Oct 19, 2026 | News
Already $2.5M raised toward a major renovation of the Outpost building, a brand-new youth education center, expanded outdoor courtyard, and legacy endowment.
For nearly 40 years, the Outpost Performance Space has served as the heartbeat of New Mexico’s live music scene, bringing world-class jazz, folk, and blues to Albuquerque while showcasing homegrown local talent. Today, the iconic venue announced a major step into its next chapter: a $5.2 million capital campaign to expand its physical footprint, broaden music education for local youth, and secure its future for generations to come.
To date, the campaign has raised $2.5 million, backed by major founding contributions from the Kaman Foundation, Dean Yannias, Tom and Judy Christopher, Wendy Beach, local advertising agency SUNNY505, Annapurna’s World Vegetarian Café and more than 120 donors. The Outpost Board of Directors launched he campaign with $200,000 in combined gifts. Additionally, a group of 17 volunteers – the Future Fund Circle – has gifted $450,000 cumulatively.
The comprehensive $5.2 million initiative includes:
– A nearly $3 Million Renovation of the Yale Blvd. Space: Expanding performance areas, upgrading state-of-the-art acoustics, refreshing the audience seating experience, and expanding the courtyard venue.
– The Kaman Music Education Center: A dedicated east-wing facility allowing youth (K-12) classes, workshops, and rehearsals to run simultaneously with main-stage events.
– The Tom Guralnick Legacy Endowment: Honoring founder Tom Guralnick while eliminating debt and ensuring a seamless leadership transition for the future. “This is way more than a renovation,” said Tom Guralnick, founder and executive director of Outpost Performance Space. “It’s about expanding our education programs, enhancing our audience experience, and ensuring this space meets the evolving needs of today’s artists and local community for the next quarter-century.”
Community Support Driving the Vision
The initial $2.5 million momentum stems from key lead donors passionate about New Mexico’s arts landscape:
The Kaman Foundation is funding the dedicated Kaman Music Education Center.
“It has been my wish for years to have separate spaces for classes and performances. Innumerable times, artists or other collaborators or renters have asked to present concerts on a Monday Tuesday or Wednesday, which has been impossible due to our classes,” says Tom Guralnick. “Similarly, it has become increasingly important to be able to offer youth (and other) classes on weekends, but that has been impossible due to concerts. Separate performance and teaching spaces offer an excellent opportunity for increased community offerings as well as for increased income.”
SUNNY505 is funding the expansion of the intimate outdoor courtyard space. “When we saw the plans for the courtyard space, which will not only welcome artists and guests, but also provide an intimate outdoor performance atmosphere, it was a no-brainer for us to say yes,” said Dezaree Vega-Garcia, CEO of SUNNY505.
A Historic Local Landmark with Deep Roots
The current Outpost building has a colorful 70-year Albuquerque history. Originally constructed as a venue for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the building later housed a secretarial school, a sheet music retailer, a martial arts studio, and a recording studio before Guralnick transformed it into a performance venue in 2000. “When I first saw the building 25 years ago, I knew it would be the perfect space to create an intimate, world-class music venue,” Guralnick explained.
Outpost By the Numbers (Since 2000):
– 3,500+ concerts presented in Albuquerque.
– $5.3M+ paid directly to local, national, and international musicians.
– 20 New Mexico Jazz Festivals produced (the state’s premier annual jazz event).
– 3,000+ New Mexico students served through music education programs.
– 1 of only 6 venues of its kind in the entire United States.
Nationally Recognized: Backed by the National Endowment for the Arts, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Lila Wallace Foundation, and Chamber Music America.
For more information on the capital campaign or how to contribute, please contact Outpost Director, Tom Guralnick, at tguralnick@comcast.net
Oct 13, 2026 | News
Mark Your Calendars & Come Find Your Treasures!
