ARTSPeak                                                                          APRIL 2013

Manny Wheeler, Director Navajo Nation Museum.  TIME Coyote Canyon, coming in Summer 2013.  TIME is a collaboration of New Mexico Arts, Navajo Nation, Eileen Braziel Arts Advisors Santa Fe, and the international Land-Sensitive Art Foundation.
 
Executive Director's Notes

Greetings from the Executive Director

 

New Mexico Arts is continuing its partnership with the Navajo Nation Museum in working for a second year on a Navajo TIME (Temporary Installations Made for the Environment) project with a land-sensitive, temporary public art Installations planned for this summer in Coyote Canyon.

 

Navajo Nation Museum Director Manuelito Wheeler talks about our ongoing collaboration here. Also learn more about artist Federico Muela's work Blue Flower/Flor Azul public art installation at the George Pearl Hall School of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, commissioned by our public art program.

 

In the coming weeks, New Mexico Arts will be conducting on online survey as part of our efforts to gather input to update our strategic plan, so please stay tuned for that. We'll also be holding some public input sessions and targeted focus groups around our state and we will keep you posted on those too.

 

We're piggy-backing our strategic planning efforts this year with the community engagement meetings that our Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) Secretary Veronica Gonzales has been holding around New Mexico over the past year to better define our collective priorities for arts and culture in New Mexico and to develop strategies to more effectively advocate for these issues. Please see New Mexico Arts current strategic plan and DCA's plan.

 

We do want to hear from you as we update our strategic plan this year and submit our three-year partnership application to our federal funder, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), due in September.

 

So please let us know what you think of the job we do as your state arts agency and what we could do to serve you better. Given our limited budget and tight staffing situation at New Mexico Arts, what should we focus on to stay most relevant to your needs? Are there better ways for us to work together and collaborate to leverage our impact.

 

If you are one of our arts services grantees, we'd also like to know what you think of GO, our new online grant application and peer panel review system, now that we've completed our first application and review cycle.

 

Our advisory Arts Commission will be voting to approve our grant awards for the next fiscal year at its upcoming June 6 meeting in Santa Fe. We expect to award about $1 million in both federal and state monies to about 160 nonprofit arts organizations in FY14, which begins July 1.

 

New Mexico Arts ended up with an essentially flat state budget for FY14 during the 60-day legislative session earlier this year. And while we anticipate cuts in our federal funding from the NEA for next year, due to sequestration, we are pleased that we have been able to keep our arts services grants budget at about $1 million for the next year.

 

Our partner in our state Arts and Cultural Districts program - the Economic Development Department's MainStreet program - did receive some additional funding for FY14 from the Legislature and the Governor so we are expecting to authorize two new districts in the coming year.

 

I want to congratulate our state Poetry Out Loud Champion who is competing in the national finals April 28-30 in Washington DC sponsored by the NEA and the Poetry Foundation. SethWilson Gray, a sophomore at V. Sue Cleveland High School in Rio Rancho beat out 10 other finalists at our state Poetry Out Loud Championship in March. You can watch the national Poetry Out Loud championship semi-finals and finals, one-time-only webcast. You can also follow Poetry Out Loud on Twitter at @PoetryOutLoud and @NEAarts, hashtag #POL13.

 

Save the date - this year's Annual Governor's Awards for Excellence will be held Friday, September 27, 2013 in Santa Fe. This will be the 40th celebration of our governor's arts awards, which is a collaboration of New Mexico Arts, the New Mexico Museum of Art, the Governor's Office and other partners.

 

Loie Fecteau

Executive Director

loie.fecteau@state.nm.us.

 

NEW MEXICO STATE CHAMPION WILL TAKE PART IN THE FINALS OF

POETRY OUT LOUD: NATIONAL RECITATION CONTEST

 

SethWilson (cq) Gray, a sophomore at V. Sue Cleveland High School in Rio Rancho, is representing New Mexico in the national finals of Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest April 28-30 in Washington DC. 

