NEA grants support wide range of activities, events
Arts sector in NM will share a total of $150K
The arts sector is a driving force in New Mexico.
Though these organizations are closed for the time being, plans for upcoming exhibits continue.
The National Endowment for the Arts recently announced its fiscal year 2020 recipients; seven northern New Mexico organizations were awarded a total of $150,000.
According to the NEA, Wise Fool New Mexico was awarded $30,000 to support youth circus and arts training and performances.
“Programs will consist of in-school and after-school classes and youth camps, as well as partnerships with local arts and service organizations to bring circus arts to their constituencies,” according to Wise Fool New Mexico. “Classes will include hands-on instruction in genres, such as puppetry, physical theater, aerial fabric and trapeze, acrobatics and juggling.”
Both Music from Angel Fire, Inc. and the International Folk Art Foundation were awarded $25,000.
Music from Angel Fire is a summer music chamber festival that features ensemble and solo performances, a composer residency, a Young Artists Series and classroom concerts for local area youth in rural northern New Mexico.
Meanwhile, the International Folk Art Foundation will use the funds to support “Dressing with Purpose: Belonging and Resistance in Scandinavia” at the Museum of International Folk Art. The exhibit is slated for December 2021.
The exhibit will examine the use of traditional dress as a response by three Scandinavian cultures — Swedish, Norwegian and Sámi, the indigenous people of Scandinavia — to cultural and political change, the foundation said.
Examples of various articles of clothing, accessories and jewelry will demonstrate the role dress traditions play in efforts to maintain a sense of identity and stability in an increasingly homogenized society.
According to the grant application, label copy, photographs, recorded interviews and a documentary film will complement the exhibit.
The Poeh Cultural Center in the Pueblo of Pojoaque will receive $20,000 for traditional arts instruction.
According to the center, an advisory committee will work with tribal leaders, Tewa students, teachers, community
members and cultural advisors to restructure the center’s traditional arts instruction program.
“The redesign of the course will be focused on instruction in Pueblo pottery, traditional embroidery, regalia-making, weaving and moccasin-making,” the grant stated.
The Ralph T. Coe Foundation for the Arts was awarded $20,000 to support the “James Kivetoruk Moses: Master Artist” exhibit.
It will feature paintings from the self-taught Alaska natives that accurately portray the lives of indigenous people in early 20th-century Alaska. Public lectures, artist-lead discussions and interactive projects are planned for the run of the exhibition.
SITE Santa Fe will use its $20,000 award to support a retrospective exhibition and catalogue of work by Brazilian artist Regina Silveira.
The exhibit will include more than 70 works, including prints, drawings, maquettes and ephemera, and will explore the artist’s interest in conceptual investigations of light and shadow, perspective and perception, and architectural interventions and installations. The exhibition will feature site-specific installations along hallways, floors and ceilings, as well as on billboards on the building’s exterior.
And $10,000 was awarded to Santa Fe Pro Musica to support a performance project of chamber orchestra programs. The ensemble will present orchestral programs and a free youth concert at the Lensic Performing Arts Center.
The state-run New Mexico Arts is receiving $747,000 in a partnership award to support arts programs, services and activities associated with carrying out the agency’s NEAapproved strategic plan.
The NEA is the independent federal agency whose funding and support gives Americans the opportunity to participate in the arts, exercise their imaginations and develop their creative capacities.
“There are many great projects happening in the area, as well as the State Arts Agency’s partnership award, which will allow these federal funds to address priorities identified at the state level,” said Allison Hill, NEA spokeswoman.