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Executive Director's Notes
Greetings from the Executive Director - and Happy Holidays!
We want to hear from you in the months ahead as New Mexico Arts updates our strategic plan in 2016, which will be our roadmap for the next three years. Tell us how you think your state arts agency is doing and how we might serve you better. This is an important periodic exercise we go through to chart our course and to satisfy the requirements of our partnership agreement with the National Endowment for the Arts, our federal funder. So stay tuned as we will be holding some public input sessions across our state, conducting focus groups and undertaking an online survey. Also feel free to email me or our staff at New Mexico Arts to share your thoughts and ideas of what you think we do well and what we might improve.
New Mexico Arts will be launching a new grants program in 2016 to supplement our existing arts services grants as part of the efforts by our Department of Cultural Affairs Cabinet Secretary Veronica Gonzales to follow up on the recommendations in the economic impact study DCA commissioned from the University of New Mexico's Bureau of Business and Economic Research (BBER). According to the BBER report, arts and cultural industries in New Mexico have a $5.6 billion impact on our state's economy and employ more people than the manufacturing and construction industries. The BBER study found that our arts and cultural industries support nearly 77,000 jobs in New Mexico - that's one in 10 jobs statewide.
However, the BBER study also identified a number of gaps in New Mexico that we need to capitalize on if the creative economy in our state is to grow and be truly competitive in the global marketplace. New Mexico Arts received an additional $100,000 in General Funds for the current fiscal year approved by our Governor Susana Martinez and the Legislature during the 2015 60-day regular legislative session - please note this is the first increase in General Fund program monies to the budget for New Mexico Arts since the bottom fell out of our state's economy in 2008/2009 and we lost a third of our state program funds due to the budget cuts across state government. We will be releasing specific details about this exciting new initiative in the weeks ahead, but it will be a new cultural industries grants track that will feature regional competitions with a public audience component aimed at encouraging entrepreneurship, creative enterprise and innovation, with the goal of stimulating arts-based economic development across our state.
With the support of the Governor, our Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) will be seeking, during the upcoming 30-day 2016 regular legislative session, an additional $150,000 in one-time special appropriations funding to expand this Art Tank program in FY17, the fiscal year that begins July 1, 2016. So we hope that you will help advocate for these additional General Fund monies for New Mexico Arts with your local state legislators. We also may need your help to protect the funding of our state public art program in the 30-day session, which begins Tuesday, January 19, 2016. As many of you know, our 1 percent for public art program was in serious danger of having more than $2 million in General Fund swept at the end of the 2015 regular session and then subsequent 2015 special legislative session - but strong advocacy by public art proponents and Executive support managed to hold off that sweep - and thank you to all who helped in that fight. We hope we don't face another sweep threat to our public art program funds, but we need to be ready just in case. Public art is the most democratic of all the arts because it belongs to the public for all to enjoy and is an important economic driver for our artists and galleries. And our state public art attractions provide an important cultural tourism resource in our communities.
I am happy to report that with the support of our DCA Cabinet Secretary Veronica Gonzales and leadership of DCA Deputy Secretary Michael Delello, we are making great progress in our public art spend down plan. We have a very useful background one-pager on our Web site that explains where we are with our state public art program spend down effort.
During the upcoming 2016 legislative session, we also support efforts by the state Economic Development Department's MainStreet program to: sustain MainStreet's operational services at $1,415,000 in recurring funds; secure $5 million for New Mexico MainStreet Public Infrastructure projects in commercial districts; amend the Cultural and Historic Properties Act to increase Historic Tax Credits for commercial property renovation. MainStreet and our DCA Historic Preservation Division are great partners in our Arts and Cultural Districts and our joint Building Creative Communities Conference.
New Mexico Arts and all DCA divisions will be at the State Capitol during the 30-day legislative session on Monday, February 1, 2016 for Culture Day. New Mexico Arts will have an informational table set up all day on the west side of the Capitol off the Rotunda. Please stop by and see us. Culture Day provides a great opportunity to schedule meetings with your local state representatives and senators to share information about what you do in your communities and how the arts make a difference in our state and benefit the lives of our people.