 

Gray, 16, beat out ten other finalists in March at the 8th Annual New Mexico State Finals of Poetry Out Loud, sponsored by New Mexico Arts.

 

Gray received $200 and an all-expense paid trip with chaperone to Washington DC. His school receives a $500 stipend to purchase poetry books for the school library.

  

Over 1,300 students and 25 teachers in New Mexico took part in Out Loud at the school level across New Mexico.

  

Poetry Out Loud seeks to foster the next generation of literary readers by building on the resurgence of poetry as an oral art form, as seen in the slam poetry movement and the popularity of rap music.  

  

Poetry Out Loud encourages high school students to learn about great poetry through memorization and performance and is the creation of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the Poetry Foundation. New Mexico students were among the approximately 400,000 students nationwide who took part this year at the classroom level.

 

The Poetry Out Loud National Finals are taking place in Washington DC at the Lisner Auditorium on the campus of The George Washington University on April 29 and 30. On April 29, students grouped in three geographic regions are competing in semifinal competitions.  Nine students (three from each region) will advance to compete in the National Finals on April 30. Poetry Out Loud events are free and open to the public.

 

NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS ANNOUNCES ART WORKS GRANTS INCLUDING SEVERAL NEW MExico Organizations.

 

Art Works grants support the creation of art that meets the highest standards of excellence, public engagement with diverse and excellent art, lifelong learning in the arts, and the strengthening of communities through the arts.  

 

New Mexico Recipients:

 

516 ARTS, Albuquerque, $35,000 

 

To support a multicultural exhibition series with accompanying public programming. The series will include three guest-curated exhibitions featuring works by Native American and US/Mexico border artists that explore themes of place and cultural identity.

 

Catholic Diocese of Las Cruces Foundation (aka Las Cruces International Mariachi Conference), Las Cruces, $30,000

 

To support the Mariachi Music and Folkloric Dance Program. The program includes instruction in music and folkloric dance for students, as well as professional development seminars for instructors. 

  

Center, Santa Fe, $14,000 

 

To support a residency opportunity for photographers. As many as four artists and one curator, selected by a peer review panel, will provide studio and darkroom access, equipment, honorarium, lodging, and meals.

  

Center for Contemporary Arts of Santa Fe, Santa Fe, $25,000

 

To support an exhibition, catalogue, and related public programming that explores New Mexico's identity as the birthplace of the atomic bomb.  The exhibit will examine the complexities of the nation's nuclear legacy by showing artwork that explores the atom bomb's effect on social-political thinking and technological innovations.

 

Cornerstones Community Partnerships, Santa Fe, $25,000

  

To support the Youth internship program.  Program participants will learn traditional building skills while helping restore the Tipton Barn, a National Historic Landmark, and San Acacio de Las Golondrinas Church, a historic mission church.

 

Cultural Services Department, City of Albuquerque, $12,000

 

To support Arte Encantado, a program that provides arts and cultural experiences for underserved youth from area middle schools with a Title I designation. Scheduled to take place at the Albuquerque Museum, of Art and History, ABQ BioPark, and Explora. 

 

Ensemble Music New Mexico, Albuquerque, $10,000

 

To support Slow Down, Albuquerque! a performance series by the resident chamber ensemble Chatter. The event will be offered as an antidote to "cyber connection obsession" and include concerts of chamber works by composers Morton Feldman, Giacinto Scelsi, and chamber orchestra arrangements of Mahler symphonies with performances at the Albuquerque Museum of Art and Kosmos Performance Space.

 

Friends of Orphan Signs, Albuquerque, $15,000

 

To support a collaborative public art initiative that revitalizes abandoned or unused road signs.  Engaging different sectors of the community, the project will include rotating commissions by artists who work directly with the public.

