Music has always been a place of reflection for New Mexico singer-songwriter Micah Thunder. Through deeply personal lyrics, emotional storytelling, and a sound rooted in both vulnerability and resilience, Thunder has created music that does more than entertain—it connects.

There is a certain kind of person who signs up to spend an entire weekend running on caffeine, adrenaline, and almost no sleep. It's all just for the chance to tell a story. For Albuquerque filmmaker Chad Terry, that creative madness is what makes the ABQ 48 Hour Film Project so exciting year after year.

For Albuquerque creatives Daniel Lucero and Yazmean La Patrona, storytelling is more than entertainment. It is community, culture, healing, and reflection. Their debut short film, Tryst, represents all of those things while tackling a subject that deeply affects New Mexico communities: addiction.

For almost twenty years, Ryedell Largo has brought more than choreography to the stage. Each performance by the Navajo and Mescalero Dance Group shares family history, cultural stories, healing traditions, and the duty to keep Indigenous heritage alive.

Some roles stay with an actor long after the curtain closes. For Jessica Osborne, Shirley Valentine is one of those roles. Now, ten years after first performing it for what would become the inception piece of West End Productions, Osborne is rediscovering the character through a completely different lens—one shaped by age, experience, confidence, and the realities of life that only time can bring.

Cardboard Playhouse’s production of SIX: The Musical – Teen Edition at The Q-Staff Theatre didn’t just meet expectations. It offered a high-energy, fully realized performance that reminded me why live community theater exists.

Seeing Mrs. Doubtfire at Popejoy Hall was one of those nights where you walk in expecting to be entertained—and leave feeling something much deeper.

In a city that has become synonymous with film and television production, the work happening behind the scenes is just as important as what audiences see on screen. At the center of the effort is the Albuquerque Film Office, a vital resource to connect filmmakers, crew members, and the local community to opportunities in one of New Mexico’s fastest-growing industries.