Orchestral Symphonic Music

When the New Mexico Symphony closed its doors in 2011, the Foundation held a number of funds for the benefit of the Symphony. One of the many values of endowed funds is they are protected from bankruptcy and can be reallocated to similar groups that continue the mission of the original organization. Today, the Foundation leverages the Symphony’s endowment funds to support symphonic music performances and education through our Orchestral Symphonic Music Grant Program.

2018 Recipients Albuquerque Youth Symphony, $28,500 New Mexico Philharmonic, $84,425 New Mexico Symphonic Chorus, $5,000 Opera Southwest, $14,000

Bryan Konefsky

When Bryan Konefsky moved to Albuquerque from Connecticut nearly thirty years ago, he was a graduate student starting his MFA in painting at UNM. Within a year, he had sold all of his painting equipment and began collecting what he refers to now as his “palette of cameras.” It started with a 16mm camera and grew quickly from there. Eventually becoming the first person to graduate from UNM with an MFA in “Moving Image Art,” Bryan has since been an adjunct professor, lecturer and principal lecturer on film history and film production at UNM.

In the community, Bryan is known as the creative face of Basement Films and the founder of the internationally renowned, Experiments in Cinema, an annual experimental film festival rooted in community and not awards. As a filmmaker, Bryan saw the “good, bad and ugly” of the film festival circuit and established Experiments in Cinema as an inclusive festival that reduced barriers, like high registration fees, which often prohibit struggling filmmakers from entering their work into festivals. Working with such a wide breadth of filmmakers led Bryan to the next step in his career: moving image philanthropist.

In 2018, Bryan established the Bryan Konefsky Fund to support later-in-life film and moving image artists. After noting many funding opportunities exist for the “next great artist,” Bryan sought to establish a fund that focuses on artists who “have a little life behind them,” as he explains. These artists make up Albuquerque’s creative community—a vibrant hub of artistic visionaries who have chosen to live here, work here or have their projects screened here. Through his Fund, Bryan hopes to create another layer of opportunity to support what he calls Albuquerque’s “dynamic and exciting community of media artists.”