Leadership Los Alamos Class Explores Local Culture

Submitted by Carol A. Clark
on April 3, 2015
- 4:31 pm

Ken Nebel of the Arts in Public Places Board discusses local art. Photo by Martha Katko

Leadership Los Alamos participants tour art around town and head to check out the sculpture in front of the Justice Center. Photo by Martha Katko

LLA News:

The Leadership Los Alamos Class of 2015 participated in a Cultural Session last month in the beautiful Hans Bethe house. The session was chaired by Heather McClenahan, executive director of the Los Alamos Historical Society.

The class participated in a very competitive and educational game of Los Alamos Cultural Trivial Pursuit. Not surprising, the team who won had the director of the Chamber of Commerce as a member! Afterward, Georgia Strickfaden from Buffalo Tours talked about the history of Los Alamos. She presented an overview of life on the Pajarito Plateau as a homesteader and through archival photographs told the story of the Ranch School and the beginning of the Manhattan Project.

Her talk was followed by a special visit to the Romero Cabin. If you haven’t stopped by, the Historical Society has done a wonderful job recreating how the Romero’s lived.

McClenahan and Bandelier Superintendent Jason Lott spoke about what’s next for the Manhattan Project National Historical Park to include a preview of the questions to be presented for consideration by the Los Alamos County Council. The class was then treated to a demonstration of virtual technology being created by Los Alamos National Laboratory to enhance the experience. Via a simple download, visitors will be able to see what the area actually looked like during the Manhattan Project and link to information about specific sites.

Response from the class included comments such as “I feel like we’re among the first to get an inside look into LA’s future!”, “Very cool.” “This is going to be a great asset to LA and its history”, and “Great perspective on impacts to the community.”

Creative District Curator Nicole Kleibert had the class draw perceptions of the community and then discussed how to turn negative perceptions into positives. She also talked about the wide variety of activities sponsored by the Creative District.

Danny Naranjo, a cultural resource manager for Santa Clara, talked about their program through the Youth Conservations Corps to restore some of the sites and make them more accessible to the public. As a part of the program, kids are taught botany, zoology, history, etc. “Kunda Wa’ha” was the response from the class, meaning thank you in Tewa.

At the end of the day, Ken Nebel, representing the Arts in Public Places Board, walked the class around town to view some of the pieces in their collection. Of special interest was the statue in front of the Justice Center representing the people of Los Alamos.

Leadership Los Alamos will begin recruiting for the next class in May. The program will begin in late August and end in May, 2016. LLA is possible with generous donations from Los Alamos National Bank and Los Alamos County. For more information on Leadership Los Alamos, visit http://leadershiplosalamos.com/.

The Leadership Los Alamos class discusses art at Fuller Lodge. Photo by Martha Katko