About Wise Fool New Mexico
It is Wise Fool New Mexico's mission to ignite imagination, build community, and promote social justice through performances and hands-on experiences in the arts of circus, puppetry, and theatre.
vision
- To impart life skills and to build self-determination in individuals through positive experiences in the arts of circus, puppetry and physical theatre, providing participants with experiences in accomplishment, self-esteem, responsibility, trust, significance, respect, and teamwork.
- To promote dialogue and teach communication, problem solving, conflict resolution and cooperation skills through collaborative and educational arts programming.
- To use art as a vehicle to stand against discrimination and oppression based on race, religion, class, ability, sexual orientation, and gender and to promote education, understanding, and tolerance.
- To reintegrate art into daily life by making it accessible to all, especially remote, low income, and underserved communities.
- To preserve, continue, and further the folk arts of puppetry, circus, street theatre, and storytelling.
- To provide visual support for community and cultural events and social change organizations.
- To offer artistic spaces in which Santa Feans can create, dialogue, dream, and transform ourselves and our community into that which we envision.
history
In 1998, a small collective of women - including artists from Wise Fool Puppet Intervention in San Francisco, Northern New Mexican activists, and myriad others - began exploring puppetry and circus arts as a vehicle to promote social justice. In 2000, Wise Fool New Mexico was officially born. Now, ten years later, Wise Fool New Mexico has grown into an established mid-sized arts organization offering high-quality performances and outreach built upon its enduring core values of community, diversity, and social justice.
Empowered individuals create strong communities. In New Mexico, Wise Fool has led workshops and made original theatre with disabled adults; created puppets with thousands of school children; taught and created with 13 Native communities; designed and implemented anti-oppression arts curriculum for teens; and taught and performed for incarcerated teens and adults. In 2000, Wise Fool established the Peñasco Theatre project in order to support the rural Peñasco community by providing positive activities in a familiar yet empowering environment.
To our knowledge we are the only arts organization in Northern New Mexico which offers our unique blend of performance and education opportunities in puppetry, circus arts, and visual and physical theatre. We have found this combination to be in high demand throughout New Mexico as communities and organizations across the state have sought our services as a means of bridging generational and cultural gaps with high quality yet approachable experiences in the arts. Our performances and workshops focus on creative process, collaboration and dialogue as the well-proven means by which our projects educate, strengthen and build community, cross dividing lines and boost understanding, personal pride and self determination. We encourage participants to become active in creating the positive change they seek.
Accolades
Wise Fool New Mexico received the prestigious Pinon Award from the Santa Fe Community Foundation in 2008, was voted Best Local Theatre Group 2008 and 2009 by the readers of the Santa Fe Reporter, and received the 2005 Santa Fe Mayor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts. Wise Fool New Mexico has also been honored with Best Theatre Company from Crosswinds Weekly, and was featured on the cover of the Santa Fe Reporter’s 30 years of Santa Fe issue.
anti-discrimination policy
The reality of contemporary society requires a new narrative. One that includes and celebrates the creative visioning that accurately reflects the many extraordinary voices that comprise it. Within artistic expression lies the transformative capacity for resilience and healing. We recognize the full diversity of the students, families and communities we serve in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, socio-economic status, immigration status, physical ability, body type, body size, religious or political beliefs. We honor our collective histories of struggle against discrimination and other forms of oppression. We value collaborative arts education efforts that strive to promote community wellness, multi-racial coalition building and progressive social and economic justice. As an organization we commit to our continuing education about the various issues that seek to divide us.