Mission

CCA celebrates the creativity of our community, through our cinema and arts, generating transformative experiences designed to ignite minds and connect people.

History

More than 40 years ago, the Center for Contemporary Arts of Santa Fe (CCA) was founded as a grassroots organization with a vision to enhance our cultural landscape and better the lives of our neighbors in Santa Fe. That vision continues to thrive today, and we embrace all the ways this mission continues to inform and grow our contribution to the vibrant cultural landscape of our unique community.

From our inception in 1979, CCA has been a staple of the Santa Fe arts and culture scene, providing transformational experiences. As one of the oldest artist-centered organizations in the American Southwest, CCA draws thousands of visitors annually for independent films, music and theater performances, exhibitions, and education/public programs.

The first art show in CCA’s gallery space was held in 1985, and has since showcased artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Goldsworthy, Jenny Holzer, James Luna, and many regionally based artists, such as interdisciplinary art collective Postcommodity, Judy Tuwaletstiwa, Tom Joyce, and more.

In 2011, CCA showcased Meow Wolf’s groundbreaking exhibition, The Due Return. The complex, fully interactive, large-scale ship and “immersive alien environment” aimed to “submerge the audience into a fully operating fictional world” and aided in the development of their Santa Fe-based permanent installation at Meow Wolf called the House of Eternal Return.

CCA has shown over 4,000 films and has brought countless filmmakers and performers to speak, enriching the movie-going experience, including Ethan Hawke, Al Pacino, Laurie Anderson, Gus Van Sant, Nagisa Oshima, Charles Burnett, Alex Cox, Jim Jarmusch, and many more.

There is no single exhibition event or film series that could illustrate the breadth of CCA’s place in cultivating and sharing exciting creative visions in Santa Fe. At its heart, the CCA is not just a center for the contemporary arts, but a center of this wonderfully creative community