Texas university cancels ICE-critical exhibition, History Colorado expands its Borderlands initiative with Ken Salazar, and more top Southwest art news for March 2026.
News:
University of North Texas Cancels Exhibition Critical of ICE
The University of North Texas’s College of Visual Arts and Design Galleries abruptly canceled Ni de Aquí, Ni de Allá, a solo show by Brooklyn-based, Dallas-raised artist Victor “Marka27” Quiñonez. The decision came down after the installation was complete, pulling work that sharply critiques Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The university has not publicly explained the decision, prompting concerns about censorship as the exhibition (planned for a four-month run) vanished from public view.
History Colorado, Ken Salazar Launch Long-Term Borderlands Partnership
History Colorado announced a partnership with former interior secretary Ken Salazar to expand its long-running Borderlands initiative through at least 2050. The initiative is anchored by Salazar’s donation of over 350 boxes of papers, art, and artifacts; a planned endowment; and new exhibitions and programs extending the project beyond Southern Colorado into New Mexico and Mexico.
Ekow Eshun Named Curator of SITE Santa Fe’s 2027 International Biennial
SITE Santa Fe appointed London-based curator, writer, and broadcaster Ekow Eshun to organize their next biennial, the 13th SITE Santa Fe International, slated to open in summer 2027. Additional details, including artists and themes, are expected in fall 2026. “Overall, the thing I strive for as a curator is to create moments of encounter between audience and artist,” Eshun told Jordan Eddy in an interview preceding the announcement.
Venice Biennale Shrinks Main Exhibition, Includes Few Southwest-Connected Names
The 61st Venice Biennale’s main exhibition, In Minor Keys, announced a roster of 111 participating artists and collectives, a dramatically smaller slate than the 331 artists and collectives in the 2024 edition. The show was conceived by curator Koyo Kouoh and is being carried forward by her collaborators following her 2025 death. The American Southwest’s footprint is small on the list, led by Salt Lake City–born Éric Baudelaire plus a handful of Southwest-adjacent artists based in Los Angeles.
Also:
- In conjunction with their multi-phase exhibition Into the Time Horizon, Nevada Museum of Art will host the Art + Environment Summit, April 16-18 in Reno. Headliners include Kim Stanley Robinson, Jeffrey Gibson, LaToya Ruby Frazier, and Cannupa Hanska Luger.
- The Biennale of Sydney confirmed a strong American Southwest thread in its forthcoming edition Rememory (opening March 14), with New Mexico–based artists Nikesha Breeze, Cannupa Hanska Luger (Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara, Lakota), Rose B. Simpson, Daisy Quezada Ureña, and Vicente Telles among its finalized slate of participants.
- Santa Fe painter–based Lara Nickel will debut her monumental installation 12 Horses — Homage to Jannis Kounellis at the Malta Biennale 2026, opening March 11.
- In a sharply critical first-person essay for Artnet News, New Mexico–based artist Judy Chicago recounted how a proposed public-art commission for Google’s renovation of Chicago’s Thompson Center unraveled amid shifting parameters, communication hurdles, and disputes over artistic control.
- Santa Fe’s Institute of American Indian Arts has publicly released the IAIA Museum Records Collection, a new online archive documenting the history and operations of the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts. It includes exhibitions and programming, primarily spanning 1982 to 2022.
- Currents New Media in Santa Fe announced a new exhibition partnership with Relay Santa Fe, a community arts space. The collaboration kicks off with Orchestrated Systems, a sound-and-movement group show.
- Santa Fe’s Form & Concept gallery folded its branding and programming into Zane Bennett Contemporary Art, consolidating the two “sister” gallery identities under a single banner. The new program will continue form & concept’s experimental focus while deepening the gallery’s printmaking commitments through partnerships with national and international print publishers.
- A new report by data analyst Peter Zandan argues that Santa Fe has the nation’s highest per-capita “creative concentration,” synthesizing national arts rankings and economic data. The finding inspired the launch of the inaugural Santa Fe Magazine Festival, June 12-14 at St. John’s College.
- The Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, owned by the 19 Pueblos of New Mexico, will mark its 50th anniversary in 2026 with yearlong programming, including the opening of the touring exhibition Grounded in Clay: The Spirit of Pueblo Pottery in March and a special anniversary event planned for late August.
- Lucile Leigh-Grieder (1942-2026), a longtime supporter of Taos’s Harwood Museum of Art, died on January 14. “Lucile seemed to be everywhere in Taos all at once,” wrote Harwood executive director Juniper Leherissey.
