Take Another Look:
"UETF Artist Resiliency Residency Program"
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Join us for the second of 3 episodes about the City's Urban Enhancement Trust Fund (UETF) and the unique residency it offers. Artist and community organizer, Gael Luna, and Deputy Executive Director for National Institute of Flamenco, Dr. Annie D'Orazio, join host joni palmer to discuss their artist journeys and the UETF Artist Resiliency Residency.
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Gael Luna (they/them) is a transgender immigrant artist and community organizer in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Originally from La Frontera, Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, they migrated to the U.S. at the age of seven.
For over a decade, Luna has collaborated with communities throughout New Mexico to enhance access to education and healthcare for immigrant families. Their community work has inspired them to create art centered around and driven by the community. Their intersectional identities inspire them to visually translate stories of people connected to the places they call home, their culture, and their identities.
They are digital artists who use Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and other software to create art that can be displayed in various sizes and materials. Their art is recognized for its vibrant colors and symmetrical patterns, influenced by their Mexican culture and immigrant experience. Their prints and installations are typically presented as large-scale graphics.
Luna received a bachelor’s degree in Media Arts and Spanish from New Mexico Highlands University in 2014. During their senior year, they were awarded the Seabury Fellowship and developed their body of work, Joteria Undocumented, a community-based art project exhibited in New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah. They have since collaborated with various community-based organizations in New Mexico and nationally. Through the UETF Artist Resiliency Residency from the City of Albuquerque and the Residency for Art & Social Justice from Harwood Art Center, they created their most recent work, Lucha Libre Trans Queer Art Espectacular. This immersive installation showcases custom-designed luchador masks and capes, highlighting the stories of diverse trans and queer athletes.
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Annie D'Orazio, Ph.D., Deputy Executive Director, National Institute of Flamenco
Flamenco provided a stabilizing force in D’Orazio’s life as an adolescent, empowering her and giving her a path to continue learning both within and outside of formal settings. She participated in BRiC (The Banff Research in Culture summer program), “Demos: Life in Common” as a researcher. She earned a doctorate in English Literature from the University of New Mexico in 2017. A long-time student of and advocate for flamenco, she believes that the arts and humanities should be accessible to all people. She combines her academic background with her lifelong study of the arts and humanities, applying her analytical and writing skills to excel in grant writing, legislative advocacy, and strategic planning. Her diverse work history and educational journey has equipped her with a strong foundation in deep research, cultural analysis, communication, and project management. In addition to her work at the Institute, she mentors and coaches researchers and writers, offering years of professional experience as well as her great love for helping people bring their creative projects into being.
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Learn More About the People, Places, and Projects Discussed in Episode 18 | |
Lucha Libre Trans Queer Art Espectacular | |
Images of Lucha Libre Trans Queer Art Espectacular installation at Harwood Art Center. Photograph by Azzia Murray. | |
Through the UETF Artist Resiliency Residency from the City of Albuquerque and the Residency for Art & Social Justice from Harwood Art Center, they created their most recent work, Lucha Libre Trans Queer Art Espectacular in the Fall of 2024.
The Lucha Libre Trans Queer Espectacular is a series of Luchador mask and cape designs that reflect the stories of trans and queer athletes that live in New Mexico.
This project uniquely responds to the existence of trans and queer people as athletes and through our other identities. This installation is built upon a series I developed centering on Trans Luchadores, a diverse group of trans-Mexican wrestler superheroes. Lucha Libre is a wrestling style that originated in Mexico. As a Mexican immigrant and former wrestler, Lucha Libre is close to my heart. I’m excited to continue reimagining a flamboyant sport that has unfortunately harbored machismo and homophobia into something explicitly trans and queer.
This installation celebrates transgender and queer athletes of New Mexico while challenging people’s existing beliefs about gender-diverse people in sports.
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Images of Lucha Libre Trans Queer Art Espectacular installation at Harwood Art Center. Photograph by Azzia Murray. | |
Project Process: I worked with five trans and queer New Mexico-based athletes. I documented their stories by conducting interviews and taking photographs and videos at their gyms. Athletes also shared personal photos, writing, music, or items related to their stories. I then created design drafts and shared them with the participants for feedback and guidance. Once final edits were made, designs were printed on 44” x 66” matte paper. | |
National Institute of Flamenco | |
The National Institute of Flamenco, a 501c3 non profit, was established in 1982 by Eva Encinias. It is an internationally significant arts organization, unparalleled in its breadth and depth of flamenco programming. | |
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The Institute provides arts experiences rooted in excellence, while creating international connections and investing in local and national artists. For four decades, the Institute has enriched the City of Albuquerque, the U.S. Southwest, the Americas, and beyond through the art of flamenco music and dance.
The mission of the National Institute of Flamenco is to preserve and promote flamenco's artistry, history, and culture by presenting the finest flamenco in the world and by educating the American family in this art form while emphasizing the positive influence of art on family and community.
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Festival Flamenco Albuquerque
June 20-28, 2025
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Produced and presented by the National Institute of Flamenco, Festival Flamenco Albuquerque offers a unique opportunity to witness world-class performances, learn from renowned artists, and connect with a vibrant community of flamenco students, fans, and aficionados.
Learn more about Festival Flamenco Albuquerque.
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The UETF Artist Resiliency Residency | |
The UETF Resiliency Residency Program is a self-paced, "at-home" residency that encourages artists of all mediums and disciplines to play, experiment, research, and create. Residency artists are invited to use the funds to further their artistic practice and are asked to show a public presentation of the work at some point in the Residency period.
The 2022 Residency cycle funded 5 fiscal sponsor organizations and 90 artists, bringing Albuquerque plays, dance pieces, books, new research, and festivals.
The 2024 Residency cycle includes 2 new fiscal sponsor organizations and 20 artists as well as 14 returning 2022 Resiliency Residency artists for a total of 34 artists.
Sign up for the Public Art Urban Enhancement Division Newsletter to be the first to hear about the UETF Resiliency Residency applications. Organizations and artists can reach out to uetf@cabq.gov for questions about UETF and the Resiliency Residency Program.
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Resiliency Residency Fiscal Sponsors | |
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Non profit, 501c3 arts organizations serve as fiscal sponsors for Resiliency Residency artists. Fiscal sponsor organizations not only help to disperse the funds to the artists, but also provide mentorship and resources.
The 2026 UETF Resiliency Residency Fiscal Sponsor application is expected to go live in Summer 2025.
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What does it mean to be a Resiliency Residency fiscal sponsor? Check out the video to hear from the 2022 fiscal sponsor organizations! | |
Resiliency Residency Artists | | | | |