Funding for library, natural history museum, filmmakers
ALBUQUERQUE — The New Mexico Humanities Council awarded 10 grants to non-profits around the state, totaling $55,000 in funding. The organizations receiving the grant awards will match them with more than $184,969 in in-kind contributions. These grants help promote and advance discussions in their respective topics, promoting community conversations and civic dialogue to take place at each public program.
With the assistance of the New Mexico Humanities Council, these programs are offered to the public free of charge or at a minimal entrance fee.
The New Mexico Humanities Council supports these non-profit organizations to help develop their public humanities programs for New Mexico audiences and provides general support to help accomplish their core humanities missions.
The NMHC board of directors approved funding for the following projects in the February 2018 grant cycle:
$6,000 to El Rito Public Library for From Sapawe to El Rito: A Community Explores Its Rich Heritage, a non-traditional scholarly conference that is free and open to the public. Archaeologists who have done research in the region around El Rito present their unpublished findings. Panelists will lead interpretive tours to Casitas Viejas and Sapawe. The conference takes place the first weekend in September at the El Rito Campus of Northern New Mexico College. For more information, please contact project director Dr. Susan Boyle at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
$7,000 to The Language Conservancy for The Keres Summer Institute. In partnership with the Acoma Pueblo Department of Education, The Language Conservancy will be hosting a public Native language cultural event at New Mexico State University-Grants, May 21-25. The public is invited to learn the basics of Keres, participate in local cultural events, and help to revitalize this critically endangered language. This program is free and open to the public. For more information, please contact the project director Mr. Willem de Reuse at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
$4,000 to SOMOS, the Society of the Muse of the Southwest of Taos, for 2018 SOMOS Writers Series. This series will present nationally known writers and poets including Pulitzer Prize winning Tyehimba Jess, a poet who bridges slam and academia; Kate Christensen, winner of the Pen Faulkner award for “The Great Man” and Naomi Shihab Nye, four-time Pushcart Prize winner and Palestinian-American poet, novelist, and songwriter. Each author will present a reading at the Harwood Museum with a Q&A afterwards. For times, dates and further information, please contact the project director, Jan Smith at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
$5,000 to the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science for the Da Vinci Dialogues. A series of panel discussions, lectures and workshops will take place during the “Da Vinci-The Genius” exhibition that illustrates the many facets of Leonardo’s genius as an artist, inventor, and scientist. For a listing of program dates and times, please visit www.nmnaturalhistory.org or contact project director, Ayesha Burdett at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
$3,000 to the Questa Creative Council for Questa History & Community Trail Events. This program will bring historians and other community leaders to speak to the issues of archaeology, history, diversity, religion, past and living traditions of the area. An interpretive tour of the Questa Trail with local historian Flavio Cisneros will be held June 2 on National Trails Day. A second program with Dr. Rael-Galvez will be held later in the summer. These programs bring attention to the trail-development project that is underway in Questa. For further information, please contact the project director Alberta Bouyer at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or visit www.QuestaCreative.org.
$5,000 to Western New Mexico University for ¡Fiesta Latina! The three-day event will present Transcending Borders, a free, five-part documentary film discussion series featuring the stories behind the art of five world-renowned Mexican folk artists. This program fosters understanding of the historical, economic, social and cultural significance of forms of traditional Hispanic folk art. The film discussion series will be held in the historic WNMU Light Hall on June 22-24. Artists include Patricia Castillo, Porfirio Gutiérrez, Don Habacuc Avendano, Brothers Roberto Abraham and Jose Manuel Ruiz, and photographer Eric Minding. For further information, please visit www.fiestalatina.org or contact the project director Faye McCalmont at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
$4,500 to the City of Roswell-Roswell Museum and Art Center for Magical & Real: A Lecture Series Examining the Life and Work of Artists Henrietta Wyeth and Peter Hurd. The series will include a panel discussion and five lectures presented during a retrospective exhibition of the artist’s paintings at the Roswell Museum. Topics include biographies of the artists, an examination of their work and influences, the importance of place to the artists, and the significance of the artistic contributions of Peter Hurd and Henriette Wyeth and their place in the larger dialogue of 20th century American art. For further information, contact project director Caroline Michelle Brooks at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or visit www.roswellmuseum.org.
$5,500 to Cinefemme for Route 66 Women in New Mexico: Film Screening and Discussion Programs. This program is based around the documentary film “The Women on The Mother Road” by filmmaker Katrina Parks. In Fall 2018, Katrina Parks and a panel of experts will take the film to Gallup, Tucumcari, Albuquerque and Santa Fe, towns that are tied to the historic highway and have strong interest in Route 66 preservation and interpretation. Historian Dr. Virginia Sharff, author Sharon Neiderman and historian Dr. Rose Diaz will discuss New Mexico’s rich Route 66 heritage and diverse women’s experiences in New Mexico along the mother road. For more information, please contact project director Katrina Parks at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
$4,500 to the Santa Fe Desert Chorale for Ten Free Public Adult Lectures in conjunction with the 2018 Santa Fe Desert Chorale Summer Festival Programming. The Santa Fe Desert Chorale (SFDC) will present 10 adult lectures before each of its 2018 performances. Concert programs include: Bernstein, Bolcom and Barber: Twentieth Century American Masters, Sure on this Shinning Night: Choral Works that Evoke the Beauty of the Natural World, and The New World: Journey from the Inca Trail. The lectures will be given by experts on the music performed on each concert program. Lectures are free and open to the public. For more information, contact the project director Janice L. Mayer at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or visit www.desertchorale.org.
$4,500 to New Mexico State University for New Mexican Rural Heritage Oral History Project. This project will gather information about the daily lives of individuals in rural New Mexico, especially the large and sparsely populated ranches that occupied much of central and eastern NM during the early twentieth century. The project will include oral history interviews from Tularosa, Roswell, Estancia, and Black Lake. Interviews and associated materials will be curated at the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum in Las Cruces, and transcripts will be accessible via their website. For more information, please contact project director Kelly Lee Jenks at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
$6,000 to the Gila Conservation Coalition for the 14th Annual Gila River Festival. The 14th annual festival honors the 50th anniversary of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act and celebrates the rivers of New Mexico and the nation. Sen. Tom Udall, D-NM, will give the keynote address. Lecture topics from distinguished scholars will include river histories and current threats, our insatiable quest for water, river photos and stories, water law in the American West, and Navajo filmmaker Tony Estrada will introduce his film about Native American’s water protection activities. For more information, contact project director Donna Stevens at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or visit www.gilaconservation.org.
