A Year of Inspiration Celebrating the Best of Everything
Every year since 2013, the Museum of International Folk Art has been named the top “Best of Santa Fe” museum by the Santa Fe Reporter. In Fiscal Year 2022-2023 (July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023), museum donors contributed generously to projects that inspire visitors from close to home and around the globe to engage in the museum’s international folk art exhibitions and programs. Their support generated total revenues of $787,000. The museum, widely recognized for its commitment to excellence in public education, reached a total of 76,590 participants this fiscal year, an extraordinary 20 percent more than the previous year. Some 207 students from the museum's three partner schools—Mandela International Magnet School, El Camino Real Academy and Abiquiu Elementary—participated, thanks to a program funded since 2012 in large part by the Partricia Arscott La Farge Foundation for Folk Art. In a partnership that is now in its sixth year, another 5,000 students from Cooking with Kids, a Santa Fe nonprofit, participated in educational folk art projects related to their studies. And at Gerard’s House in Santa Fe, a center for grieving children and their families, clients took part in folk art therapy lessons led by the museum’s award-winning bilingual educator, Kemely Gomez. Area educators and their schools again benefited from the Teacher’s Night Out Resource Fair this fiscal year. The museum and its partner, the Community Educators Network, have offered the program for 10 years, providing opportunity for educators to learn about valuable educational resources that encourage their students’ critical thinking and creativity. The museum’s mission “to connect communities through stories of dynamic cultural traditions, human creativity and resilience” was also brought to life as students were provided bus transportation to the museum. This opportunity was thanks to the Friends of Folk Art, whose Mardi Gras gala in February 2023 raised over $16,000 to support the program. Visitors of all ages came to see the museum’s extraordinary exhibitions. La Cartonería Mexicana/The Mexican Art of Paper and Paste, which opened in January 2023, features an imaginative array of papier-mâché piñatas, dolls and fantastical animals called alebrijes, many from the museum’s 8 | museumfoundation.org
Performers from Ballet Folklórico Santa Fe entertain guests at the Member Preview of La Cartoniería: The Mexican Art of Paper and Paste. Photo © Jane Phillips.
To support the Museum of International Folk Art, contact Laura Sullivan at 505 216.0829 or Laura@museumfoundation.org.
