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February 12, 2009
State-of-the-Art Buildings to Transform IAIA Campus
Contact: Staci Golar
505.424.2351(ph)
sgolar@iaia.edu
The Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) invites the public to a uniquely Native groundbreaking and earth blessing ceremony February 20, 2009 at 2:00 p.m. on the IAIA campus (83 Avan Nu Po Road, past the Santa Fe Community College). The ceremony marks the construction of a foundry and sculpture building and a science and technology building that will revolutionize course offerings and the way in which they can be taught. Special dignitaries will be on hand from IAIA and the state of New Mexico, and Erik Fender (San Ildefonso Pueblo), an IAIA alumnus and potter, will perform the blessing of each building site.
New Mexico state severance tax revenues have provided $500,000 for construction with another $500,000 secured through New Mexico’s general obligation bond. Additional funds were provided by the U.S. Department of Education with a $1.65 million grant for the foundry and sculpture building and a $6 million award to underwrite the new science and technology building. Designed by Dyron Murphy Architects, a Navajo owned architecture firm, both structures will be built by Flintco, Inc., one of the largest American Indian owned contracting companies in the nation.
The foundry and sculpture building will support advanced teaching techniques for the three-dimensional arts program, providing much-needed space in which to teach woodworking, welding, forging, casting, ceramics and large-scale metal and stone sculpture. The science and technology building will be the only building in Santa Fe, and the second in New Mexico, to house a digital dome studio and classroom that will strengthen IAIA’s New Media Arts curriculum. A museum conservation center, also in the science and technology building, will contain IAIA’s National Collection of Contemporary Native American art, along with teaching laboratories to provide students with hands-on training in collections care and conservation. Other laboratories, classrooms and office spaces will promote delivery of science instruction integral to IAIA’s degree programs and general education requirements.
President Robert Martin (Cherokee Nation) says “These buildings will not only help IAIA better meet the needs of its students, but they will also provide a long-term benefit to Santa Fe and New Mexico by providing quality facilities for top-notch training and instruction.”
For more details about this event please call Staci Golar at 505.424.2351 or email sgolar@iaia.edu
Directions to the IAIA campus:
Exit Cerrillos Road/NM 14-South
Proceed South on Cerrillos Road/ NM 14-South
Make a LEFT at Rancho Viejo Boulevard
Make a RIGHT at Avenida Del Sur
Make a LEFT on Avan Nu Po Road
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IAIA’s Mission:
To empower creativity and leadership in Native arts and cultures through higher education,
lifelong learning and outreach
Click here to download full press release in PDF format.
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