Program is a first for Farmington students
Farmington High School freshman Sydney Nygren (center, red sash), performs as a member of the Directors Choice Chorus during the 2025 Enchantment Awards, held May 2 in Popejoy Hall, Albuquerque. (Courtesy Nicole Bridges Photography)
The New Mexico High School Musical Theatre Awards has run since 2015 but was at risk of not returning this year after a state contract with the New Mexico Public Education Department pulled $35,000 from the program.
That funding, according to Co-Executive Director, Terry Davis, was part of a contract with the Hispanic Education Bureau allowing for underserved schools with Hispanic students to participate in the program.
Canceling the contract put everything at stake, Davis said as the program runs once a year and is a product of work to provide services, transportation, lodging at no expense for students.
“All of that was what we were working on that was then canceled on April 1, and all we were told was it was based on federal money,” he said. “We didn’t know no more than that.”
The lack of funding was announced April 15 with the HEB having hopes to find the money, Davis said.
Of the funding, $20,000 was replaced by the HE, and the remaining $15,000 would need to be donated through fundraising.
“We were able to raise $6,500 directly in a fundraising campaign, we got other money privately on the side, plus the $6,000 emergency grant from New Mexico Foundation,” Davis said. “All that essentially replaced the $15,000 that the state couldn’t find. Then we found out, literally, the Tuesday, while we were rehearsing, that the state had the money.”
It was a leap of faith to continue with the program that led to the Enchantment Awards taking its place on stage at Popejoy Hall.
In working with fellow Co-Executive Director Laura A. Maness, the program was an opportunity that Davis said New Mexico students needed.
At the conclusion of the week, a Best Actor and Best Actress will continue to the Jimmy Awards in New York City, where they work with Broadway professionals and perform with peers from across the country.
With the Enchantment Awards, the budget, artistry and talent of high school students are celebrated, Davis said.
“Musicals ask of their performers, as much as a Shakespearean play does,” he said. “The emotional level these days, the emotional requirements, are equally as demanding, plus you’re singing and dancing on top of all that. So while it’s a slightly different set of skills, the demand on the talent is, is incredible.”
After speaking with a New York University professor, Davis said storytelling was to be included in workshops during the week.
Matthew Taylor, 2022 Best Actor, is a success story to the work that is being done in the program.
Taylor had choreographed a solo down to the tiniest movement, Davis said.
“We sent him to New York, and he got into one of the workshops, and his workshop leader said, I think you need to drop all that movement, and what if you were telling this story as though you were telling someone a secret,” Davis said. “At that moment, everything that he had been taught all fell into place, all the things that we’d been teaching him, everything just connected in that in that moment for him. That’s the kind of stuff that we see happening.”
Sydney Nygren, freshman at Farmington High School, participated in the New Mexico High School Musical Theatre Awards that brought students from across the state to Albuquerque to perform for a chance at being sent to the Jimmy Awards in New York City. (Alx Lee/Tri-City Record)
Sydney Nygren, freshman at Farmington High School, was one of the students from Farmington High and Piedra Vista that had the opportunity to participate in the program for the first time this year.
Nygren enjoyed her time at the program and took a workshop on developing character.
She participated in a Disney medley that required singing and dancing.
Nygren said being involved in the theater program at FHS has been all about meeting new people and having fun.
“Our program feeds and seeds theater programs around the state. In other words, the high schools students that we see go back to their high schools, and they’re able to up their game. If you play tennis or golf with somebody who’s better than you, you tend to get better also. The same holds true for singing and for dancing and for theater. So we hope that those students who go back to those programs improve their programs as well,” Davis said.
Looking forward, the program is looking to expand to other schools, according to Davis.
“We want to make sure that any student in New Mexico, regardless of economic circumstance, can participate with us. That’s how we approach it, but that means that we have to do the work to make sure that we have the funding to keep that promise of the students,” he said.
The full cast of the 2025 Enchantment Awards finishes its last song of the show in Popejoy Hall, Albuquerque, on May 2. (Courtesy Nicole Bridges Photography)
