comedy

The Balconettes

DateSeptember 12

As a heat wave brings a Marseille neighborhood to the boil, three roommates gleefully meddle in the lives of their…

The Phoenician Scheme

DateAugust 8

Wealthy businessman Zsa-zsa Korda appoints his only daughter, a nun, as sole heir to his estate. As Korda embarks on…

Black Cinema Series: Friday

DateJuly 31 @ 7:00 pm

Join us at CCA for July’s Black Cinema Series screening! Curated by Anpa’o Locke Craig and Smokey are two guys…

Ebony and Ivory

DateAugust 8

Two musical legends gather at a Scottish Cottage on The Mull of Kintyre for a tense summit to discuss a…

HEY VIKTOR!

DateAugust 15

It’s been 25 years since all eyes were on the Cree kid from Edmonton who made it big with a…

The Exterminating Angel

DateJuly 11

Continuing CCA’s Monthly Screening of Luis Buñuel Classics! A group of high-society friends are invited to a mansion for dinner…

Familiar Touch

DateJune 27

Ruth (Kathleen Chalfant), a retired cook, prepares breakfast in her sunny and cozy kitchen — a dish she seems to…

The Queen of My Dreams

DateJune 20

Celebrating Modern Queer Cinema at CCA! Vibrant, emotional, and infused with humor, The Queen of My Dreamsis a heartfelt mother-daughterdramedy…

Sunlight

DateJune 20

In New Mexico, Roy, a dysfunctional Radio host is pulled from the noose by Monkey-clad Jane, who is escaping a…

The Birdcage

DateJune 15 @ 3:00 pm

Celebrating Father’s Day at CCA! In this remake of the classic French farce “La Cage aux Folles,” engaged couple Val…

Universal Language

DateMarch 14

CCA Cinema Exclusive!! Gradeschoolers Negin and Nazgol find a sum of money frozen in the winter ice and try to…

Millers in Marriage

DateFebruary 21

Writer-director-actor Edward Burns returns after Beneath the Blue Suburban Skies with Millers in Marriage, a compelling ensemble drama that delves…

2025 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.