This fall, Saturday, November 21, 9am-2:00pm, Outpost’s semi- annual Record Fair is something a little different! It’s a Collaborative Benefit Sale in support of Outpost, Chatter & Opera Southwest, and it will take place at Chatter, 912 3rd Street NW, ABQ. Featuring Thousands of Classical & Jazz Items – CDs, Vinyl (classical only), Books, Print Media, Sheet Music & More – ALL AT 50% OFF
– Huge inventory of Classical recordings of every type and era – all in excellent playing condition
– Large selection of Jazz CDs
– Books about Jazz and Classical music, musicians & recordings
– Classical music scores (opera, symphony & chamber music)
– Printed music & method books for most instruments (especially keyboard and voice)
– Vintage sheet music – some framed
– Jazz improvisation methods and “Play-a-long” recordings with printed music
– Framed posters, photos & sheet music
– Many rare, unusual & collectible items
Admission is FREE! Come join us, select a few items (or more) for purchase and, by doing so, provide support for Outpost, Chatter & Opera Southwest!
If you would like to make a donation, please email us at mail@ outpostspace.org to arrange for drop off (or pick up if necessary)!
We look forward to seeing you there!
Sep 29, 2026 | News
Join us on Sunday, October 11, 3-5 pm, at the Outpost for
Outpost’s Next Chapter: People, Place & Legacy
Join us for a special look at what’s next for Outpost! We’ll unveil future plans to renovate our home on Yale Blvd., share the growing vision for K-12 music education, and explore how leadership succession, endowment, and planned giving will sustain Outpost for generarions to come. A community conversation with Tom Guralnick, Rodney Bowe, Artha Meadors, and members of Outpost’s board and Future Fund Campaign team.
Then, the Fall 2026 Season kicks off with Stefan Harris; L. Shankar; and much more! Full season details coming soon!
Jul 30, 2026 | News
It’s a milestone! That’s right, Outpost celebrates the 20th Anniversary of the New Mexico Jazz Festival this year and it’s going to be another great one featuring major touring artists, NEA Jazz Masters, and respected New Mexico-based jazz, international, Rhythm & Blues and Latin music practitioners performing in Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Taos.
Kicking it all off on Thursday, August 27, 7:30pm at the Lensic in Santa Fe (and also closing out the 35th Anniversary Music Under the Stars at the Albuquerque Museum on Friday, August 28) is the New York style, hard core salsa of the three-time Grammy Award-winning Spanish Harlem Orchestra (SHO)! Then, we’re off for a full month of music, art and more! Also at the Lensic this year are esperanza spalding (9/18); René Marie (9/19), A.B. Spellman in conversation with M. Marie (9/19) and NEA Jazz Master Chucho Valdes Royal Quartet (9/20).
At the Outpost this year are the William Parker Heart Trio; Django Festival Allstars (who will also perform in Santa Fe and Taos); Melissa Aldana Quartet; The Rodriguez Brothers; The Bad Plus (on their Farewell Tour!); Fred Hersch Trio; Mingus Dynasty; and so much more! Plus, we’ll have another great Blues Night on Civic Plaza featuring Judith Hill, an Inpost Artspace exhibition: work by Greg Tucker, a special LP Release & Listening Party featuring Cecil Taylor Unit – KiMo Theater 1979 and a panel discussion with William Parker, films at the Guild Cinema and more! Check out the full 20th Anniversary New Mexico Jazz Festival Schedule and Purchase Your Tickets Here Today!
May 7, 2026 | Events
The Outpost Performance Space and PADMINI present
L. Shankar, violin w. Amit Kavthekar, tabla
October 17, 2026 • 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Hailed as “an audacious architect of world music,” double necked violin virtuoso and vocalist L. Shankar bridges Carnatic Indian music traditions with jazz, rock, and pop and is renowned for his award-winning solo projects and collaborations with Frank Zappa, the Talking Heads, Lou Reed, Marianne Faithful, Sting, Michael Jackson, and many more, as well as being the co-founder of Shakti with John McLaughlin and Zakir Hussain. He will be joined by the highly respected tabla accompanist, Amit Kavthekar.
