Santa Fe, New Mexico – May 25, 2023
The Center for Contemporary Arts (CCA) is pleased to announce that the CCA Gallery will now be home for two artistic partners, Chatter and The Exodus Ensemble, and each will bring unique contemporary performances and experiences to CCA. Through this collaboration, CCA will now offer the very best in independent cinema, contemporary chamber music, and immersive theater.
Chatter, who currently performs 24 contemporary chamber music concerts each year at SITE Santa Fe, will relocate to CCA and expand to weekly performances in the Munoz Waxman Gallery. Chatter will also be responsible for artistic and programming services to CCA in the CCA Gallery. The Exodus Ensemble, who presently perform in various locations around Santa Fe, will make their home in the CCA Spector-Ripps Gallery and perform up to 40 weeks of immersive theater, with several performances each week. CCA Cinema will continue to bring the best foreign, documentary, and independent feature films to Santa Fe audiences.
“Having a contemporary classical music ensemble and cutting-edge theater generating art next door to the cinemas is a wonderful new addition to CCA and honors its legacy of supporting all facets of art. I welcome them to the CCA campus with great anticipation”, said Paul Barnes, CCA General Manager.
“Chatter is pleased to partner with CCA to provide artistic and programming leadership in the Munoz Waxman and Spector-Ripps Galleries and will honor the multi-disciplinary heritage and legacy of CCA. Chatter is pleased to be joined in residence by the exciting and fast-growing immersive performance ensemble, Exodus Ensemble and visual arts partners will be announced soon,” said Tony Zancanella, Executive Director, Chatter.
Chatter’s performance programming in Santa Fe has grown since 2017 from monthly to bi-weekly activity, and with this new partnership, plans to expand to weekly programming.
“Right before CCA went public with some of the challenges they’ve faced over the last several years, Chatter performed a concert in the CCA gallery, and the acoustics were simply electrifying. When we heard the news of their closing, we immediately reached out to see if we could be a part of a solution to help save CCA for the community,” commented David Felberg, Chatter’s Artistic Director (and Santa Fe Symphony Concertmaster).
Also coming to CCA is The Exodus Ensemble, an innovative immersive theatre company that arrived on the Santa Fe arts scene in September 2020. Delivering over 200 performances and four audacious immersive adaptations of classic texts, the Ensemble has integrated multimedia, audience interactivity, and exceptional acting. The Ensemble’s distinctive style — more HBO Max than traditional theatre — is marked by a unique blend of immersive storytelling, unorthodox performance spaces, and high-caliber performances, transporting audiences into a vividly imagined and edgy realm of epic narratives.
“Exodus pioneers a new mixture of next-level immersion”, said April Cleveland, Artistic Director of The Exodus Ensemble. Exodus has previously collaborated with SITE Santa Fe, The Acequia Madre House, The Women’s International Study Center, Meow Wolf, Sky Railway, The New Mexico Museum of Art and others. We’re thrilled to be on board with CCA”, she continued.
Each of the organizations will continue to operate as individual 501 (c) 3’s, with their own budget, board, and unique base of donors, and will help share facility costs. Furthering the spirit of a true contemporary art center which embraces multiple creative disciplines, CCA will guide the overall governance, and will continue to hold the lease and be responsible for the management and improvement of the overall facility.
Performance schedules for Chatter and Exodus at CCA will be forthcoming soon.
For more information on Chatter: Click here.
For more information on Exodus: Click here.
