Jeffrey Gibson Cinema Selections

Jeffery Gibson Cinema Selections

Saturdays: July 30, August 6, 13, 20 | 5pm
Presented by CCA and SITE Santa Fe

CCA, partnering with SITE Santa Fe and artist Jeffrey Gibson, presents a series of films specially curated to complement and inform the exhibition of Gibson’s work The Body Electric currently on view at SITE Santa Fe until September 11, 2022. Gibson’s selections showcase a wide range of stunning films, both classic and contemporary, that highlight Native and Indigenous voices and issues across the globe.

With films such as Kent Mackenzie’s groundbreaking feature, The Exiles (1961), and contemporary neo-classic, The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open (2019), Gibson’s curation is impeccable and suited to his own multidisciplinary work. The series will culminate in an illuminating in-person discussion and Q&A featuring Gibson, moderated by CCA’s Head of Cinema Programming Luke Henley, on Saturday, August 20, 2022.

Cinema Schedule

Drunktown’s Finest

Saturday, July 30, 5pm | Watch Trailer

The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open

Saturday, August 6, 5pm | Watch Trailer

beDevil

Saturday, August 13, 5pm | Watch Trailer

The Exiles

Jeffrey Gibson Q&A
Saturday, August 20, 5pm | Watch Trailer

Jeffrey Gibson (b.1972, Colorado) is a celebrated multidisciplinary artist whose works are represented in over 20 permanent collections across the US. He is a member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and half Cherokee.

SITE Santa Fe creates significant experiences for visitors by presenting the most innovative visual art of our time in new and engaging ways. Since its opening in 1995, SITE Santa Fe has been committed to supporting new developments in contemporary art, encouraging artistic exploration, and expanding traditional museum experiences. SITE’s year-round schedule of exhibitions serves as a platform for experimental curatorial approaches, innovative exhibition design, and projects by emerging and established artists.

Indigenous Celebration NM 2022

Indigenous Celebration NM 2022 is a statewide initiative dedicated to elevating Indigenous Arts and Culture worldwide.

2024 Copyright Center for Contemporary Arts – Santa Fe. All rights reserved.

The Board of Directors for the Center for Contemporary Arts of Santa Fe (CCA) has voted to close the organization after serving the Santa Fe and northern New Mexico community on its forty-fourth year of operation. The decision was reached after careful consideration of options presented during its current strategic planning initiative.

“Closing a cherished, community organization like CCA is one of the most difficult decisions a board can make,” said David Muck, CCA Board Chair. “However, we simply couldn’t secure the level of individual donations required to achieve the high quality of programming and exhibitions envisioned by CCA’s professional staff and board of directors,” he continued.

Many nonprofits in the U.S. were hit hard by Covid and CCA is a good example. The CCA Cinema closed during Covid, and attendance was slow to resume, reflecting national downward trends in moviegoing post-Covid as reported in multiple news outlets, such as IndieWire and others. In 2023, the organization forecast the cinema to perform at only 50% of pre-Covid levels, resulting in monthly losses. Though grants and individual donations to the organization were up significantly in 2022 and 2023, they simply weren’t enough to make up the difference in the annual budget and cover both current and planned exhibitions and operations.

“This tough decision did not come lightly,” said Danyelle Means, CCA Executive Director and Head Curator. “For a nonprofit institution that operates independently of state support, the annual donations needed to sustainably continue operating was not enough, especially in the wake of challenges from pandemic closures and reduced attendance,” Means continued.

CCA did have its share of recent successes: CCA Executive Director Danyelle Means had secured a three-year grant of $100,000 per year from the Ford Foundation, with an option to renew for another three-year period. The organization was also the recipient of a $50,000 inaugural grant from Ruth Arts Foundation, as well as other granting organizations. Self-Determined, a 2022 CCA exhibition, was listed as one of the world’s Top 50 Exhibitions of 2022 by Hyperallergic magazine and CCA’s new monthly Closer Looks cinema series was a hit with film enthusiasts.

The CCA board of directors considered closing the organization in December of 2021, but voted to remain open in 2022 in hopes of a recovery post-Covid. However, despite the hard work of CCA staff and the accomplishments like the ones mentioned above, the shuttered period during which the cinema was closed proved too challenging to overcome. CCA Cinema’s final day of public operations is Thursday, April 6, and all upcoming CCA gallery exhibitions and public programs are cancelled.