Please also mark your calendars for the 11th Annual Poetry Out Loud State Finals that will be held Sunday, March 6, 2016, beginning at 1 pm in St. Francis auditorium of the New Mexico Museum of Art. New Mexico Arts is very honored to present these State Finals for high school students from across our state on behalf of the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation. Our New Mexico state champion will compete in the national competition in the spring in Washington DC.
And lastly, please be sure to check out the new website for the New Mexico Music Commission, which is administratively attached to New Mexico Arts. Kudos to Music Commission Administrator Thomas Goodrich and DCA Deputy Chief Information Officer Doug Patinka for their amazing work on this project.
Loie Fecteau
Executive Director
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Second building Creative Communities Conference
Approximately 200 people from around the state gathered in Santa Fe from November 4-6, 2015, to participate in keynote plenary sessions, virtual communities, break-out sessions on public art, entrepreneurship, heritage trails, cross-sector partnerships, cultural landscapes, cultural corridors, and place making. Participants included arts council executive directors, MainStreet directors, preservation officers, artists, architects, and others. The conference was a joint effort of New Mexico Arts and Historic Preservation Divisions of the Department of Cultural Affairs and the Economic Development Department's MainStreet program. The conference theme was Connecting Creative Communities.
Highlights included the opening celebration which featured a stunning performance by
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The opening celebration featured Dancing Earth.
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internationally renowned dance artist and choreographer Rulan Tangen and her ensemble, Dancing Earth, and ended with a poetry performance by four students from New Mexico School for the Arts. Malcolm White, Tourism Director of the Mississippi Development Authority, explored the intersection of arts trails, tourism, and the creative economy and shared his experience working in a state as culturally rich as New Mexico. A panel of local professionals discussed the potential for public art to affect individuals and communities on a deeper level, and two short sessions explored community projects from around the state and how to develop creative entrepreneurs where you live. Check out all the conference happenings on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/BuildingCreativeCommunities/
Jenice gharib
grants manager / community & economic development
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meet our new Staff Members
Naomi Gibbons, Project Coordinator for Art in Public Places, is originally from Santa Fe and has been actively involved in the arts from a young age. She holds a BFA from the University of New Mexico with a concentration in Community Interactive Arts. Her diverse background working with galleries, non-profit organizations and museums inspired her to approach art in a socially holistic way. Two examples of this were her creation of The Shop, a consignment store supporting local young artists and the development of dynamic exhibition programming at that Center for Contemporary Arts in Santa Fe. She earned her yoga teaching certification and taught yoga to schoolchildren while living in New York City and has continued her practice as a yoga instructor since returning to New Mexico. In addition to her avid love for the arts, particularly public art and creative community engagement, she also enjoys venturing to new places, the outdoors, working to connect different STEAM fields, headstands and of course, eating chile!
Thomas Goodrich, New Mexico Music Commission Administrator, holds a Bachelor of Music Education from Ohio State and a Master of Music in Viola Performance from the Mannes College of Music. He has over fifteen years of experience as a music educator. Highlights include Director of Orchestras at Denver School of the Arts and conductor with the Albuquerque Youth Symphony Program. As a violist, he has performed with the Santa Fe Symphony and the New York Chamber Ensemble, among others. He has worked with several organizations as an administrator and currently serves as the Adjunct Professor of Strings at Santa Fe University of Art and Design. He remains active throughout the state as a conductor, clinician, and adjudicator and calls the beautiful Mora River valley home.
Nicholas Henderson, Contract Administrator for Art in Public Places, hails from Texas originally, but grew up primarily in Santa Fe. He joined the Army in 2009 where he managed government property and promoted unit readiness. During his service he lived in South Korea and Louisiana. After separating from Active Duty three years later, he worked with the New Mexico Corrections Department in multi-divisional purchasing and procurement code alignment. He is excited about this new chapter with New Mexico Arts.
