Arts and Culture Department
Events
Contact Info
201 W. Marcy St.
PO Box 909
Santa Fe, NM 87501
artsandculture@santafenm.gov
505-955-6707
Hours
Monday - Friday
8:30 am - 5:30 pm
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Arts and Culture Staff
Chelsey Johnson
Director
cxjohnson@santafenm.gov
JenJoy Roybal
Assistant Director
jjroybal@santafenm.gov
Melissa Velasquez
Administrative Manager
mrvelasquez@santafenm.gov
Rebecca Aubin
Community Gallery Manager
rraubin@santafenm.gov
Sage Graham
Arts Services Coordinator
shgraham@santafenm.gov
Emi Bartholomew
Art Services Coordinator
elbartholomew@santafenm.gov
2026 Mayor’s Awards for Excellence in the Arts Honorees
Mayor Michael J. Garcia, the Arts & Culture Department, and the Santa Fe Arts Commission proudly announce the recipients of the 2026 Santa Fe Mayor’s Awards for Excellence in the Arts, recognizing eight individuals and organizations whose creativity, leadership, generosity, and innovation continue to shape Santa Fe as one of the world’s great arts cities.
These annual awards celebrate artists, educators, organizations, innovators, and arts leaders whose work has a profound cultural impact, strengthens community ties, carries forward heritage, inspires creativity, and advances Santa Fe’s identity as a UNESCO Creative City.
“The arts are the heart and soul of Santa Fe,” says Mayor Garcia. “They tell our stories, preserve our heritage, spark innovation, and bring people together across generations and cultures. This year’s honorees embody the creativity, generosity, and vision that make our city unlike any other in the world. On behalf of the people of Santa Fe, I congratulate these remarkable artists, educators, organizations, and community leaders for enriching our lives and ensuring that our creative legacy continues to inspire future generations.”
2026 Mayor’s Awards Ceremony
Honorees will be celebrated at the annual awards ceremony, a free, all-ages event open to the public, on Tuesday, September 29, from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m. at the Scottish Rite Center, 463 Paseo de Peralta, Santa Fe.
From October 2025 through May 2026, the community submitted nominations through an open call. Arts commissioners then reviewed the nominations and developed a shortlist, from which Mayor Garcia selected the eight awardees.
The Santa Fe Mayor’s Awards for Excellence in the Arts celebrate more than individual achievement. They reflect the City’s belief that arts and culture are essential civic infrastructure. They shape vibrant neighborhoods, embody and sustain heritage, expand educational opportunities, bolster the creative economy, and foster connections across our communities.
2026 Honorees
Honoring an artist or organization doing exceptional work in film, literary, new media, performing, visual, or other contemporary arts
Rose B. Simpson (Santa Clara Pueblo) is a renowned mixed-media artist whose work has been exhibited widely in the United States and internationally and is held in the collections of major museums around the world. Her practice encompasses ceramic sculpture, metals, fashion, performance, music, installation, writing, and custom cars, including her instantly iconic black-on-black, pottery-patterned El Camino lowrider, Maria, named in homage to Maria Martinez.
In addition to her extraordinary body of artwork, Simpson is honored for her inspiring and generous leadership, mentorship, and service to rising generations of artists, including through the New Mexico School for the Arts and the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA).
Honoring an outstanding educator or organization that inspires and engages students through the arts
Mary H. Olson is a legendary art teacher among the thousands of children she has taught, including during her 17 years at Wood-Gormley Elementary School, where she built a rich program incorporating the innovative Teaching Artistic Behavior pedagogy.
Olson brought in local guest artists and craftspeople to explore materials and processes connected to New Mexico history and culture, as well as contemporary arts. In 2018, the New Mexico Art Education Association named her Arts Educator of the Year. Now retired from the classroom, Olson is a practicing clay artist, teaches ceramics workshops for all ages, and maintains ongoing mentorship and connections with many of her former students.
Honoring an artist or organization creating innovative programming, techniques, and/or forms
Axle Contemporary is a mobile art gallery housed in a custom-fitted 1970 aluminum step van, bringing art to a wide range of people and venues in Santa Fe and beyond. Since Axle’s inception in 2010, founders Matthew Chase-Daniel and Jerry Wellman have continually experimented with a diverse range of exhibitions, projects, and programs that inspire public engagement and curiosity.
By traveling to where people are and inviting participation and interaction, Axle removes barriers to arts access, expanding the understanding of what art can be and who it is for.
Honoring an artist or organization whose work and artistic practice embody accessibility, inclusion, and deep community engagement
Raashan Ahmad is an internationally known musician, artist, DJ, and cultural producer whose work spans music, visual art, and community-driven projects that have transformed what it means to live a creative life for countless Santa Feans.
Ahmad’s leadership has brought to life Juneteenth on the Plaza, the Wonderful Fantastic Hip Hop Festival, and the Empower! Black Futures Community Fund. His DJ sets, including his wildly popular free Love and Happiness events in Santa Fe, pack dance floors and bring people together through music and shared experiences.
