Gallup, New Mexico, US
Impact Report | March 2025
Local lead contact:
Michael Bulloch, Director, Gallup Main Street
General update
The major news in Gallup is that several federal projects that have been put on hold, diverting water from one place to another. Several communities on the pipeline are affected, including Gallup.
Gallup is currently gearing up for their fifth Levitt AMP series in June for 10 weeks. They have seen growth in attendance – the work has included plugging away doing incremental things behind the scenes to get people to concerts and make them feel welcome – but it is paying off. The population is 15% Native American, and there is a justified deep distrust of people who are not Native American. It is therefore essential to show them they are welcome and this is an event for them. One recent success was an event based on traditional Navajo dress, and kids clothing that related to this.
Gallup Main Street has continued their strategy of inviting Native American royalty to events. This consists of inviting tribal members from all over Northern America. Tribes from all over the US come to Gallup. Every year they invite a new queen, a new junior queen and Miss Navajo. They are invited to each concert to come and talk about what they are working on and get them to introduce the bands. At the Levitt Summer Series last year there were a total of about 500 people each concert – a significant increase from the year before.
A local non-profit is working to open a children’s museum which is STEAM orientated in Gallup. Gallup Main Street has invited them to participate in concerts, set up a booth and do some children’s activities. Then parents were able to stay at concert longer too – this is directly connected to the report as it is to do with intentional programming.
Specific impact from MPRN
Successful experimenting with intentional programming towards audience development. Experimentation in programming has yielded great results. A band who were invited to play, Peru, had made a documentary so a screening of the documentary was planned. This was on the Thursday night before the concert. They also did a children's story time based on Indian mythology, with 35-40 children and their parents, as well as a dance class for adults. All of this had a positive ripple effect in terms of audience statistics and engagements.
Ongoing engagement with MPRN:
Reported that the Tourism masterclass, and masterclasses generally, continue to be of value.