 

Institute of American Indian Arts Foundation, Santa Fe, $30,000

 

To support the organization and digitization of the National Collection of Contemporary Native American Art and to create an online database that will be freely and publicly accessible through New Mexico Digital Collections, a statewide online digital collections repository.

 

National Dance Institute of New Mexico (NDI-NM), Santa Fe, $30,000

 

To support Dancing to Excellence. The institute will provide weekly in-school classes at Albuquerque public elementary schools and offer after-school advanced dance training.

 

Santa Fe Art Institute, Santa Fe, $40,000

 

To support Contested Space, a presentation of artists and their works through lectures, workshops, exhibitions, and residencies.  From physical landscapes to digital environments, artists will examine how the arts shape public understanding of real and imagined spaces by communicating and exploring issues related to social justice, cultural freedom, and environmental responsibility.

 

Spanish Colonial Arts Society, Inc., Santa Fe, $19,000

 

To support archival activity, documentation, and online access to the museums' collections. The museum devoted exclusively to the traditional arts of the Spanish colonies, has a collection of both fine art and cultural objects that trace 1000 years of Hispanic tradition.

     

Ship of fools, Michael Scott, Oil on Canvas, Bataan Memorial Building
Ship of Fools, Michael Scott, Oil on Canvas, Bataan Memorial Building, Santa Fe.
In this Issue
Executive Director's Notes
New Mexico State Poetry Out Loud Champion Competes in Washington DC
NEA Art Works Grants Announced
Call for Artists DeVargas Park in Santa Fe
Call for Artists Rio Rancho City Centre
CALL FOR ARTISTS DEADLINE: MAY 5, 2013
 

New Mexico Arts seeks to commission light-based projects created for a one-day event to celebrate the reopening of DeVargas Park in Santa Fe. 

 

The event will start mid-afternoon on June 15 and run until about 10 p.m.  The artwork should be visible in the fading daylight and cannot require total darkness to work. The artwork can be strictly visual or incorporate sound and/or interactive elements.  Hi-Speed Wi-Fi will be available in the park for the event. 

 

Artwork that requires concrete pads or other environmentally damaging approaches will not be considered.  Artists will agree to remove their artwork and return the installation site to its original condition. 

 

Eligibility:

This request for qualifications is open to all artists/artist teams who are legal residents of New Mexico.

 

Project Amount

$1,000-$5,000 is available per project, to include:all fees and expenses associated with the project, e.g., materials, equipment, labor, permits, engineering documents, insurance, taxes, travel, installation, shipping, identification plaque, and written and professional photographic documentation.

 

Please see Prospectus #223 under Current Opportunities

 

CALL FOR ARTISTS DEADLINE: JUNE 2, 2013
 

New Mexico Arts and the local selection committee at Rio Rancho City Center seek an artist or artist team to create a site-specific commission project.  

  

The committee would like to commission an artwork that will invoke thought, engage visitors and staff of the City Center, and is distinct from existing work in the area. The work should speak to the future of this young (30 years) New Mexican City. The 10' x 54' reflecting pool plaza has been identified as the location for artwork placement.

 

Eligibility

The request for qualifications is open to all artists/artist teams who are legal residents of New Mexico.  Artists submitting qualifications should demonstrate experience commensurate with the project scope and budget. 

 

Project Amount

$52,750 is available for the project to include: all fees and expenses associated with the project, e.g., materials, equipment, labor, permits, engineering documents, insurance, taxes, travel, installation, shipping, identification plaque, and written and professional photographic documentation.

 

Please see Prospectus #222 under Current Opportunities

 

ARTIST DISCUSSION
 

Santa Fe artist Don Redman discusses his site-specific installation Camera Obscura in which he transformed the Centennial Project Space into a place where visitors could interact with projections from the heavens above.

Don Redman's Camera Obscura
Camera Obscura, Don Redman

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New Mexico Arts Mission:

To preserve, enhance, and develop the arts in New Mexico through partnerships, public awareness, and education, and to enrich the quality of life for present and future generations.
 

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