Traditional Spanish Market deserves support
Traditional Spanish Market is one of the crown jewels of a Santa Fe summer. One of three heritage events guaranteed use of the Plaza — the others are Santa Fe Indian Market and Fiesta de Santa Fe — the traditional market returns every July, with the Contemporary Hispanic Market along Lincoln Avenue as its complement. Yet despite its premier status as an event that both attracts visitors and provides economic opportunity to artists who keep alive centuries-old traditions, Traditional Spanish Market is struggling.
It cannot be allowed to fade away — or, perhaps just as bad, be turned into something foreign to its character.
The arts of the colonial frontier in New Mexico are rooted in this place — instead of gold or silver, those early artists used straw, weaving the humble material into pieces of beauty. They learned to hammer tin and forge iron. Women embroidered the tablecloths and pillowcases of their homes, using hand-dyed materials to bring color and beauty to every room. Santeros painted the saints of their faith on wood, creating retablos, or carved them in wood, making bultos. And through conquest by the United States, the struggle of life on a rough frontier, various wars, the coming of the railroad, industrialization, drought and the never-ending influx of new residents with new ideas, these artforms — and the men and women who make them — endure.
Key to that survival for the past 70 years has been the Spanish Colonial Arts Society, formed in 1925 to preserve the living arts of Spanish Colonial New Mexico. Since opening the Spanish Colonial Arts Museum in 2002, the society has had to juggle its responsibilities for the summer and winter markets and the museum.
Today, though, many artists feel they are no longer a priority and society staff members are under pressure to preserve collections, present exhibitions and shepherd the summer market (artists have taken over presenting the winter market). Like most live events, Traditional Spanish Market suffered during the pandemic.
As reported last week in The New Mexican, the board of the Spanish Colonial Arts Society is wrestling with what to do about the summer market. The board is considering partnering with a nonprofit or private organization to put on the market as one way to relieve pressures. The 2023 Traditional Spanish Market will be presented as usual, board members say, but its future is uncertain.
It is clear the Traditional Spanish Market needs to be nurtured by organizers who love and appreciate Colonial Spanish art. It needs organizers who can speak to artists, respect their viewpoints and include them in decisions. It needs support for marketing and logistics, and could use assistance from professionals in the city and state tourism departments to navigate these choppy currents.
Key to making this happen is for board members and artists to leave past disagreements behind — and there are many — and focus on the future.
To do immediately: Ask more Santa Feans to join the Spanish Colonial Arts Society. Membership levels start at $25 for students, $50 for individuals, $100 for households and continue up to $5,000 for a friend of the society.
We can all use more friends, right? A surge in membership dollars will help pay for the summer market. Putting on a market will not make the society loads of money, but done right, it can at least come close to breaking even.
In the longer term: Look for grants, donations or other dollars to hire a staff member — someone who knows Spanish Colonial art and artists — whose responsibility will be putting on market. That would relieve other staff members to focus on collections and launching exhibitions to draw in visitors. Traditional Spanish Market should become a draw that sends people to the museum, creating a relationship that makes both stronger.
For a model of how that can work, call folks at the Heard Museum in Phoenix, home of the Heard Museum Guild Fair and Indian Show every spring. The museum even closes early on the opening day of the fair to host the Best of Show reception. Museums and markets can be incredible partners. For that to happen in Santa Fe, it’s time to hit the reset button. Traditional Spanish Market deserves no less.