feel sorry for-or at least have compassion for-anyone in your position because Santa Fe can be rough on folks. What are some criticisms you hear?
I think because I came from San Francisco and had navigated through that community for so many years, Santa Fe wasn't as rough as it could be. When I came here I listened a lot and tried to figure out how to position what I thought was important and how to make it happen. And I brought a lot of people in early on. I was more thinking about, 'Who are these micro-communities, what kind of programming can I get to bring them in early on, what kind of things can I do that makes a statement that says the Lensic really is going to be community-oriented?' And it's not just a tri-cultural community-it's much bigger than that. There's these pockets of people interested in Buddhism, people interested in New Age things, a Jewish community, gay and lesbian community; there's all these people with different interests.
As general manager, are your responsibilities more to work on programming or fundraising?
It's everything. It's keeping track of a lot of things. That's the real challenge and that's why I think the metaphor of juggling, working in the arts, is true. Because you really are-you're juggling a lot of different things you need to do, a lot of different kinds of personalities, lots of different needs and demands. Remember every show that
comes in, to that group, that's the most important. For that group or presenter, that 24 or 48 hours, that's what it's about. We could have four of those in one week and four of those ahead. In February we had almost 12 days where we had almost non-stop shows. And if you think every time that happens people are expecting that kind of attention, it takes a lot of energy.
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What have been your favorite shows at the Lensic?
We did a bunch of stuff and I'm proud of all of it. We did Word for Word, the Amy Tan Show, the Children of Uganda and just had Los Pleneros; Lannan's brought in some incredible things; FanMan's done such great stuff. There was the Russian pianist the Concert Association just brought in-Olga Kern-she was incredible. And you know, sometimes the things that are community-oriented are the things that touch you the most, because of who it's for-I mean, we have Assistance Dogs of the West who are doing their graduation here this year and that's part of our sponsorship.
When it comes to something like screening The Man Who Laughs along with live music from a local improv group, Bing, how do you know if something like that is going to be successful?
You always are taking a chance, but you take a good calculated guess. You know you may not sell out; you do it so that fiscally you're not going to take a beating, and usually with that you're conservative about how many seats you're going to sell. And, if it doesn't work, hopefully you've lost the minimum amount and you say it's worth it. Because if you don't take chances you shouldn't be working in this area. Because if it's all about the bottom line then you might as well work for Ford or Exxon.
Speaking of movies, is there a possibility you guys could sell popcorn when you show films?
You know what, that's like the dancing question. And the dancing question, at least now sometimes people are [allowed to dance] in the aisle. Popcorn would be such a mess and leave such a smell. It would evoke such memories for the movie nights, but the rest of the time people would be saying, 'What's that smell, what's that on the floor?'
Did you guys really import the Lensic chairs from Columbia?
Well, that's where they were manufactured. It was an American company but they were being built there and that's why it was such a big deal when we got them. They were coming in to some port in Texas or Louisiana and it was just, like, a week or two before it was about to happen [The Lensic re-opening in April 2001] so it wasn't just like, they're on a semi and on their way.
So that was your first big adrenaline rush?
That was our first big adrenaline rush, yeah. And then we thought, 'Hmm…If they stashed anything in there, there's our endowment!'
It's not just the Lensic's birthday. The city also has declared April 21 Robert Martin Day in your honor. How will you celebrate?
I have no idea-I'm not doing it. The staff and the board are doing it, so I don't know what's happening.
So it's not the kind of deal where your every whim and desire is met for a day?
No, that's not probably the way it's going to be.
The Lensic's five-year anniversary weekend kicks off Thursday, April 20 with a dinner honoring chairwoman of the Lensic board Nancy Zeckendorf. Friday is the
Artists Salute the Lensic
event, hosted by KBAC's Honey Harris and Theater Grottesco's Rod Harrison. On April 22, the Lensic joins the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art for
Nuestra Musica: A Festival of Nuevo Mexicano Music
. The weekend rounds out with Sunday's screenings of
The Wizard of Oz
and
Some Like It Hot
. 988-1234, www.lensic.com.
