Chama Valley Arts
Cultivating creativity, learning, and community through arts and culture
At Chama Valley Arts, we cultivate creativity, learning, and community through arts and culture. We fill the gaps in our schools, collaborating with Chama and Dulce Schools to host their students at our arts center and working with other organizations to provide arts enrichment experiences in the schools. We offer youth and adult classes, camps at the arts center, and are opening a new pottery studio. In 2021, we inherited the Chama Valley Art Festival and Studio Tour, which is now in its 18th year. We host annual events such as the Youth Creator Showcase and the Winter Art Market.
One excellent example of how our community has come to be a part of all we do was when the volunteers who were supposed to help set up for the Entre Flamenco performance both got sick. Our director, Anita Massari, thought she would manage on her own. That day, two different neighbors checked in to see how they could help. Our community takes ownership of the arts center.
This summer, we offered stipends to middle schoolers to help out at summer camp and had some stellar young leaders show up. The Missoula Children’s Theatre (MCT) camp took place the week following the second Heart Strings camp. One student, Nicholas, decided to come to MCT after a great week taking care of the arts center and the younger campers. Nicholas played the part of the Giant in Jack and the Beanstalk. He had some big solos and backstage he guided his younger cohorts to make better decisions during the long rehearsals and two performances. These experiences will reverberate through his continued growth as he enters seventh grade and develops life-skills, which will be much needed in his transition into high school and beyond.
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The Santa Fe Community Foundation invited its nonprofit grantees to submit stories related to our July topic of Arts & Culture.
New Mexico Acequia Association
Youth education and outreach are central to the work of the New Mexico Acequia Association. Through these programs, young people engage with their local acequias and build the skills to become future community leaders.
River Source
River Source supports people advancing watershed stewardship to create significant community engagement and long-lasting impacts for intergenerational learning and ecological restoration. We provide science and policy education and the building of watershed and climate resilience in New Mexico. Our goal is to be weavers, bringing together elders, youth, and land managers to spark action for caring for our water, forests, and land and leveraging the full potential of people working together.
The Art of Generosity: Bienvenidos Outreach
The Art of Generosity — our new editorial series with Table Magazine — shines light on the people and organizations strengthening communities across New Mexico. In this first story, we meet Susan Tarver of Bienvenidos Outreach, whose work reflects how compassion, connection, and everyday acts of generosity can help neighbors meet basic needs and build lasting support systems.
