SALA owner Allan Saenz talks about future plans. Photo by Kevin Holsapple

By KEVIN HOLSAPPLE
SALA Volunteer

SALA Event Center owner Allan Saenz hosted a presentation on Sunday, April 14 at SALA to provide members and the general community a report on the status of the project and to discuss future directions. Members and guests toured the projection room to get a “behind the scenes” look at theater operations. SALA staff showed off a new camera system SALA has obtained thanks to support from the New Mexico Consortium. The system improves options for recording and live streaming and will be put to use next weekend during NMC’s Cosmic Frontiers event at SALA.

During the subsequent presentation, Allan described multiple phases of the SALA Project. Phase 1 involved acquiring and reopening the closed theater building for community use, renovating two theaters and the lobby, and implementing an aggressive agenda of films and other activities to put the building back into use. The private investment in the Phase 1 work has exceeded $2.5 million. 

Phase 1 accomplishments highlighted by Allan included:

• Exhibition of 48 first run movies and 71 Classic Films;
• Hosted nine festivals, 70 celebrations, 116 community events, 74 corporate meetings and 127 private events;
• Created a membership program that invites community members to support the revival of the theater property while receiving valuable benefits such as unlimited movie admissions and complimentary concessions; and
• Instituted a creative approach to partnering with many community non-profits to support their programs and provide them with spendable credits for use of SALA facilities and services.

Phase 1 has been a significant counter to what many people consider to be a declining private sector in downtown Los Alamos.

Allan also discussed Phase 2 of the project to improve staging and lighting options in theaters, upgrade projection capabilities, convert one of the theaters into a 360-degree immersive experience venue, and make other facility enhancements. A key outcome of Phase 2 will be to establish a new, immersive visitor and tourism attraction that will give visitors a unique and exciting introduction to our community and its setting.

Funding and resources for Phase 2 will come from SALA’s contribution together with an anticipated Local Economic Development Act (LEDA) agreement with Los Alamos County. The County would provide a loan and grant and SALA will contribute the venue and staffing costs required to implement and operate the visitor attraction aspect of Phase 2. The County Council approved the terms of the partnership agreement in December and work is in progress to finalize contractual details with the County Manager.

Adding immersive capabilities will open the door to an array of potential users and uses of the facility.  Beyond the benefits for visitor experience, SALA has been engaging with STEAM educators, regional tourism interests, the National Park Service, LANL Manhattan Project National Park representatives, LANL scientists, technologists, individual artists, and area businesses who recognize the potential for an immersive venue to provide education, enhance their work, and better tell their stories. SALA has also been engaging with other immersive venues worldwide to explore the potential for sharing content between venues.

SALA Phase 3 envisions upgrading seating in the auditoriums to update them to the latest theater standards. A reservation system will provide the audience with the ability to choose and secure seating locations prior to coming to the theater. SALA anticipates implementing a crowdfunding campaign to fund Phase 3.

Phases 4 and 5 are at the visioning stage. Phase 4 anticipates adding additional space above the current lobby that would include a full kitchen, food and beverage service, and additional event space. Phase 5 imagines building a ballroom above the four existing theaters to allow hosting of larger events. Both the Phase 4 and Phase 5 improvements will benefit from the expansive mountain views to the West.

Allan spent time talking about the importance of community support and membership to the long term sustainability of the Project. Currently, SALA has about 150 of their target level of 250 members.  Memberships start at $50 per month and a new feature has been added to allow a member to add youth under 18 and seniors to their membership for $10/month. SALA is also developing a corporate/organizational membership offering to complement their individual membership plans.

Allan summarized several ways that he would ask every community member to consider contributing to the long-term sustainability of the SALA Project:

• Attend movies and other events at SALA;
• Become a member, and encourage others you know to consider becoming a member;
• Purchase movie passes for your future use or to use as gifts, rewards and prizes;
• Become a business partner or sponsor;
• Host your private events and company events at SALA;
• Support the Phase 3 Crowdfunding campaign when it is announced; and
• Explore opportunities to become an investor, owning equity in the building and SALA’s future.

A booklet was distributed to accompany the presentation. SALA plans to update the information occasionally and it is available at https://sala.losalamos.com/salaproject/

or 

https://sala.losalamos.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Sala-Booklet-2024-2.pdf

Allan announced that SALA will hold an open house from 4-5 p.m. every Wednesday during May. Everyone is invited to drop by for a tour of the facility, including a tour of the projection room. There will be free popcorn and a Nintendo switch demo that invites participants to try out and play. The community is invited to come and learn more about the SALA project during the open houses.