newsletter

New Mexico Arts

New Staff Announcement:

Julia Landis is the new AIPP (Art in Public Places) Program Contracts Administrator. Julia makes sure that the artists creating art for NM public buildings get paid! Her career has included work in retail, many years working for a national non-profit organization, customer service and managing a stationery store.

Julia relocated to NM after living in the deep south (Alabama, Georgia and Florida) for so many years and is loving living where there are truly four seasons. She’s on the leadership team of LezGoNM and on the board of directors of the New Mexico Out Business Alliance. She loves walking and eating out (breakfast out is her fave!) and can be found most days walking some part of the Railyard Trail, particularly on weekends where she heads into The Railyard itself to go to the Farmers and Art Markets.

Art in Public Places Opportunity

Prospectus #282 Large-Scale Purchase Initiative

Project Intent:

The objective of the Large-Scale Purchase Initiative is to diversify the state's public art collection by purchasing artwork from artists at all stages of their career. All media in all genres, suitable for both interior and exterior display, will be considered. Artwork must be durable, permanent, low-maintenance, and in compliance with ADA guidelines upon installation.

Eligibility Criteria:

The project is open to artists who reside in, and galleries that are located in, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and Utah. Galleries may submit qualifications on behalf of any artist represented by the gallery, regardless of the artist's residency. Finalists may be required to submit verifiable proof of residency prior to being awarded a purchase contract.

Project Timeline:

May 1, 2025: Project Announced

July 1, 2025: Deadline for Submissions

August 2025: Notification of Finalists

September 2025 - December 2027: Time frame of potential purchases and installation of artwork on a rolling basis

Questions/Follow Up:

Please email or call for assistance or questions:

Claude Smith

Public Art Program Coordinator | New Mexico Arts

Department of Cultural Affairs

505-695-6913 Claude.Smith@dca.nm.gov

Learn More & Apply

New Mexico Arts Welcomes Chris E. Vargas to the 2025 New Mexico Artist Residency at Los Luceros Historic Site!

Vargas will be in residence until June 6^th bringing his research-based practice to investigate how Los Luceros’ layered histories inform its present identity and how historical narratives shape contemporary understanding of this historic site. His time at Los Luceros will center on Mary Cabot Wheelwright and her collaboration with two-spirit Dine weaver Hastiin Klah whose preservation of Indigenous artworks laid the foundation for the Wheelwright Museum.

Chris E. Vargas will present his project at a public program on Sunday, June 1^st at Los Luceros, more details forthcoming.

Learn more about Chris here

The New Mexico Poetry Out Loud champion, Kaitlyn Lubega, a 12th grader attending United World College in Montezuma, is headed to the Poetry Out Loud National Finals in Washington, DC this week. The National Finals will be held May 6-7, bringing together high school students from across the nation to the capital for an exciting poetry recitation competition.

New Mexicans can watch the live and one-time only webcast to see Lubega

recite her poem on Tuesday May 6^th, 7 p.m. MDT at arts.gov/initiatives/poetry-out-loud

Since the program began in 2005, more than 4.5 million students and 85,000 teachers from 21,000 schools across the country have participated in Poetry Out Loud. Poetry Out Loud is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the Poetry Foundation along with state and jurisdictional arts agencies.

Each poem recitation will be judged on a variety of criteria from physical presence to voice and articulation, to overall performance and accuracy. The top three students from each semifinal, nine in total, will move on to the National Finals on May 7, which will be webcast live beginning at 9 p.m. MDT. In total, $50,000 in awards and school/organization stipends, including a $20,000 award for the Poetry Out Loud National Champion.

The New Mexico Music Commission announces its second year of Music in the Community small grants. The grants of $2,500 are open to New Mexico-based businesses, non-profit organizations, tribal and local governments, schools and education institutions, and individuals with community partners.

The program aims to fund music engagement, education, appreciation, or performance in New Mexico with an emphasis on serving rural, tribal, veteran, disability, or other underserved communities. For more information and to apply, visit www.nmmusic.org/grants or write katherine.bruell@dca.nm.gov.

Grant proposals are due June 15, 2025 for programs running July 1, 2025 to June 15, 2026.

Artist INC Express is coming to Taos/Pueblo, NM

October 18 @ 12:00 pm - October 19 @ 5:00 pm FREE

Eligibility: Artists living within a 75 minute radius of Taos/Pueblo, NM

Age Requirement: 18+

Location: TBA

Total Workshop Hours: 10 hours

Homework Hours: 1 hour

Workshop Size: 25 Artists, 3 Facilitators

Materials Provided: Artist INC Express Workbook and Welcome Packet

Workshop Dates & Times:

Day 1: Saturday, October 18, 2025, 12:00pm-5:00pm MST
Day 2: Sunday, October 19, 2025, 12:00pm-5:00pm MST

Registration Deadline: Thursday, October 16, 2025, at 5:00pm MST

Learn more here

Grantee Experiences

Placemaking and Community in Taos through the Paseo Project

The Paseo Project inspires and engages the Northern New Mexico community of Taos through arts and engagement. Since 2014, the Paseo Project has brought projection, performance, and installation art to the streets of Taos with free, community events. Founded in 2014 as a project of Taos Fall Arts Festival with the purpose of connecting the multiple venues of Fall Arts’ exhibitions with street activities, the event has grown to a larger festival hosting dozens of artists regionally, nationally, and internationally. In 2016, the organization became a nonprofit, and The Paseo Project now offers year-round free community-based events and programs.

