film

Salt of the Earth

DateSeptember 2

ONE DAY ONLY! CCA is thrilled to present this classic, made-in-New-Mexico movie on Labor Day of the film’s 70th Anniversary!…

Tokyo Cowboy

DateSeptember 6

From the hustle and bustle of Tokyo to the vast natural beauty of Montana… What does an efficiency-first businessman discover…

Cabin Music (film & musical performance)

DateSeptember 29 @ 6:00 pm

Co-presented by CCA and Chatter North: ONE NIGHT ONLY, WITH FILMMAKER IN ATTENDANCE! This event includes a film screening followed…

Chuck Chuck Baby

DateAugust 2

Helen is trapped in a bleak life, working in the local chicken factory and living with her indifferent husband. She…

MADE IN ENGLAND: The Films of POWELL & PRESSBURGER

DateAugust 30

Martin Scorsese first encountered the films of Powell and Pressburger when he was a child, sitting in front of the…

Moving

DateAugust 9

Presented from a new 4K Restoration as part of CCA’s monthly Auteur Series; visionary works in cinema that exist on…

Coup!

DateAugust 2

Isolated on a seaside estate, an entitled journalist (Billy Magnussen) and his socialite wife (Sarah Gadon) take in a mysterious…

In The Mood For Love

DateAugust 13 @ 6:00 pm

Presented as part of CCA’s monthly Closer Looks series. Opening presentation by Paul Barnes. Hong Kong, 1962: Chow Mo-Wan (Tony…

Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!

DateSeptember 24 @ 8:00 pm

Presented as part of CCA’s monthly Cult Film Series! In Russ Meyer’s enduringly influential, black-and-white cult classic, three go-go dancers…

Green Border

DateJuly 5

Playing in the CCA Cinema July 5-11 In the treacherous and swampy forests that make up the so-called “green border”…

Jazz on a Summer’s Day

DateJuly 23 @ 6:00 pm

Presented in a new 4K Restoration as part of CCA’s monthly series on music & film, Amplified. Filmed at the…

HUMANIST VAMPIRE SEEKING CONSENTING SUICIDAL PERSON

DateJuly 26

BEING A VAMPIRE REALLY SUCKS. Sasha is a young vampire with a very serious problem: she’s too sensitive to kill!…

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.