SFR Picks—Week of March 11

Solar bucks, playthings, ambience and pipes (and drums)

Solarizing Casa Milagro

New Energy Economy hosts fundraiser for local nonprofit that helps homeless, mentally ill people

Casa Milagro, a 12-bedroom, six-bath nonprofit home for people who are both mentally ill and homeless, has provided dignified living to those who need it most since 1995, but it needs help going solar.
Enter New Energy Economy, another New Mexico nonprofit, with a series of fundraisers designed to help pay to completely solarize the Casa Milagro house on Santa Fe’s Southside as part of its next SOL for All! project. After installing the system, 101% of Casa Milagro’s annual electricity will be taken care of, effectively putting an end to electric bills.
“The SOL for All! project has been successful and, for community institutions, it makes it possible to cancel out their continuously rising electric bills,” says New Energy Economy Executive Director Mariel Nanasi. “They repurpose that money, and instead of it going to PNM and out-of-state shareholders, it goes back into their program needs.”  
This particular fundraiser features a screening of the Sundance Official Selection film Bedlam: An Intimate Journey Into America’s Mental Health Crisis from filmmaker Kenneth Paul Rosenberg, a challenging but vital look at mental illness today. After the screenings, a panel discussion dives deeper into the work of both Casa Milagro and New Energy Economy. 
Homelessness in New Mexico has continued to rise over the last several years, a problem exacerbated by a dearth of clean and safe boarding homes for those with mental illness. Casa Milagro allows its residents to stay for life, as well as keep pets, though residents are required to have a job, pay rent and spend time in the community. 
The total cost to solarize Casa Milagro is about $57,000, according to Nanasi. 
“We had an audit done of how much it would cost…and we essentially got the complete buy-in [from the residents and administrators],” Nanasi tells SFR. “It was extraordinarily beautiful.” (Katherine Lewin)

SOL for All! Fundraiser to Solarize Casa Milagro:
6:30 pm Thursday, March 12. $20.
Violet Crown,
1606 Alcaldesa St.,
216-5678

Toys in Babeland

Recent-ish psychological proclamations have included waxing poetic on the power of play—an activity we sadly tuck away further with each passing year. Seriously, though, scientists say it’s good news for us to get into playing. Additionally, it so happens, the arts are good for our brains; good thing the Santa Fe Community Gallery has a show merging these concepts. At the upcoming PLAY/THINGS: The Iconography of the Toy, scads of artists attempt to ask how toys play a role in our creativity, what are the most sacred toys from their respective childhoods and does the idea of digital play affect our brains in the same way? These are solid questions sure to be answered in the most fun ways possible. Ah, culture—how we love thee. (Alex De Vore)

PLAY.THINGS: The Iconography of the Toy: 
5-7 pm Friday, March 13. Free.
Santa Fe Community Gallery,
201 W Marcy St.,
955-6705.

Exit Theo

Over the past however-many-years, musician and co-founder of DIY space Etiquette Thedore Cale Schafer has called Santa Fe home. In that time, Schafer has worked toward perfecting a certain type of ambient music, and it is not hyperbole to call it magic. No joke, during a recent event at Schafer’s space wherein he debuted new music, a certain SFR writer was in the midst of a rock ‘n’ roll panic attack of the highest caliber. Schafer’s calming and brilliant music—equal parts comforting soundscape and strangeness, field recording and found audio—calmed this person. But now Schafer’s headed home to Michigan, but not before one last performance featuring music and video. You’ll find it at Currents 826, the brick-and-mortar project of the Currents New Media Festival. Don’t miss your last chance. (ADV)

Theodore Cale Schafer: 
7 pm Saturday, March 14. $10.
Currents 826,
826 Canyon Road,
772-0953.

The Pipes Are Calling

We’re not completely sure how mid-March arrived so quickly, but it’s here and there’s nothing you can do about it besides leaning into the biggest drinking holiday this planet has to offer—St. Patrick’s Day! Alcoholism jokes aside, it’s time to get all Erin Go Bragh up in here, and the most Irish way we can think to do that is with the ABQ and Four Corners Pipe and Drum Band. Yeah, they’re kicking out all the Irish hits (can we request “Carrickfergus” right now?) on bagpipes and drums at Second Street Brewery’s original location as they’ve done since time immemorial. Good news for the Irish among us, the temporarily-Irish among us and anyone with a heart and two ears enough to understand “Amazing Grace” on the pipes is the freaking best. (ADV)

ABQ and Four Corners Pipe and Drum Band: 
5-6:30 pm Tuesday, March 17. Free.
Second Street Brewery (Original),
982-3030.

Letters to the Editor

Mail letters to PO Box 4910 Santa Fe, NM 87502 or email them to editor[at]sfreporter.com. Letters (no more than 200 words) should refer to specific articles in the Reporter. Letters will be edited for space and clarity.

We also welcome you to follow SFR on social media (on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter) and comment there. You can also email specific staff members from our contact page.