With a mission to transform art through community and community through art, the annual PASEO festival encourages engagement and exploration of art forms not typically found in galleries. The most recent festival featured immersive and participatory art installations centered around international artist Architects of Air a 6,000 square ft inflatable sculpture, surrounded by local artists, community organizations and youth activities. More than 8,000 people attended the free festival, over four days of programming. The festival showcased cutting-edge contemporary projection, new media, installation, and performance art from around the country and the world.

The 2024 PASEO Festival featured participatory installations, performance, and projection art which activated Kit Carson Park, located in the Taos Historic District. The park allowed for an innovative layout that was more condensed and accessible. Visiting artists had transformative experiences working in Taos and connecting with the Taos community and audiences. The festival also offered robust education programs, PASEO STEAM Day featured ten PASEO artists, with multiple public-school classrooms for workshops at Kit Carson Park. More than 280 students got a first-hand look at the festival. The annual festival encourages creativity, fosters community connection, and placemaking through a destination arts event. Learn more here

little globe's process centers on collaborative, mutually supportive relationships to co-create stories. They tell stories with people, not about them. This process cultivates empathy and trust, building connected communities. Through co-authorship and responding to each other's stories, we are transformed. Learn more here

3 Questions with Little Globe

Co-Executive Director

Dylan Tenorio

As little globe celebrates 20 years

Read about little globe & Dylan Tenorio courtesy of the Santa Fe Reporter and Alex De Vore here

How Prepared are You to Work with the

Disability Community in the Event of a Disaster

NM Governor’s Commission on Disability Sponsored event:

Training is designed to support the whole community’s approach to emergency planning for all hazards in the areas of service animals, accessible shelter preparations, and inclusive practices working with the local disability community.

This training is designed for the local community to gain knowledge and awareness in accessible designs and practices, using the whole community approach that FEMA encourages, which includes people with disabilities in planning ahead.

If you are an emergency manager, first responder, medical professional, shelter personnel, veterinarian, animal caretaker, person with a disability, service provider to the disability community or an interested community member this free training is for you!

Reservations are encouraged, as there is a 75-seat limit.

Please reserve your spot or request accommodation by sending an email to Lisa McNiven, Deputy Director at Lisa.mcniven@gcd.nm.gov

Call if you have questions at 505-435-9326

Date: May 15th, 2025

Time:

9:00 to 4:30pm

Lunch on your own and short breaks are included.

Topics:

Emergency Preparedness from the perspective of People with Disabilities
Service Animals vs Emotional Support Animals
Accessible Shelters

Location:

Pecos River Village Conference Center Room #3

711 Muscatel Avenue

Carlsbad, NM 88220

What Creates Well-Being?

Arts on Prescription: A Field Guide for US Communities offers a roadmap for communities to develop programs that formally integrate arts, culture, and nature resources into local health and social care systems.

Arts on prescription programs allow healthcare providers and social service agencies to "prescribe" arts activities, cultural experiences, and time in nature to support their patients' or clients' health, wellbeing and quality of life.

Download the Arts on Prescription Field Guide here!

This guide has been created in partnership between Mass Cultural Council, University of Florida Center for Arts in Medicine, and Dr. Tasha Golden.

More Opportunities:

Silver City Community Film Festival 2025

Call for Entries

Early Submission Deadline: May 15, 2025

Regular Submission Deadline: August 1, 2025

Festival: October 2 - 5, 2025

The Silver City MainStreet Project and Silco Theater are excited to announce the Second Annual Silver City Community Film Festival, taking place October 2 - 5, 2025, at the Silco Theater in downtown Silver City. The 2024 inaugural festival featured 16 filmmakers, 30 films, and approximately 200 attendees.

The Silver City Community Film Festival accepts submissions in all genres and forms of filmmaking and encourages the spirit of the wild frontier. Awards will be granted in each submission category, as well as audience choice.

Films may be individual projects or group collaborations, and multiple entries may be submitted by one person. The early submission deadline is May 15. The regular deadline for submissions is August 1. To learn more about the festival or to submit an entry, please visit silvercityfilmfest.org. For questions or assistance submitting a film please contact the Silco Theater at c.coordinator@silvercitymainstreet.com or call 575-956-6198.

Call for Artists

Southwest Contemporary Vol. 12 — OBSESSION

For Southwest Contemporary Volume 12, they want to hear all about your obsessions. What drives your passion? What’s stuck in your head? What can’t you keep your hands off of? What’s your Roman Empire?

In an attention-based economy, an obsession is a gold mine. You can fall down a rabbit hole, and suddenly you’re hooked.

An obsession can be a strong passion, a deep desire to consume, to know, to do, or to own. It can feel like love, the heart-fluttering longing of a crush. But obsessions can veer into darker territory: fetishizations, compulsions, fixations. The art world has long been driven by obsessions—of artists and of collectors—by the drive to create and the drive to possess.

In this issue, they’ll take deep dives into niche topics. They’ll dig into artists’ obsessions with physical materials, processes, ideas, and research. They’ll talk about the fascination that drives the impulse to collect and to create.

How do your obsessions come through in your work?

Southwest Contemporary invites artists (18+) living and working across the Southwest whose work, in any medium, responds to or is engaged with the theme of obsession to apply. Artists are encouraged to think broadly about these ideas. Apply here

Art Book Exhibition Opening at the Santa Fe Community Gallery

May 15, 2025.

Join the Santa Fe Community Gallery for the opening reception of Radius Books: 18 Years of Art Book Publishing in Santa Fe.

Thursday, May 15, 2025
from 5 pm to 7 pm
At the Santa Fe Community Gallery.

The exhibit looks at the craft of art book publishing while highlighting Radius Books’ approach to partnering with artists and writers to create books distinguished in form and substance. It will be on display from May 8 through May 24.