By Ann Theis and Jessica Barfield
Photo by Ann Theis
Mission
El Raton Studios is an innovative nonprofit Arts2Work workforce development and career opportunity hub serving Colfax County and surrounding areas. We empower the community to thrive in a technology and media-driven world by providing access to tools, training, and careers in all aspects of media arts and production. We are committed to promoting community engagement, creative self-expression, and life and career skills for youth and adults.
Vision
Our vision is to bring film, television and emerging media projects to northern New Mexico to invigorate the local economy and create a wide-range of community and workforce development opportunities through partnerships, collaborations and investments with local and regional businesses and educational institutions.
Filmmaking and television production requires building entire worlds. Fully realizing these visions requires not just production crew like cinematographers, directors, actors and scriptwriters, but it also needs a complete economy of workers such as electricians, carpenters, welders, plumbers, chefs, tailors, painters, hair/makeup artists and mechanics. We believe the development of learning and media production facilities will provide educational resources and workforce development opportunities to the community to grow the regional economy in a myriad of ways including increasing demand for local businesses, youth and adult career pathway education and job opportunities.
The Plan
El Raton Media Works has created a phased plan to develop a workforce development training facility centered around the booming film and TV production industry in New Mexico. We are developing a first-of-its-kind in New Mexico, state-of-the-art XR studio and educational center in an historic Raton public school. This facility has 20,000 square feet of usable space and will house not only a 3,200 square foot educational XR studio but also dozens classrooms for training in all aspects of modern media production, including the vocational trades needed for the complete production process such as culinary arts, art design and production, woodworking, costume design, plumbing and electrical work.
This workforce training phase will gear up the region for the final phase of the project, which is the development of a 10,000 square foot professional facility that includes a professional soundstage. Without an existing higher learning center in the area, the primary purpose of this facility will be to serve as a training site for middle, high school, and college students to adults of all ages so the region's workforce can fill the workforce gap with locally trained talent.
Why Raton?
El Raton Media Works is committed to creating a diverse, inclusive and equitable environment for filmmakers, educators, students, volunteers and employees. ERS welcomes diversity in its many forms - including, but not limited to age, gender, race, ethnicity, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, cultural perspective and economic circumstances - with the goal of providing all area residents platforms to learn, strengthen community, and advance a strong media and ancillary business workforce.
Located off 1-25, at the scenic base of the Rocky Mountains, the City of Raton and the surrounding area is a prime location for many different types of film projects and are completely unique from other film studio locations in New Mexico. The city streets are lined with historical buildings, gift shops, eateries/breweries and the surrounding area has even more to offer: Vermejo Park Ranch, Capulin Volcano, Sugarite Canyon State Park (including Lake Alice, Lake Maloya, & the Chicorica River), the NRA Whittington Center, and the Philmont Boy Scout ranch. The region boasts 273 days of sun, warm summers, cold winters, any southwestern environment you could possibly need, all in one location.
Crews can drive from Denver or Albuquerque, charter flights into Raton Municipal Airport, or take one of the daily train rides from Chicago or L.A. Because of the location's unmatched natural resources and beauty, we are promoting those offerings and then matching it with unparalleled technology. This XR Studio would be a first in New Mexico, and combined with an educational facility and a complete soundstage, it would be a draw for productions all across the region and the U.S.
Promoting Filmmaking in the Region
El Raton Media Works is working with GrowRaton, local officials, and property owners to attract film and other media productions to the unique and beautiful locations in Raton and across Colfax County.
The locations are shot with a drone cinematographer, and edited to highlight the features of each location. These aerial location videos will live in an online mapped interactive portfolio of Colfax County Locations. Although our primary purpose is to attract film productions into choosing our area as their next location, these stunning videos can be used for a variety of purposes to attract visitors to the region.
Our goal is to give local businesses and residents a platform to showcase the charm of Colfax County and bring economic opportunity in kind. We are working to obtain additional grants to film more locations.
If you have a location fit for filming, make sure you're signed up on our website ElRatonMediaWorks.org.
And if the beauty isn't enough, Raton is located in New Mexico Film Commission's Uplift Zone, which makes projects eligible for the state's largest film tax credit rate of 30-35% (Film-TV). Meaning it is located at least sixty miles outside of the exterior boundaries of Bernalillo and Santa Fe Counties. This allows film production companies to take an additional 5% credit on money spent in this rural, emerging film community. To sign up your business or learn more about becoming a qualified New Mexico vendor, please visit our website ElRatonMediaWorks.org.
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