May 6, 2026 | Events
November 5, 2026 • 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Pianist and composer Helen Sung hails from Houston, Texas, and is an alumna of its celebrated High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. After a jazz epiphany during undergraduate studies in classical piano at the University of Texas at Austin, she went on to become part of the inaugural class of the Thelonious Monk Institute (now the Herbie Hancock Institute) of Jazz Performance, win the Kennedy Center’s Mary Lou Williams Jazz Piano Competition, and receive prizes including a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Claudette Sorel Award from the National Arts Club. In addition to leading her own band, Helen has performed with such luminaries as Clark Terry, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter, Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Regina Carter, Terri Lyne Carrington, Cecile McLorin Salvant, and the Mingus Big Band. Now based in New York City, she is visiting faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and an Associate Professor at Columbia University, where she also was the inaugural jazz artist-in-residence at its Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute exploring analogies between jazz and neuroscience. With ten leader albums to her credit, her latest release Oracles (Sunnyside Records, 2026) is a big band project featuring musical portraits of jazz legends who mentored her at the Monk Institute (one of her compositions “Wayne’s World,” won the 2022 BMI Charlie Parker Jazz Composition). Other activities of note including a digital streaming series “Re-Orientation: Asian American Artists Out Loud” (made possible by a Chamber Music America Digital Residency grant); and partnering with the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, the Zuckerman Institute’s Public Programs Department, and Arts & Minds to present programs about the neuroscience behind making/hearing music to engage those living with Alzheimer’s and other dementias. A Steinway artist, “Sung plays with crisp swing and elegant invention, her rhythms drawing from the music’s deepest blues roots – and setting listeners’ heads bobbing – while she explores her own fresh ideas, often inspired from her classical training.” (New York Times)
This program is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts via the Western Jazz Presenters Network.
GET TICKETS HERE!
Apr 15, 2026 | News
The Outpost/New Mexico Jazz Workshop Summer Season 2026 kicks off with the 35th Annual Music Under the Stars series at the Albuquerque Museum, starting with the Cuban Salsa of New Mexico’s own Son Como Son, Friday, June 12, and the Albuquerque Jazz Orchestra Swing Night with Hillary Smith, Saturday, June 13! Full & Half Season Passes are available for the series, which runs through Aug 28. Also coming up – Outpost’s 30th Annual Summer Thursday Jazz Nights, June 25 – Aug 13, featuring a great variety of New Mexico talent. And, the New Mexico Jazz Festival Stage at Route 66 Summerfest in Nob Hill on Saturday, July18, part of the City of Albuquerque’s Route 66 Centennial celebration! So much to look forward to for those warm summer days! FULL SCHEDULE AND TICKETS HERE!
Meanwhile, we are also planning an exciting 20th Anniversary of the New Mexico Jazz Festival, August 27-September 30! It’s going to be a fantastic month of world class music with artists including The Spanish Harlem Orchestra, Esperanza Spalding, Chucho Valdes, Mingus Dynasty, Brian Blade, Fred Hersch, and so much more! Stay Tuned for full details coming soon! We are looking for SPONSORS for the 20th New Mexico Jazz Festival! Help Us Sponsor Every Concert and make the 20th anniversary a swingin’ success! Please contact alicia@outpostspace.orgfor more information. Your support makes it all happen and we truly appreciate it!
Plus, don’t forget Summer Session Jazz & Latin Music Classes for Youth & Adults at the Outpost, July 6 – August 26. AND Classes at the New Mexico Jazz Workshop, including Reharmonizing & Arranging Standards with Instructor: Michael Anthony, July 6-August 10!
We look forward to seeing you soon and often at the Outpost, the Albuquerque Museum and beyond this summer!
Dec 10, 2025 | News
Exciting news to report! It’s official! As of January 3, 2026, Outpost and the venerable New Mexico Jazz Workshop (founded 1976) have merged and joined forces to unite the spirit of jazz, creativity, and community under the Outpost banner. This is an exciting new chapter which brings together two of the state’s most respected arts organizations with over 80 years of combined experience in jazz education, performance, and community engagement. It will allow for expanded opportunities for musicians from all over and of all ages, more extraordinary live music presentations, art exhibitions, educational programs and more! There is much to look forward to in the year ahead and we will continue to update you as new directions and opportunities unfold!
One such opportunity includes Membership! With the merging of Outpost and the New Mexico Jazz Workshop, we are offering new membership categories and enhanced member benefits. Outpost members will continue to receive the current benefits like $10 ticket discounts, member-only concerts, etc. in addition to the benefits offered by the New Mexico Jazz Workshop, including early access to concerts, passes to summer Music Under the Stars concerts and more!
There’s a lot to look forward to in 2026, including another great spring season of music beginning in March (check out the schedule and purchase tickets here); expanded class offerings (at the NMJW building as well as at Outpost), art exhibits in the Inpost Artspace; a full summer season which includes Outpost’s 30th Annual Summer Thursday Jazz Nights; the 35th anniversary of the Music Under the Stars series at the Albuquerque Museum; the 20th anniversary of the New Mexico Jazz Festival; and the renovation of the Outpost building (tentatively scheduled to start in October), which will allow us to provide better facilities for expanded programming and services!
We look forward to seeing you soon and sharing all that this new chapter brings for all of us here at Outpost and for the community!
Sincerely,
Tom Guralnick,
Outpost Founder & Executive Director
Sep 29, 2025 | News
What a great 19th Annual New Mexico Jazz Festival it was! Such variety and artistry! From NEA Jazz Masters, internationally acclaimed artists, New Mexico’s own and more, it was another memorable month of music, art, film, and community. Thanks to all who came out to support and enjoy live music statewide and thanks to our sponsors, funders, partners, volunteers and all who make it happen! Now, we look ahead to the Outpost Fall 2025 Season which kicks off on Friday October 17 at Outpost with sitarist Purbayan Chatterjee & Amit Kavthekar on tabla. Then, it’s Adam Rudolph’s Sunrise Trio; Caity Gyorgy; Claudio Tolousse, The Story of, Part 2; Lorca Hart Quartet; Bébé La La’s 15 Year Anniversary Concert; George Cables Trio; Nnenna Freelon w. Alan Pasqua & Keith Ganz; Outpost’s Fall Record Fair (proceeds of which will go towards a major renovation of the Outpost building in 2026!); and much more! Check it all out and get your tickets here!
We look forward to seeing you this fall!
(Photo above- Legendary jazz pianist George Cables)
Sep 2, 2025 | Inpost Artspace
19TH ANNUAL NEW MEXICO JAZZ FESTIVAL
Reception: September 7, 2025 | 3-5 pm
Exhibit Dates: August 18, 2025-December 31, 2025
Greg Tucker explores the connections between music and visual arts. His deep interest in both blues and jazz serves as an integral component to his dynamic artistic practices. Greg has collaborated with Outpost Director, Tom Guralnick, since 1976 when Guralnick ran the New Mexico Jazz Workshop and Greg designed the graphics for the organization – some of which will be featured in this show. One piece in this exhibit is the poster of Cecil Taylor which hung in the KiMo front display case in 1979 and it is expected that we will be releasing that concert on Archival Vinyl some time soon. Greg Tucker has work in the permanent collections of the Museum of Art of Albuquerque and in UNM’s Fine Arts Museum. As an illustrator, his work was published by the Dallas Morning News, Philadelphia Inquirer, Psychology Today, Bloomberg Financial Magazine, Utne Reader, Village Voice, Salon Online, Harcourt Brace and many more. His illustrations have won many awards and have been included in many professional annuals, including the internationally prestigious Graphis Design Annual. For many years, his work was represented by the Mariposa Gallery in Albuquerque. Greg has said, “I began drawing at a very early age, and being an avid and early reader, by the time I was a teen, I’d already read about and had been mesmerized by artists and the whole history of art – from prehistoric through contemporary, from “High” to humble-Asian, European, African, Native American. My formal education in art was from the University of Georgia, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Escuela de Bellas Artes in Guadalajara, Mexico and at the University of New Mexico. In spite of the early training in fine arts, I ended up in illustration. a concession to the need to eat.” Larry Goodell lives in Placitas where was one of the directors of the Duende Poetry Series. He was born in Roswell in 1935, schooled at USC and at UNM. His father was a NM State Representative and then NM State Senator. Larry studied with Robert Creeley and founded Duende Press in 1964. His poetry evolved into performance with handmade masks, costumes, settings verging on the ceremonial as he continued setting up poetry events at the Living Batch Bookstore where he worked. These he recorded and they can be heard online at duende.bandcamp.com. He is now publishing books and working with his literary archives. His most recent book is Clouds – Poems 2020 to 2025. FREE!
