The inaugural Field Guide—a guidebook to arts and culture across northern New Mexico—drops in print and online on July 31! To receive an issue delivered to your door, you can pre-order a copy now at our online shop. If you reside in Santa Fe, Albuquerque, or Taos, you’ll find print copies freely available at our 180+ distribution locations, and a digital PDF version is now available for download online, but I hope you will consider pre-ordering a copy. Pre-ordering not only saves you a trip out of the house—it helps us cover the costs of printing!
When I devised the first Field Guide in the latter half of 2019 as a new offering from Southwest Contemporary, I had imagined introducing it under very different circumstances. I was looking forward to launching the Field Guide as a way to usher in a New Mexico summer season full of markets, fairs, festivals, exhibition openings, opera tailgates, and fiestas—entirely devoid of masks and social distancing.
Then, within weeks during March, the world changed. The summer outlook appeared to collapse, and the very business of Southwest Contemporary has been challenged. Despite the obstacles we’ve faced, and ones that continue to unfold, the arts communities of New Mexico have blazed forward and banded together in new and inspiring ways. Artists, organizations, and creators of all stripes worked to offer art as a salve for our hearts and minds through new digital and experiential initiatives (Read Maggie Grimason’s article on a few of these projects on page 12).
Against this backdrop, I’m especially thrilled, then, to introduce this inaugural Field Guide! Against all odds, we pulled together over 150 arts businesses, organizations, and creators spanning the creative industries in northern New Mexico (and a few beyond!) to participate in this new guidebook to New Mexico arts and culture. I envisioned this book to serve and bridge our creative communities, as a resource for locals and visitors alike to navigate, explore, and discover the arts and the infrastructure of creative professionals and organizations that support them.
In its pages, you’ll find maps of some of the major arts districts, listings of destinations including galleries, museums, performing arts venues, arts associations, art services, creative professionals, and more, and a highlight of some major anniversaries to celebrate in 2020. You’ll also find a section of featured artists, representing just a few of the thousands of talented contemporary artists that live across the state. Lastly, a calendar section that, while cut short by the effects of the pandemic, features both in-person and virtual events to check out over the coming months.
Southwest Contemporary has not been spared from the impacts of the pandemic, and this publication will be our last in print while we shift our focus to digital publishing and reconfigure our business model for the remainder of 2020 (with plans to bring back our print magazine in 2021). To keep up with our weekly content, resources, and future publications, please sign up for our newsletters, and follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
To pr-eorder your copy of the Field Guide, visit our online store.
Best wishes,
Lauren Tresp
editor + publisher, Southwest Contemporary
lauren@southwestcontemporary.com