- Fort Worth–based artist and educator Carol Ivey, a longtime presence in the city’s art community who helped sustain Austin’s Women & Their Work, died suddenly on February 8 at age seventy-six.
- The Utah Museum of Fine Arts celebrated the installation of Robert Indiana’s LOVE (Red Outside/Blue Inside) on its south lawn in Salt Lake City with a public event on February 7.
Grants and Awards:
Helen Frankenthaler Foundation Awards $50K to UNM Art Museum
The University of New Mexico Art Museum in Albuquerque received a $50,000 unrestricted grant from the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation to support exhibitions, teaching initiatives, and institutional priorities. The award follows UNMAM’s participation in the Foundation’s Frankenthaler Prints Initiative, which supported the 2025 exhibition Push & Pull: The Prints of Helen Frankenthaler and Her Contemporaries and an affiliated curatorial art history course.
Also:
- The Walker Youngbird Foundation named Chicago-based artist Chelsea Bighorn (Lakota/Dakota/Shoshone-Paiute), who was born and raised in Tempe and studied at IAIA in Santa Fe, a recipient of its 2026 Emerging Native Arts Grant. The $15,000 unrestricted award supports a new sculptural project, with a public showcase slated for later this year.
- Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass Village, Colorado, named Marilyn Minter its 2026 International Artist Honoree, announcing July festivities including a documentary screening and a public conversation with New Museum director Lisa Phillips.
- Albuquerque-based illustrator Zahra Marwan is a 2026 Maurice Sendak Fellow, earning a four-week residency at Sendak’s former Ridgefield, Connecticut, home and a $5,000 award to support a self-directed project.
- The City of Albuquerque‘s Department of Arts & Culture announced the 2026 Creative Bravos Awards winners, with honorees including the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center and Fusion Theatre, to be celebrated at a free March 14 ceremony at Albuquerque Museum.
- The Milwaukee-based Ruth Foundation for the Arts named four Texas organizations—Houston’s DiverseWorks and Project Row Houses, Austin’s Fusebox, and San Antonio’s Sala Diaz—as 2025-2028 Core Grant recipients, awarding each $150,000 in unrestricted support over three years.
Leadership Changes and Appointments:
McNay Names Elizabeth Kathleen Mitchell Head of Curatorial Affairs
The McNay Art Museum in San Antonio appointed Elizabeth Kathleen Mitchell its head of curatorial affairs. Mitchell joined the museum in 2025 as curator of prints and drawings, and will continue in that role while overseeing the McNay’s curatorial departments. She previously held senior curatorial and leadership posts at Stanford’s Cantor Arts Center and earlier worked in prints and drawings at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Arvada Center Names Noelle DeLage President and CEO
The Arvada Center for Arts and Humanities in Denver announced Noelle DeLage as its next president and CEO, effective July 1. DeLage joins from the Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance, where she led major fundraising and communications efforts, including a campaign that surpassed $82 million. She succeeds Philip C. Sneed, who retires June 30, as the Arvada Center marks its 50th anniversary.
Also:
- The Southwestern Association for Indian Arts in Santa Fe named Leslie Wheelock (Oneida Nation of Wisconsin) as its 2026 board chair, joining an executive committee that includes JoAnn Chase (Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation) as vice chair, Randy Chitto (Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians) as secretary, and Nicole Johnnie (Navajo Nation) as treasurer, as the organization heads toward its 104th annual Santa Fe Indian Market, August 15-16.
- The New Mexico Humanities Council elected a new executive committee, naming Fabian A. Sisneros board chair and Myrriah Gómez vice chair. Chelsea Jones, a governor’s appointee to the board, will serve as treasurer, and longtime board member Jonatha Kottler steps into the secretary role.
- New Mexico History Museum executive director Billy Garrett retired after leading the museum since 2019, with deputy director Maria Sanchez-Tucker stepping in as interim director. The shift comes amid broader leadership changes in Santa Fe, including Marisa Sage’s appointment as executive director of the New Mexico Museum of Art.
- Lawrence Ryan, a longtime fundraising leader at the University of New Mexico, was announced as the next president and CEO of the Museum of New Mexico Foundation, succeeding Jamie Clements and beginning April 1.
- Alison Weaver, founding executive director of Rice University’s Moody Center for the Arts, is departing Houston to become director of New York University’s Grey Art Museum, succeeding longtime leader Lynn Gumpert.
- The Cedars Union arts incubator in Dallas elected longtime board member and early volunteer Andrea Perez as its new board chair. Perez, who specializes in art law, has served on the board for seven years. CU named board member Kristina Kirkenaer-Hart vice chair, following her recent win at the Dallas Entertainment Awards.
