NEWS! Check us out on Facebook:  "Santa Fe Bus Opera"

Littleglobe, in collaboration with Santa Fe residents, is creating a new opera that will be performed on active city bus routes. The Littleglobe bus opera will delve into the real and imagined stories, interactions, and personal dreamscapes of Santa Feans, comprising a vibrant and collaborative “story” about the capital city and its people.   The opera will premiere in October of 2012.

The bus opera (previously entitled "Crosstown") will be performed both inside the bus and along the performance route, featuring live vocalists and musicians, poetry/spoken word, choreographed movement, and street performances.  Various bus stops will present unexpected and magical “encounters” that will complement the more scripted/scored/choreographed passages of the performance.

The libretto/script for performance is being developed via a community process that includes interviews and storytelling gatherings with bus drivers, riders and residents, those who live along and use city buses as well as visitors and those who seldom use public transportation.  In this way, the opera will evoke issues, stories, perspectives and dreams at the heart of community life.

The city bus as a performance space is an essential component of the opera.  The route weaves through neighborhoods that differ economically, racially and culturally, cutting across invisible lines that sometimes prevent Santa Feans and visitors from knowing one another.  In the same way, the collaborative process of creating the opera will result in a “collective imagining,” a performance that encourages audience members to think about our interconnections and communal dreams.  At the end of the performance, audience members will be invited for food and facilitated dialogue about the performance.

The bus opera creative team includes Valerie Martínez (Project/Artistic Director), Molly Sturges, Acushla Bastible, Chris Jonas, Erin Hudson, Dylan McLaughlin and the wide range of community members who are contributing to the creation of the performance. Our partners include the Santa Fe Trails Bus System, the City of Santa Fe, the Santa Fe Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Santa Fe Opera—all of whom are providing essential support for the project.  Funders also include the MAP Fund, Black Rock Arts, New Mexico Arts (a division of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs), UNM, and local businesses and residents. 

If you would like to contribute ideas, anecdotes, perspectives and/or impressions of Santa Fe to the project, please contact Valerie Martinez at valerie@littleglobe.org.

PLEASE HELP US MAKE THE BUS OPERA POSSIBLE--BECOME A SPONSOR!

INDIVIDUAL/FAMILY SPONSORS of the bus opera will be featured in the performance program and will also receive the following additional benefits related to their sponsorship level:

TOPAZ:  $250:

[NOTE: The deadline for Turquoise Sponsors is April 30, 2012 because benefits are so closely related to the production of the full performance.)

BUSINESS SPONSORS of the bus opera will be featured in promotional materials and will also receive the following additional benefits related to their sponsorship level:

TO BECOME A SPONSOR:  Please donate by clicking on "how to help," above. Be sure to dedicate your donation to "Bus Opera."  Or, send a check to Littleglobe, 223 N. Guadalupe St., #427, Santa Fe, NM  87501 and write "bus opera" in the memo line.  THANK YOU!