Since 2021, Ahmad has also served as executive director of the arts nonprofit Vital Spaces, which has brought an extraordinary array of offerings to Santa Fe to help artists thrive, including affordable studio space, a monthly free art supply closet, safe space for youth, bilingual programming, community workshops, and creative gatherings for all ages.
Honoring an artist or organization doing exemplary work in heritage arts, craft, and/or folk arts in honor of Santa Fe’s designation as a UNESCO Creative City of Crafts and Folk Art
Erica Lord is an interdisciplinary artist who investigates multiple cultural traditions through innovative processes and media, including beadwork, printmaking, performance, sculpture, and photography.
Lord draws on her experience growing up between Alaska and Upper Michigan and her mixed-race cultural identity of Athabaskan, Iñupiat, Finnish, Swedish, Japanese, and English descent to construct new, ambiguous, and challenging representations of heritage, race, and culture.
The recipient of a 2024 Wild Futures grant from Creative Capital and a 2025 Art Is the Solution grant from the Santa Fe Arts Commission, Lord has exhibited nationally and internationally and teaches at the Institute of American Indian Arts.
Honoring an individual or organization whose charitable or philanthropic work advances arts and culture in Santa Fe
Catherine Oppenheimer’s philanthropy, artistry, and leadership stand behind some of Santa Fe’s most influential arts institutions. Through the National Dance Institute (NDI) and its free programs, she has introduced thousands of New Mexico children to dance training and performance experiences as catalysts for character development and artistic expression.
Oppenheimer also led the effort to create the New Mexico School for the Arts, the state’s first free public charter arts high school, open to students from across New Mexico. The school helps young people pursue lives in the arts and creates career pathways within the state’s creative industries, cultivating homegrown talent with an understanding of the complexities of local history and cultures.
Oppenheimer continues to serve the arts in Santa Fe not only through philanthropy but also as an ongoing mentor to arts leaders.
Honoring an artist age 21 or younger who has demonstrated artistic excellence and commitment to the arts
Valentina Perea is a jeweler, artist, creative, and founder of the Santa Fe Mini Makers Market, which she started in 2024 at age eight. Designed for young artists to sell their artwork and products, the Mini Makers Market has grown from 15 booths to more than 30 and has been held at multiple sites, from the Railyard to the Center for Progress and Justice.
Perea, whose lineage is both Santo Domingo Pueblo and Hispanic, comes from a rich tradition of artists and women entrepreneurs. Her grandmother and mother are both jewelers who have taught her their craft.
She makes history as the youngest-ever recipient of a Mayor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts.
This special award honors the Lensic for 25 years of world-class arts programming and free Summer Scene concerts across Santa Fe. The Lensic and Lensic 360 have had an extraordinary impact on Santa Fe, bringing the community together through shared experiences of music and the performing arts.
Since reopening the doors of its historic 1931 theater building in April 2001, the Lensic has established itself as a premier year-round home for the performing arts in Santa Fe. It presents and supports local, national, and international artists and serves as a center for education, community gatherings, and youth programming through accessible and affordable offerings. Reaching 14,500 students annually, the Lensic is also New Mexico’s largest performing arts education provider.
Lensic 360 programs events throughout New Mexico, including more than 50 free events through the annual Santa Fe Summer Scene. Presenting a diverse array of artists who resonate across generations and cultures, Lensic’s expertly curated Summer Scene series activates gathering spaces from the Southside to the Plaza and creates unifying community experiences for all Santa Feans.
Past Awardees
We are delighted to announce the recipients of the 32nd Annual Santa Fe Mayor’s Awards for Excellence in the Arts—a tribute to the individuals and organizations whose creativity, passion, and commitment enrich the cultural life of our city.
Please join us in honoring our 2025 awardees:
Godfrey Reggio — Arts
An artist or organization doing exceptional work in film, literary, new media, performing, visual, and other arts.
Singular experimental filmmaker and Santa Fe community activist, renowned for the Qatsi Trilogy scored by Philip Glass and, most recently, the apocalyptic fantasy-comedy Once Within a Time.
An outstanding educator or organization who inspires and engages students through the arts.
Photographer, visual storyteller, and chief communications officer at the Institute of American Indian Arts—acclaimed teacher and mentor inspiring the next generation of Indigenous artists.
An artist or organization who has created innovative programs or techniques.
Curator at SITE Santa Fe for the past decade, known for elevating the work of groundbreaking artists both local and global, and redefining Santa Fe’s place on the international art stage.
An artist or organization that engages underserved communities through an equity, inclusion, and accessibility lens.
A dynamic organization that strengthens Santa Fe’s Indigenous communities through art, music, storytelling, and public events that celebrate cultural diversity and unity.
Legendary muralist whose vibrant public artworks honor Chicano history, uplift communities, and reflect his personal journey of transformation and healing.
Artist aged 21 or younger who has demonstrated artistic excellence and commitment to the arts.
Santa Fe High School senior—composer, actor, musician, and visual artist—whose energy and vision exemplify the next generation of creative leaders.
