Take a bow

The winners of the 2026 Creative Bravos Awards were announced last week, and the public will have the chance to honor the recipients at an award ceremony on Saturday, March 14, at the Albuquerque Museum.

The Creative Bravos, now in their fourth decade, are co-presented by the city of Albuquerque’s Department of Arts and Culture and Albuquerque first lady Elizabeth Kistin Keller. The prestigious awards honor local arts organizations and arts leaders who enrich the cultural life of the city. Meet this year’s honorees.

Bookworks

Founded in 1984 by Nancy Rutland, Bookworks calls itself “one of Albuquerque’s last legacy independent bookstores.”

“Bookworks was my childhood bookstore. I grew up in the North Valley, and I remember coming here to see authors and to buy books when I was young,” Shannon Guinn-Collins said. Guinn-Collins, along with her mother, Nancy Guinn, are two of the shop’s current co-owners.

Guinn-Collins has helped organize events with Albuquerque and New Mexico poet laureates, Pulitzer Prize-winning authors and well-known local authors.

“The store has been here for almost 42 years now, so to … help it stay healthy and make sure it can continue to be a vital part of our community is both a wonderful role and also a huge responsibility,” Guinn-Collins said. “It has been part of so many lives and so many childhoods, and we want to make sure it can continue to serve in that way.”

Yjastros: The American Flamenco Repertory Company

Yjastros is one of the largest flamenco repertory companies in the United States. Founded in 1999 by Joaquín Encinias, the company maintains a living archive of over 55 unique repertory dance pieces.

“It was a project I started with my mother’s nonprofit,” Encinias said. His mother, Eva Encinias, founded the National Institute of Flamenco and is a prior Creative Bravos winner. “She had already been doing a lot of wonderful programming, and I wanted to start a repertory company, (because) there’s not a lot of repertory flamenco companies in the world. So, it was something I was passionate about. And 27 years later, we’re still going strong.”

In addition to performing locally, Yjastros tours nationally and internationally, with an upcoming performance planned for New York City’s La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival this spring.

Encinias is especially proud that all of Yjastros’ dancers are employees in the company. “That’s a wonderful thing, because we help our dancers earn a living,” he said.

“I’ve worked closely with my mother and my sister (Marisol Encinias) on this project … so I want to recognize the two of them as well,” he said. “It’s an honor for our family.”

Rosalinda Rojas

Multifaceted Afro-Caribbean dancer, choreographer, dance instructor and founder of Albuquerque School for Circus Arts, Rosalinda Rojas has contributed to the cultural life of New Mexico for over two decades.

“I have former students from Albuquerque Academy who have made it to Cirque du Soleil, who’ve come back, and I’ve said, ‘Can you guest teach? Can you talk about your experience … and how you made it?’ Because many times people think dance is not a real career. Yes, it’s a career,” Rojas said. “You just have to understand how to shape your career or invent your career.”

Rojas’ own remarkable career has included dancing with Arthur Mitchell’s Dance Theater of Harlem, learning circus arts from Philippe Petit — the French high-wire artist who walked between the Twin Towers in New York City on a tightrope — and choreographing for The Metropolitan Opera. Despite facing racism throughout her life, Rojas said she has always pushed forward and found ways to create opportunities for herself.

“My mom always said, ‘When a door closes, another one opens. And if that door closes, you crawl through the window,’” Rojas said.

At age 72, Rojas is embarking on a new chapter as an incoming Ph.D. student at Texas Woman’s University. Her research and writing will focus on the intersection of African diasporic philosophy, dance and new technologies, including virtual reality. 

“I’m working … to reimagine what Afro-diasporic futurism in movement and dance could be,” she said.

Albuquerque Concert Band

The Albuquerque Concert Band, an all-volunteer music organization, has been around for nearly 60 years, and its president, Steve Sobolik, has been with the band for close to 40 years.

“It’s a great organization to be part of,” Sobolik said. “I always quote Willie Nelson, ‘The life I love is making music with my friends.’”

The band currently has two conductors — Jim Keene, who recently retired as the director of the U.S. Army Field Band, and Andrew Vaughn, who also conducts Manzano High School’s marching band, and whom Sobolik calls a terrific young conductor. The 70-plus member band plays everything from classical pieces to film music, jazz and Broadway show tunes.

When U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici died in 2017, the Albuquerque Concert Band performed at the community memorial service at Isotopes Park. In 2022, the band teamed up with the Santa Fe Community Band and the Los Alamos Band to host a national convention for concert bands. They also perform a popular annual holiday concert at the KiMo Theatre.

“We get to perform a wide variety of music,” Sobolik said. “We love doing that, and our audience loves listening to it.”

Indian Pueblo Cultural Center

The Indian Pueblo Cultural Center is an organization dedicated to preserving and celebrating Pueblo arts and culture.

“The work we’ve been recognized for centers on creating meaningful platforms for Native artists through exhibitions, performances, educational programs and market opportunities,” Arianna Chavez, executive director, said. “By providing these spaces, we not only uplift individual artists, but also strengthen the broader arts community in Albuquerque, inspiring collaboration, innovation and pride in our shared cultural heritage.”

