VSA arts of New Mexico
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4904 Fourth Street NW |
Marjorie Neset |
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Tel.: (505) 345-2872 |
Website: |
Organizational Profile:
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Full-time Staff: 28 |
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VSA arts of New Mexico nurtures and celebrates the creative spirit of people of all abilities through education, outreach, exhibitions, and performances. VSA arts of New Mexico offers inclusive arts education, creative employment and training, production, exhibition, and presentation opportunities for all New Mexicans, with a focus on people with disabilities and other diverse social and cultural communities. VSA arts of New Mexico owns and operates the North Fourth Art Center, which houses a variety of resources including arts studios, classrooms, a new fully accessible 150-seat black box theater, and newly renovated gallery space. Through the North Fourth Art Center's inclusive programs and statewide outreach, VSA arts of New Mexico enriches the community and enhances the lives of people with disabilities.
Programming Partners and Other Funders:
Albuquerque Community Foundation; Albuquerque Public Schools; City of Albuquerque Therapeutic Recreation Program; City of Albuquerque Urban Enhancement Trust Fund; City of Albuquerque Family and Community Services Department; Corporation for National Service/AmeriCorps; First Nations Health Source; LEF Foundation; National Endowment for the Arts; New Mexico Arts; New Mexico Commission on Community Volunteerism/AmeriCorps; State of New Mexico Department of Health, State of New Mexico Cultural Services Department, Long-Term Services Division; Daniels Fund and Western States Arts Federation
Educational Programs and Artist Residencies
Day Arts Classroom Program
The Day Arts Classroom Program is a full day program that offers adults with developmental disabilities a broad array of classes in the visual, performing, literary, and multimedia arts, as well as performance and exhibition opportunities.
Multisensory Studio
The Multisensory Studio is devoted to the exploration and integration of the arts to promote learning and creativity in individuals who function best with intensive supports and a structured menu of arts activities.
Arts Adventures
Arts Adventures is an arts-based activities program for children with autism and a family respite service. It is led by VSA arts of Mexico staff and taught by professionally trained and educated staff and AmeriCorps volunteers. Projects, classes and activities include an array of visual and performing opportunities and “arts adventures.”
Visiting Artist Workshop Program
Through the Visiting Artists Workshop Program, performing artists from around the world conduct workshops throughout the year with students in the Day Arts Classroom and Multisensory Programs and with members of the community. In FY 07, residencies include dance, theater, and music workshops taught by Native Americans, other artists from across the U.S., and artists from several African countries.
Expressions!
Expressions! provides arts classes and arts-based therapeutic activities in the community for individuals with mental health concerns. Every Monday evening, Expressions! offers free classes in art, theater, creative writing, and dance at North Fourth Art Center, providing adults with mental illnesses quality instruction in the arts.
Community Outreach
The Community Outreach Program provides quality arts instruction in preschools serving students who are low-income, for elderly people with severe health concerns, and for groups composed of at-risk youth. Taught by VSA arts of New Mexico AmeriCorps volunteers, Community Outreach offers classes in all disciplines of the arts.
VSA arts of New Mexico Statewide Outreach
VSA arts of New Mexico's Statewide Outreach Program is currently undergoing reorganization. VSA arts of New Mexico partners with schools and colleges, social service organizations, disability service providers, museums, and other arts organizations to bring art experiences throughout the Bernalillo County area. VSA arts of New Mexico is in the process of organizing an in-depth residency that will include AmeriCorps volunteers in a partner city in the southern part of the state. We hope to grow this program to include a city in each of the state’s five regions.
Professional Development
N4th AmeriCorps Gallery
The Gallery will be curated and managed by an eight-member AmeriCorps team who will also mentor, teach, and train participants in the various outreach programs to make the art, mount an exhibition, and conduct all manner of gallery-related jobs and responsibilities.
Theater training and mentorships/Valley Characters
The N4th Theater produces a number of shows annually that includes people of all ages from the community with special mentoring opportunities for youth. In conjunction with Day Arts, the theater sponsors two mixed-ability companies and is additionally exploring a broader theatrical teaching/training/producing program through the broader disability community and with at-risk youth.
Cultural Access and Inclusive Arts Services
Art-Inclusion
The purpose of Art-Inclusion is to work toward full accessibility for VSA arts of New Mexico artists, apprentice artists, students, volunteers, and staff with and without disabilities. This program includes elements of physical and programmatic access as well as free tickets for all performances for people with disabilities from all of VSA arts of New Mexico’s programs and, frequently, for individuals with unique needs from other community programs.
N4th Theater Accessibility
The N4th Theater is a state-of-the-art, 4,000-square-foot black box theater unique in New Mexico for being a fully accessible facility. The theater provides audio description, two different amplified hearing device systems, programs available in Braille or large print formats, seating for up to 50 wheelchairs (through prior arrangement), and a control booth that allows for wheelchair access.
Public Awareness and Outreach Programs
CenterArts
CenterArts is a program designed to encourage community use of North Fourth Art Center for classes, meetings, rehearsals, and other uses in the evenings and on weekends to ensure that the center is inclusive for and accessible to the entire community.
AmeriCorps Volunteer Program
VSA arts of New Mexico became an AmeriCorps program site in the fall of 2000. Each year through AmeriCorps, VSA arts of New Mexico recruits a team of talented artists with and without disabilities from around the country to teach art, dance, and theater in the day arts classroom and multisensory programs, and to individuals in the underserved Albuquerque community and throughout the state.
Out of the Ordinary Festival
Out of the Ordinary Festival was launched in October 2006 as an annual event focusing on the achievements and excellence of work by artists with disabilities. The festival featured the North Fourth Art Center production of Ping Chong's Undesirable Elements, about the lives of five local people with and without disabilities; multimedia dance by Cathy Weis, an artist with multiple sclerosis; the Aperture Foundation's touring photo exhibition Shooting Blind; and films by disability advocate John R. Killacky. Out of the Ordinary Festival 2007’s N4th Theater featured AXIS Dance Company, Ain Gordon's Epic Family Epic, and Faustin Linyekula’s Festival of Lies, along with films and discussion focusing on art, disability and social issues. The N4th Gallery exhibition Memories Resurrected was the work of VSA arts of New Mexico’s Expressions! program artists.
(F) 202-429-0868