Lilli Tichinin, Program Coordinator, hails from rural Northern California and joined New Mexico Arts in August 2015. She has most recently been working as the Accessibility Coordinator for the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Her background includes work at the Kentucky Folklife Program, oral history projects for the National Park Service, several years with the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, and outreach and teaching to first-year college students. She studied ballet and modern dance for twenty years and is an aspiring quilter. Lilli holds a MA in Folk Studies from Western Kentucky University and a BA in Anthropology (with a minor in Dance) and a Certificate in Folklore from the University of Oregon.
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United States of ARts:
New Mexico Film
Enjoy a taste of the dynamic arts landscape statewide by viewing the film
United States of Arts: New Mexico!
This film was the result of a creative collaboration between New Mexico Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts in celebration of the NEA's 50th Anniversary.
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POETRY OUT LOUD 2015-2016
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| | Poster design by Gary Cascio. Pastel by Mary Silverwood. White Sands National Monument no. 7. |
New Mexico Poetry Out Loud is up and running in high schools across our state. Eleven schools, 22 teachers, and 541 students are participating in this year's national recitation contest. Students from Albuquerque, Carlsbad, Deming, Las Cruces, Pojoaque, and Santa Fe are busy choosing poems they will memorize and recite in their school competitions.
The contest, now in its eleventh year, has become a tradition in many New Mexico schools. It encourages our youth to learn about great poetry through memorization and recitation. The program helps students master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about their literary heritage. Teachers appreciate it because it is a module that blends seamlessly with their Language Arts and Theatre Arts programs.
Poetry Out Loud uses a pyramid structure that starts at the classroom level. Winners advance to a school-wide competition, then to a state competition, and ultimately to the National Finals. Performers are judged on physical presence, voice and articulation, appropriateness of dramatization, evidence of understanding, and accuracy.
New Mexico Arts contracts with talented and qualified poet/educators who travel across the state to conduct workshops at the participating schools, sometimes with entire classes and sometimes with a smaller group consisting of classroom winners only. This year's workshop instructors are Lauren Camp and Anne MacNaughton.
For the state final event, New Mexico Arts brings in noted poets, educators, and performers to serve as judges. This year we welcome Hakim Bellamy, Debbi Brody, Lisa Chavez, and New Mexico Arts Commissioner, Tom Maguire. Former Santa Fe poet laureate and long-time friend of New Mexico Poetry Out Loud, Valerie Martinez, will be a judge at the National Finals in May 2016.
The state final Master of Ceremonies will be local KBAC radio host and New Mexico Arts program coordinator for Art in Public Places, Michelle Laflamme-Childs. Michelle will be joined on the program by Mi'Jan Celie Tho-Biaz, Visiting Scholar at Columbia University and former executive director of Santa Fe's Youth Media Project. Each winner at the state level receives $200 and an all-expenses-paid trip with an adult chaperone to Washington to compete for the national championship. The state winner's school receives a $500 stipend for the purchase of poetry books. The first runner-up in each state receives $100, with $200 for his or her school library. A total of $50,000 in awards and school stipends is awarded annually at the National Finals. New Mexico's state final will be held in Santa Fe at the St. Francis Auditorium, New Mexico Museum of Art, March 6, 2016.
The 2015-2016 participating schools are:
Bosque School, Albuquerque
Carlsbad High School,Carlsbad
Deming High School, Deming
La Cueva High School, Albuquerque
New Mexico School for the Arts, Santa Fe
Oņate High School, Las Cruces
Pojoaque Valley High School, Pojoaque
Public Academy for the Performing Arts, Albuquerque
Rio Grande Preparatory Institute, Las Cruces
Santa Fe High School, Santa Fe
Southwest Secondary Learning Center, Albuquerque
Poetry Out Loud is a partnership of the National Endowment for the Arts, the Poetry Foundation and state arts agencies. The New Mexico portion of the national poetry recitation contest is sponsored by New Mexico Arts.
pHYLLIS KENNEDY
PROGRAM COORDINATOR
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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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