Las Vegas Alive!

Las Vegas Alive is a roleplaying game that we are developing here at the museum. It offers students and adults the chance to experience history through interaction, and character development. We have had a few test runs with varying rules and a lot of fun.

Now we will be able to fully develop the game thanks to the generous support of the Kerr Foundation and the Santa Fe Community Foundation. Through their grants we will now develop games with 2 time periods - 1821-1879 and 1879 -1919. The game involves 5 decks of cards - Character, Culture, Religion, Occupation, Artifacts, and Scenarios. Players will be given a certain number of cards from each deck and asked to interact with each other based on their "hand". It will be a fun game for all ages, and will never be boring with so many ways to use the cards.

In the test runs we've done, every one has really enjoyed it. The first time we tried it out, last spring, Billie Mathews' 6th grade class had a great time developing characters and going on a scavenger hunt through the museum looking for artifacts their character would have used.

This summer the Elder Hostel group from Santa Fe came up, and enjoyed an inter-generational version of the game. In this experience, grandchildren had to guess what character their grandparents were, by asking them questions about the tools they used in their occupation. First the kids had to find the tools in the museum, and then ask the grandparents about them. The grandparents had been given a character with name, age, culture, religion, and occupation, plus questions to help them develop the character further if they wanted to. After the kids had decided which adult matched with each occupation, the grandparents presented their characters, and who that character might have been in history. Both generations had a lot of fun, and it was a great bonding experience.

As we continue to develop the completed game, we need classes, families, groups of all kinds to come in and test it out. I encourage everyone to call me and make a date to come in and try out this new game. I guarantee you'll enjoy it, and it will give us great feedback on how to make Las Vegas Alive! the best it can be.

Stay tuned for more on this exciting project!

For more info, or to set up a time to play, call Nellie Price at (505) 454-1401 ext 283

Centennial Theatre History Project

Saturday (December 13th) there was a meeting held at the museum to discuss the Centennial Theatre History Project, and how Las Vegas can participate. Kay Kuhlmann, Project Consultant, met with us to explain the project and find out if we as a community are interested.

A Brief Overview -
The concept for this project is that individual communities will hire a professional playwright to write an exciting play of the history of the area, especially referencing statehood, something that led up to statehood. Members of the community will produce, direct and act in this play, bringing the history to life. Performances will be held 2010, and 2011 in the community. For the centennial, 2012, all the communities participating will bring these plays together in Ruidoso for a 1 or 2 week theatre festival, with multiple performances. The plays, showcasing each towns uniqueness, will be a wonderful marketing tool. There is already discussion as to how to bring the visitors/tourists at the festival to each individual town that participates.

Only a handful of people met on Saturday, and it was decided that there should be another meeting after the holidays, with more people, and more representatives from town organizations. We look forward to inviting folks from many groups, including: MainStreet, Las Vegas Arts Council, CCHP, Fort Union, Nat Gold Players, NMHU theatre club, NMHU theatre professors, Luna theatre students and instructors, AHUWC, and many more. I know I have left out groups we talked about on Saturday, but I'm afraid I can't remember them all. If anyone has suggestions, or can jar the old memory, please leave a comment. :)

I am very excited about Las Vegas participating in this project. I think it would be marvelous publicity, and would be great advertising for our entire community. But it will take a lot of work, and a lot of cooperation. Its a 3 1/2 year project, and I know we can do it well and with flare. There is a tremendous amount of talent in our city, and I think its time we showcase it.

Please contact me if you are interested in this program, want more information, want to become part of the project, or just to give us ideas. I hope you will also leave comments here to tell me what you think. I need to find out what dates are good for meetings, and who is interested. Everyone here at the museum is excited about the possibilities!

Happy Holidays to all.

Welcome

First I would like to say welcome to everyone reading our new blog. We are hoping this is a great opportunity to open a discussion about all things Las Vegas. We want to hear people's stories, memories, histories, and questions. In turn we will try to update everyone on what exhibits we have, what new events are happening, and what programs we're initiating. More to come on all of that.

I would like to encourage everyone to go to our website: http://www.lasvegasmuseum.org/
The website will tell you more about the museum and what we do. The education page has a lot of new things, including the podcasts, and games.

The podcasts, created by NMHU Media Arts Graduate student Adrienne Booth, are phenomenal. The Rough Riders Podcast is about 11 minutes long. It works as gallery tour, as well as an informational video on its own. The La Casita Podcast is about 9 mins long and also can stand alone or be used in the museum. I am still working on these videos being downloadable from the website - bear with me.

The games were created by NMHU Media Arts student Cabrini Martinez. They are very fun for both children and adults, and the animation is fabulous. I would like to point out that the adorable Teddy Bear Roosevelt character is an original creation of Cabrini.

If anyone has questions please don't hesitate to contact me. I will keep this blog updated, and post something once a week at least. If anyone has subjects they would like me to address, please leave me a comment. Thanks and Welcome!!

Nellie