Work may begin later this year on the renovation of a high school in Raton, New Mexico that was built in 1936 as part of a Public Works Administration project under the New Deal.
Located at 800 S. 3rd Street, the one-story 20,000-square-foot brick building, which in 1996 was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, has for decades housed the Kearny Elementary School, which is a part of the Raton Public School District.
In the fall of 2022, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham announced the awarding of around $1.1 million state capital outlay funds for the creation of a new filmmaking hub. As part of the deal, the City of Raton said it would partner with a nonprofit to turn Kearny into a film school.
In announcing the funding, the Governor said the school will ultimately provide “training to New Mexicans in this successful and innovative industry, as well as well as additional capacity for filmmaking in northern New Mexico.”
The nonprofit is El Raton Media Works, a group dedicated to teaching students all aspects of the media arts and production.
A proposal to renovate and repurpose the Kearny building has been jointly issued by the City of Raton and El Raton Media Works. In a statement, Neil Segotta, the Mayor of Raton, said the project means a chance to both restore an historic structure as well as bring the building “into the 21st century, providing a great learning opportunity for those in our area and as a future economic driver.”
January 10, 2025
By Garry Boulard
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia
