Outside pressure to save the Paolo Soleri Amphitheater from its planned demolition grew Friday.

The state Cultural Properties Review Committee unanimously passed a resolution asking Santa Fe Indian School to reconsider its decision to raze the 45-year-old amphitheater and to consult with city and state officials as well as concerned citizens.

Also on Friday, Paolo Soleri, the 90-year-old Italian-born architect who designed the building in 1965, came out against the demolition. "I am willing to do anything to support the preservation of the theater," Soleri said in a news release by the Cosanti Foundation, which Soleri founded.

According to the statement, Soleri, who now lives in Arizona, last visited the theater when he traveled to Santa Fe to participate in the 2009 Celebrate Sustainable Santa Fe Festival. The release quotes Soleri saying, "I rediscovered the value of the theater" on that recent trip.

"The Cosanti Foundation looks forward to supporting any effort to preserve, restore, and maintain the Paolo Soleri Amphitheater as a cultural and historic resource in Santa Fe and to work with a variety of organizations to both prevent demolition and to raise funds to help the theater continue to serve both the Santa Fe Indian School students and the Santa Fe community," the news release says.

The school administration has said it will raze the facility partly because it is in need of expensive repairs and partly because of the behavior of some of those who attend concerts there.

Several people interested in saving the amphitheater — including Indian School alumni, concert promoters and City Councilor Patti Bushee — were on hand to speak in favor of the committee's resolution.

Earlier in the week, the Santa Fe City Council passed a resolution that asks the All Indian Pueblo Council, which administers the school, to reconsider demolition.

However, neither the city nor the state have jurisdiction over Indian School property.

Virtually all who spoke in favor of saving the amphitheater said they respected the school's jurisdiction — though Bushee noted the school campus is on the city water system, which means the school should come before the city for any redevelopment plans.

Frances Abeyta, a graduate of the Indian School who lived on the campus for six years, said she and other students consider the amphitheater part of their home. "It's a part of who we are," said Abeyta, now a student at The University of New Mexico. Abeyta started a Facebook page dedicated to saving Paolo Soleri.

Jamie Lenfestey, a music promoter who has brought concerts at Paolo Soleri for about two decades, told the state committee that the public discussion over the planned demolition is a good opportunity for turning the amphitheater into something that's not a liability for the school.

Lenfestey said only two more of his shows are scheduled for Paolo Soleri — Modest Mouse on July 9 and Lyle Lovett on July 29.

No officials from the Indian School were at the meeting.

A recent news release from the school quoted superintendent Everett Chavez, saying, "The decision was not made lightly. ... Thousands of people have been a part of the Paolo Soleri's history, but unfortunately we cannot support it any longer."

Chavez also criticized some concert-goers. "We have hundreds of students living on campus and during concerts or special events they are exposed to a number of problems that (are) not entirely conducive to an educational institution. Some of these events bring with it intoxicated people, people urinating in public, fights and even arrests. These are the same elements that we discourage and try to protect our students against."

Contact Steve Terrell at 986-3037 or sterrell@sfnewmexican.com. Read his political blog at roundhouseroundup.com.