Last year, the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center received the award for Best Cultural Heritage Experience from the American Indigenous Tourism Association, and in August, the center will celebrate its 50th anniversary.

“We want to celebrate the center and what it’s symbolized for the 50 years it’s been in Albuquerque. It’s really the central hub for sharing Pueblo culture, history and arts,” Chavez said.

In the years ahead, the center hopes to expand its mentorship programs to nurture the next generation of Indigenous artists.

“I’m really thankful for our staff, our artists, and all of the shareholders who are part of this recognition,” Chavez said. “It takes a community. It takes a family. And I’m very proud of … everybody who’s been a part of this story.”

AMP Concerts

AMP Concerts hosts over 100 concerts a year, including international performers from as far afield as Pakistan and Ukraine. But it started rather humbly.

“The whole origin is kind of funny, because we started with house concerts,” Neal Copperman, founding director, said. “I’d always wanted to do house concerts in other places, but I didn’t live in a house, so it didn’t really work. But this was a good environment to rent a small house, and … we did a house concert in the summer of 2000, and it was so much fun that we immediately started doing a house concert series.”

Copperman and current board president Jeff Hanson were roommates who launched the house concert series together.

“He’s been with me since day one,” Copperman said. “He’s kind of a behind-the-scenes person who doesn’t get as much recognition, but he’s been an integral part of helping to do all of this.”

Copperman said the acronym AMP has multiple meanings.

“When I came up with AMP, I suggested it as Another Man’s Poison, from the phrase, ‘One man’s fish is another man’s poison,’ meaning we were doing something a little bit different,” he said. “Jeff didn’t like that … so I said, ‘Well, how about Albuquerque Music Presenters?’ … When I incorporated it, it’s just AMP Concerts … so you can make up whatever you want it to mean.”

He credits the music-loving community of Albuquerque for making AMP a success.

“I’ve done something that impacts a lot of people, which is super cool. … But I never had a drive to build or create something like that. That’s why I credit Albuquerque with that,” Copperman said. “There’s room to build things here … and people are friendly and welcoming, so you actually get a lot of nice encouragement.”

Cardboard Playhouse Theatre Company and The Box Performance Space, led by Doug Montoya and Kristin Berg

Cardboard Playhouse is a nonprofit educational theater organization for youth, and The Box Performance Space is an adult improv comedy space. Both are led by founding director Doug Montoya and co-director Kristin Berg.

Montoya, who has a strong improv background, moved to Albuquerque from Los Angeles over 20 years ago and began working as a stage manager. When he got the opportunity, he opened Cardboard Playhouse, which just celebrated its 20-year anniversary last year.

Montoya said Cardboard Playhouse and The Box complement each other well.

“A lot of our (Cardboard Playhouse) productions — a lot of our rehearsal, our direction — comes out of an improv-based environment, where we ask people to … say yes, be positive,” Montoya said. “All the rules that we have in improv, we definitely apply to our productions with our younger artists.”

When Bob Odenkirk was in town shooting “Better Call Saul,” he became a regular at The Box.

“He told us that the improv we have here in Albuquerque is some of the best improv in the country,” Montoya said. “And he knows, because he wrote for ‘Saturday Night Live’ and (performed with) Second City.”

Montoya hopes the Creative Bravos win will attract new donors who can help them find a permanent home for Cardboard Playhouse.

“Venues around town have become more scarce, and sadly more expensive, coming out of the pandemic,” Montoya said. “So, we are on a mission to … put a down payment on a building, and give Albuquerque its very first theater focused on youth.”

Fusion Theatre Company and Dennis Gromelski (Legacy Bravo Award)

Finally, Fusion Theatre and its executive director and co-founder Dennis Gromelski have been honored with a Legacy Bravo Award. Opened in 2001, Fusion is New Mexico’s only professional Actors’ Equity theater and the longest-lived professional theater in New Mexico’s history.

When the city’s Department of Arts and Culture told Gromelski they planned to honor him with a Legacy Bravo award, he insisted on sharing it with the entire organization, including fellow co-founders Jacqueline Reid and Laurie Thomas.

“I said I don’t need to be individually honored. It’s the organization, Fusion, that really should be the focus,” Gromelski said. “It’s a really exciting thing to have had sustained excellence for 25 years now.”

In addition to its theatrical productions, Fusion has expanded over the years to host a wide range of cultural activities and community events.

“There’s something going on in all of our spaces every day, be it an Albuquerque Philosophical Society meeting, which is drawing 50 people a month, or a drum circle, which we had 60 people there on Sunday for,” Gromelski said. “We do 60 to 70 nights of music a year. We host the Downtown Growers Market and Winter Market. We do monthly group fine art shows and have openings in our gallery spaces. We have a full-time restaurant now, Say Cheese. … And as we go forward, I’ve got some sneaky plans under the brim of my hat … to expand our facilities and increase our impact.”

Logan Royce Beitmen is an arts writer for the Albuquerque Journal. He covers visual art, music, fashion, theater and more. Reach him at lbeitmen@abqjournal.com or on Instagram at @loganroycebeitmen.