Barbie mania ends and a new fashion era begins at Phoenix Art Museum, and more Southwest art news headlines for July 2024.
News
On Heels of Successful Barbie Exhibition, Phoenix Art Museum Announces Major Gift to Expand Fashion Galleries
The Phoenix Art Museum is expanding the footprint of its fashion galleries fivefold, thanks to a significant (though unspecified) contribution from museum supporters and former board trustees Kelly and Steve Ellman. The Kelly Ellman Fashion Galleries will open October 9, 2024 with The Collection: Greatest Fits (Vol. 1): The Art of Archiving Fashion, the first in a trilogy of survey exhibitions exploring the museum’s fashion holdings. The announcement arrives in the final days of the museum’s popular Barbie®: A Cultural Icon Exhibition and a concurrent fashion display, The Power of Pink.
Las Vegas Gallery Shutters, Underscoring Difficulties for Las Vegas Arts District
After eight years in the Las Vegas Arts District, Priscilla Fowler Gallery is closing its doors on Friday. The privately funded gallery, one of a handful in the neighborhood, changed locations four times during its tenure. “As far as emotions, I’m mostly just pissed off. The rents keep going up,” says Fowler. “My rent’s $4,000, my staff is $2,000, and I have to pay utilities—that’s $10,000 a month. People don’t realize how much it takes to keep these things going.” She calls on the City of Las Vegas to provide more funding for arts activity in the district.
As Arizona Lawmakers Slash State Arts Funding, Arts Foundation in Tucson Celebrates Robust Funding Efforts
A recent 60% cut in state funding for Arizona Commission on the Arts—just as the state arts agency announced a new executive director—raised questions about the future of government funding for the arts in Arizona. The change may increase pressure on smaller organizations like the Arts Foundation for Tucson and Southern Arizona, which recently released a four-year report celebrating $3.2 million in grants to 672 artists and arts organizations. AFTSA doesn’t rely on state funding, instead drawing from the City of Tucson, Pima County, the National Endowment for the Arts, and other local, regional, and federal funding sources.
Grants and Awards
Silver City, New Mexico-Based Artist Honored with Gottlieb Foundation Grant
Painter SR Mattoose of Silver City, New Mexico is one of twenty artists—and the only artist based in the Southwest—to receive a $25,000 Individual Support Grant from the Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation.
Local Arts Journalism Publisher Among Honorees in Salt Lake City Mayor’s Arts Awards
Angela H. Brown, publisher of online underground culture magazine SLUG, was honored in a late June ceremony for the Salt Lake City Mayor’s Arts Awards. The event celebrated five SLC-based individuals and organizations.
Phoenix Art Museum Awards Grants, Exhibition Opportunities to Three Arizona Artists
Safwat Saleem, Elizabeth Z. Pineda, and Omar Soto are the 2024 recipients of Arizona Artist Awards from the Phoenix Art Museum. Saleem receives $20,000 and a lifetime museum membership, Pineda and Soto receive $10,000 each, and all will be offered exhibition opportunities.
Ucross Gets (More) Cinematic with New Sundance Institute Producers Lab Fellowship
The Ucross Foundation in Wyoming hosts visual artists, writers, and composers year-round for residencies at its historic 20,000-acre ranch. In a new partnership with the Sundance Institute, Ucross invites ten film producers to draw inspiration from the property’s cinematic vistas.
Warhol Foundation’s $2 Million Fall Funding Round Benefits Southwest Arts Institutions
Three Southwestern museums will receive exhibition support grants in the Andy Warhol Foundation’s fall 2024 funding round. Nevada Museum of Art will get $100,000 in support of its 2026–2027 exhibition Into the Time Horizon, which will feature over 100 artists reflecting on environmental crisis. Arizona State University Art Museum and the Rubin Center for the Visual Arts at University of Texas at El Paso will accept $100,000 towards two years of exhibition program support.
Five New Mexico Restoration Projects Receive NM Historic Preservation Grants Totaling $1 Million
The New Mexico Historic Preservation Division has announced grant funding for preservation projects across the state totaling $1 million. Recipients include the New Mexico State Land Office, which receives $248,000 to help stabilize four archaeological sites such as Bee Hółdzil (Navajo defensive structures) in the Dinétah region, and the City of Deming, which takes $20,000 to develop a preservation plan for Deming Luna Mimbres Museum.
New Artist Funding Opportunities in Colorado, New Mexico
Applications are open for two artist funding opportunities in the Southwest. In Denver, Redline Contemporary Art Center initiates a statewide application process for the Arts in Society Colorado Art Grant, open through September 6, 2024, with awards of $5,000-$35,000. New Mexico Art in Public Places launches the Southwest Artist Series Purchase Initiative, which seeks artworks from across the Southwest at a price range of $5,000-$50,000 through August 21, 2024.
Leadership Changes and Appointments
516 Arts Announces New Curator and Engagement Coordinator
Recent Southwest Contemporary contributor Olivia Amaya Ortiz is the new curator of 516 Arts in Albuquerque, while Claudia Hermano joins the nonprofit as engagement coordinator. Ortiz previously worked for Santa Fe’s Indian Arts Research Center, the Tucson Museum of Art, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Tucson.
Christina You-sun Park is the New Executive Director of Arizona Commission on the Arts
Phoenix-based artist and arts organizer Christina You-sun Park has accepted the executive directorship at Arizona Commission on the Arts, in the midst of major state funding challenges for the organization. “There’s a disconnect with what we know about the economic impact of the arts, as well as the way arts and culture feeds the soul, and what we see in public policy related to the arts,” she told SWC reporter Lynn Trimble.
