Lensic Performing Arts Center
Enriching our community through performing arts and education
The Lensic Performing Arts Center is Santa Fe’s year-round home for the performing arts. Our mission is to enrich lives by bringing diverse art and people together in the historic Lensic Theater, a cornerstone of downtown Santa Fe since 1931. The Lensic Performing Arts Center is New Mexico’s largest performing arts education provider, reaching 13,000 students annually. The Lensic also programs events throughout New Mexico as Lensic 360, including 50+ free events with the annual Santa Fe Summer Scene program.
The Lensic's Summer Scene is now in its third year. This programming significantly adds to the unparalleled arts and culture offerings in Santa Fe, a small city with less than 90,000 people that truly punches above its weight. It was not always the case, as Lensic 360 Director, Jamie Lenfestey recalls:
“I was walking through the Railyard on a night where there was a show there and on the Plaza as well. I walked past a couple and overheard the woman exclaim, 'I can’t believe how much is going on in this town!' I stopped in my tracks, turned back, and said, 'I have been waiting 20 years for someone to say that!'"
Summer Scene has grown enormously through the years, bringing an extraordinary vibrancy to this unique community that connects us with friends, neighbors, and visitors alike, through our shared love of music and our beautiful City Different.
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The Santa Fe Community Foundation invited local nonprofits to submit stories related to our July topic of Arts & Culture.
The Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra & Chorus
By making high-quality music education accessible to more than 2,000 young people each year, the Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra & Chorus is helping students build confidence, creativity, and community. Through lessons, ensembles, and school partnerships, the organization is inspiring the next generation of musicians across northern New Mexico.
El Rancho de Las Golondrinas
Through hands-on learning at New Mexico Heritage Days, El Rancho de Las Golondrinas helps thousands of students experience the state's history firsthand, creating meaningful connections across generations.
Chimayo Cultural Preservation Association
Each year, the Chimayo Cultural Preservation Association's San Isidro Day celebration brings neighbors of all ages together to honor Chimayó's acequia traditions through blessing the water, planting the community garden, and passing cultural knowledge from one generation to the next.