An individual or organization whose charitable work advances arts and culture in Santa Fe.
Visionary philanthropists whose steadfast support for the arts in Santa Fe and the greater Southwest has elevated artistic excellence and access across the region.
An artist or organization doing exceptional work in film, literary, new media, performing, visual, and other arts.
Lucy Lippard is one of the most acclaimed art writers of our time. She changed what art writing could look like and continues to shift it with each book she writes. Hugely influential in the art world of New York, beginning in the 1960s with the Art Workers Coalition and later Heresies Collective, her impact on New Mexico is equally prodigious.
Her writing, curating, and involvement with local organizations, from the Railyard Art Committee to SITE Santa Fe to editing Galisteo's monthly newsletter, will have ripple effects long into the future.
New Mexico fits into a larger progression in Lippard's approach to art writing. She began writing about ecology, eco art, and landscape around 1970, and Native art around 1980. Since moving to northern New Mexico in 1992, Lippard's writing has grown increasingly local and place-centered, focusing on land use and history here in New Mexico.
Her recent book Undermining examines gravel as a metaphor and land art, among many other subjects, and her book Pueblo Chico: Land and Lives in Galisteo, New Mexico, Since 1814 is a history of the tiny village. For the last twenty-three years, Lippard has produced and edited the village's monthly newsletter, El Puente de Galisteo.
An outstanding educator or organization who inspires and engages students through the arts.
The Santa Fe Youth Poet Laureate (SFYPL) program began in 2018 and partners with the National Youth Poet Laureate program, which celebrates our nation's top youth poets who are committed to artistic excellence and civic engagement. The SFYPL is the only such program in New Mexico.
Since its inception, more than 150 students from Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Taos, Navajo Nation, and Ohkay Owingeh have participated in the program. The SFYPL program has created a cohort of young poets who know each other, support each other, and perform together.
The SFYPL program partners with Santa Fe schools, businesses, and public and private organizations to support young poets. Collaborations exist with the Kiwanis Club, the Santa Fe Public Library, the Santa Fe International Literary Festival, the NM Department of Education, Collected Works, and the Jean Cocteau Theater.
The Santa Fe Youth Poet Laureate program links young people to our city's vibrant arts community and economy. It also values them as active producers in Santa Fe's web of creative practices.
An artist or organization who has created innovative programs or techniques.
The Exodus Ensemble is a trailblazing, immersive theater company that transforms canonical texts into contemporary, high-octane theatrical events. For the past four years, this group of passionate, talented young theater artists have put their all into bringing their unique approach to art and entertainment to Santa Fe.
Whether wildly transforming canonical texts from Shakespeare to Chekhov or crafting boldly original new work, Exodus creates an immersive experience that allows audiences to step into their world of story and become a part of the narrative.
Especially noteworthy is the Exodus Ensemble's model of operating on a donation scale, ensuring that anyone can attend their shows, regardless of their financial situation.
An artist or organization that engages underserved communities through an equity, inclusion, and accessibility lens.
Hernan Gomez Chavez has demonstrated exceptional dedication to community engagement and social justice. He uses his art as a powerful tool for dialogue and advocacy, focusing on pressing issues such as home, belonging, and displacement.
One of the most remarkable aspects of Hernan's work is his free art program at Pete's Place, where he extends his passion for art to Santa Fe's houseless community, often paying for supplies out of his own pocket.
Hernan demonstrates his unwavering commitment to fostering creativity and empowerment by providing arts education to underserved populations. His practice extends from his individual experience to a global context, providing insights and entry points for diverse audiences to engage with his work.
Artist aged 21 or younger who has demonstrated artistic excellence and commitment to the arts.
Hanbi Park has been the principal violinist in the Santa Fe Youth Symphony Orchestra (YSO) for two years and has been a leader in their orchestras, both musically and socially, for even longer.
Hanbi leads by example and helps empower those around him. He's respectful and thoughtful and remarkably tenacious and focused in his work. He has worked at every challenge put in front of him and steadily climbed to become one of the finest young musicians in the symphony's programs.
He is also the recipient of the 2023-2024 Rick Lohmann Memorial Scholarship.
An individual or organization whose charitable work advances arts and culture in Santa Fe.
Maria and Ed Gale are committed to supporting and elevating our communities of Northern New Mexico. With tremendous generosity of monetary resources and time, the Gales have made significant contributions to many nonprofits in the arts and education.
They are currently and have in the past been active on myriad boards in Santa Fe, including the Center for Contemporary Arts, The Museum of New Mexico Foundation, Santa Fe Prep, the International Folk Art Market, and The Lensic.
They have funded or helped fund these organizations' operations and have supported many important exhibitions and programs. The Gales are also the founding sponsors of the Santa Fe International Literary Festival and supporters of Star Axis, Charles Ross's monumental work of land art east of Las Vegas, New Mexico.
Maria and Ed Gale care deeply about the Santa Fe community and their generous support has made a difference to many organizations and many individuals in the arts.