Arts and Cultural Districts

Overview

Painting, Music, Electronic Media, Pottery, Performing Arts, Historic Architecture; individually, these elements can energize, excite, and sustain imagination. When brought together, their power allows a community to celebrate itself, creating a common voice that blends history and art and culture into a unifying vision. The goal of the New Mexico Arts and Cultural District Program is to help a community turn their vision into commerce, tourism, artistic growth, and civic pride. In technical language: place-based community economic development rooted in a community’s dynamic arts and cultural environment.

A unique joint effort between the New Mexico Department of Economic Development’s MainStreet Program, the Department of Tourism’s Scenic Byways Program, and the Department of Cultural Affairs’ Divisions of New Mexico Arts and Historic Preservation, the New Mexico Arts and Cultural District Program was established to help communities preserve their heritage while providing support to cultural entrepreneurs and institutions, while capitalizing on the potential economic opportunity for the District as well as the town. From playwriting to photography, theater to sculpture, film and digital media, graphic arts to culinary arts, the New Mexico Arts and Cultural District Program embraces the full spectrum of the creative economy.

Objectives

The program’s objectives are simple and beneficial.

  • Promote the exceptional art and history of New Mexico.
  • Help develop a community’s cultural and artistic facilities by providing resources to artists, artisans, and crafts people in both live and work environments.
  • Clustering existing arts and cultural amenities helping to leverage their assets for the common goal of a dynamic and economically vibrant district.

These elements, in turn, will attract more culture and heritage tourism, and thus help create an economically viable and sustaining community for those individuals driving the local cultural economy.

Incentives and Assistance

To reach these objectives, state authorized Arts and Cultural Districts will be able to tap into beneficial incentives such as enhanced historic tax credits for the rehabilitation of historic structures. The municipal adoption of a Local Economic Development Act (LEDA) opens the door for a solid revenue stream to support cultural infrastructure and activities. A goal in utilizing these incentives is rehabilitation and adaptive reuse of historic structures for live/work space and space for cultural enterprises. Additionally, these Districts can benefit from financial assistance programs and funding partners including:

  • Support and marketing help from the New Mexico Tourism Department
  • Access to the New Mexico Historic Property Tax Credit (doubled within Arts and Culture Districts)
  • Specialized technical assistance and support from the New Mexico MainStreet Program, New Mexico Arts and the Historic Preservation Division
  • Grant funding from the State Arts and Cultural Capital Improvement Fund

A Quick Program History

In 2007, the legislature passed enabling legislation to establish New Mexico’s Arts and Cultural District Program. They designated the State’s MainStreet Program Director as the State Coordinator of the Program and the New Mexico Arts Commission as its “authorizing” governing body. The initial Program was launched that same spring. Interested communities submitted proposals for an elaborate review and ranking process. Two communities passed the criteria for Authorization to become New Mexico’s first pilot Arts and Culture Districts: Las Vegas and Silver City. These cities best exemplified the spirit, dedication, and resources required to attain authorization. Their applications were approved for designation January 23rd, 2008. The communities are now in the process of finalizing their district boundaries, adopting a municipal ordinance to officially set the boundaries and purposes of the district, developing a cultural plan for the district, and mapping out future strategies in a Master Plan for the area.