Last updated: 1/6/2011
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Address
108 Cathedral Place
Santa Fe, NM 87501
phone: 505-983-8900
e-mail: membership@iaia.edu
web: iaia.edu/museum

Hours

Monday, Wednesday - Saturday
10 AM - 5 PM
Sunday
12 PM - 5 PM
Tuesday
closed
Closed on the following holidays: New Years Day, Easter Sunday, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day

Admissions

$10 for adults; half-price for seniors (62+), students w/ valid ID, and NM residents; and FREE for museum members, Native people, veterans and their families, youth (16 & under), and NM residents visiting on Sunday. Admission rates are subject to change. Call 1.888.922.IAIA for more information.

Staff

Patsy Phillips
phone: 505-428-5900
Ryan Rice
phone: 505-428-5922
Guin White
phone: 505-428-5909
Janiece Jonsin
phone: 505-428-5935
Tatiana Lomahaftewa-Singer
phone: 505-428-5899
Thomas Atencio
phone: 505-428-5905
Joy Farley
phone: 505-428-5906
Hayes Locklear
phone: 505-428-5907
Will R. Wilson
phone: 505-428-5904
Ramona Arnold
phone: 505-428-5903
Latoyja Panteah
phone: 505-428-5912
Description

The Museum of Contemporary Native Arts encourages creative expression across the fields of arts and culture as an opportunity to establish and cultivate cross-cultural dialogue with communities at the local, national and global level.

MoCNA's exhibitions, programs and its National Collection of Contemporary Native Arts are integral to nurturing and growing the Institute of American Indian Arts legacy, college community and curriculum across academic and artistic disciplines.

The Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA) is the country's only museum for exhibiting, collecting and interpreting the most progressive work of contemporary Native artists.

MoCNA is dedicated solely to advancing the scholarship, discourse and interpretation of contemporary Native art for regional, national and international audiences. As such, it stewards the National Collection of Contemporary Native Art, 7,500 artworks in all media created in 1962 or later. MoCNA is at the forefront of contemporary Native art presentation and strives to be flexible, foresighted and risk-taking in its exhibitions and programs. MoCNA is located in the heart of downtown Santa Fe, New Mexico.

The Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA), a center of the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA), is dedicated to increasing public understanding and appreciation for contemporary Native art, history and culture through presentation, acquisition, preservation and interpretation. The Museum of Contemporary Native Arts is recognized as the preeminent organizer of exhibitions devoted exclusively to the display of dynamic and diverse arts practices representative of Native North America.

History

The Institute of American Indian Arts? (IAIA) art collection grew out of a student honors program. With the help of donations from outside artists and private collectors, the collection provided a catalyst for the formation of a museum in 1972. Until IAIA acquired the Federal Building in Santa Fe in January 1990, however, exhibits were confined to borrowed quarters at the Santa Fe Indian School campus, and most holdings remained in storage.

Turning the Federal Building into a major American Indian art museum meant rescuing it from years of neglect and stylistic atrophy. Architects restored the exterior of the 1922 Pueblo Revival-style building and completely remodeled its interiors. Beyond the intimate transitional galleries and classrooms for museum studies, a series of galleries that housed the Institute?s remarkable National Collection of Contemporary Native Art were also built into the space.

In 1992 IAIA relocated its museum to downtown Santa Fe. The space underwent an extensive renovation in 2004 and reopened in mid-2005 as a newly dynamic setting for exhibitions, educational programs and cross-cultural dialogue.

For years the museum had only 4,000 square feet of exhibition space on the ground floor, as its second floor was devoted to staff offices and collection storage. In 2010, that situation was remedied when the permanent collection moved to a new facility on the IAIA campus (12 miles south of its current location) freeing up an additional 3,600 square feet for programming.

The new collection storage facility, which occupies 7,000 square feet of the new science and technology building on IAIA?s campus, will promote best practices in collections care and adjoin conservation labs where IAIA museum studies students, faculty and visiting scholars may receive hands-on experience working with professional staff and instructors to care for the collection.

Artifact Collections

The Museum of Contemporary Native Arts holds the premier collection of contemporary Native American art in the world from Native American, First Nations and other Indigenous peoples. This unique collection, known as the ?National Collection of Contemporary Native American Art,? documents the art movements of the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) and its impact on the Native American fine art movement. There are close to 7,500 artworks in the collection which is comprised of paintings, works on paper, sculpture, ceramics, jewelry, photography, contemporary apparel, textiles, cultural arts, new media and installations. Many prominent artists of our time are represented in the collection such as Tony Abeyta, Linda Lomahaftewa, George Morrison, Allan Houser, Helen Hardin, Truman Lowe, and Fritz Scholder?to name a few.

This important collection is housed at the Institute of American Indian Arts campus in astate-of-the-art storage facility that was built for the collection in 2009. After a generous donation was given by the Robert and Barbara Ells Family, a collection gal
Educational Programs

MoCNA offers a robust schedules of programs that include lectures, conversations and workshops by local and visiting artists and scholars. As well, MoCNA regularly offers film screenings, special receptions, exhibit openings, performances and member events.

Library
Access: General Public, Students, Scholars, Members
Appointment required: No
Publications

A regular roster of publications is posted/printed.
1=Gallery Guide - printed w/ exhibition changes
2=E-newsletter - distributed monthly
3=Newswinds newsletter - semi-annually
4=President's Annual Report - every two years

Services
Gift Shop
Special Event Rental
Group Tours
ADA
Wheelchair Accessible
Exhibitions
Museum Events
DISCLAIMER
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MUSEUM CONFERENCES

Public Lands Alliance 2025 Convention and Trade Show

February 2 - 6, 2025

Las Vegas, Nevada

Georgia Association of Museums 2025 Conference

February 5 - 7, 2025

Milledgeville, Georgia

Small Museum Association 41st Annual Conference 2025

February 17 - 19, 2025

Gaithersburg, Maryland

2025 California Association of Museums Conference

February 18 - 22, 2025

San Fransico, California

2025 Tennessee Association of Museums Conference: HOPE

March 11 - 14, 2025

Knoxville, Tennessee

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