New Mexico School for the Arts

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New Mexico School for the Arts

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NMSA offers pre-professional instruction in the performing and visual arts in combination with rigorous academics leading to a New Mexico diploma.

New Mexico School for the Arts is New Mexico's only free, public, statewide arts high school with an on-campus residency program for students living 65+ miles from campus! The purpose of New Mexico School for the Arts is to provide the highest standards of excellence in preparing New Mexico’s artistically talented students to compete in the national arena for post-secondary education and/or professional careers in the arts.

10/27/2026

On Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2026, NMSA’s Choir and String Orchestra will collaborate on our annual Strings & Song recital!

The performance begins at 6:00 p.m. in NMSA’s Zane Bennett Gathering Space (500 Montezuma Ave., Santa Fe, NM 87501) and spans traditions and centuries.

Strings & Song features classical masterworks, Latin rhythms, Irish folk melodies, and contemporary pieces. Students from the String Orchestra and Chorus will perform together, so audiences can hear the full range of what NMSA’s young musicians can do when voices and instruments share the stage.

Get tickets at the link in our bio!

10/24/2026

National Portfolio Day at NMSA is tomorrow, Sunday, October 25th! 📢
12 of the top art colleges and institutes in the US will be reviewing portfolios at New Mexico School for the Arts for National Portfolio Day!

Any visual artist (high school-aged or older) from New Mexico can participate in this regional National Portfolio Day, hosted by NMSA on Sunday, October 25th, from 1 to 5 p.m. in NMSA's Thornburg Center (500 Montezuma Ave.) Bring 10 to 20 pieces of your work or a sketchbook for constructive feedback and information about college admissions and scholarships.

This event is a rare and valuable opportunity for New Mexico's artists to receive professional feedback, even if you don't plan to attend an art school!

NMSA is thrilled to be able to provide this opportunity and continue our mission of providing access to the arts to the state of New Mexico

Free and open to the public, with free on-campus parking.

10/23/2026

Open house events are the best way to see what a high school arts education looks like at New Mexico School for the Arts.

NMSA's next open house is this Saturday, October 24th, from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm!

NMSA is New Mexico’s only tuition-free, statewide public arts high school, where students in grades 9 through 12 receive a mastery arts education in one of six departments (Cinematic Arts, Creative Writing & Literature, Dance, Music, Theater, and Visual Arts) while completing a rigorous academic program.

Join us on Saturday, October 24th, from 11:00 am - 1:00 pm on NMSA's Campus in Santa Fe. RSVP at the link in our bio!

10/21/2026

Come see what NMSA's Visual Arts students have made at the opening of Perspective, NMSA's Annual Juried Arts Exhibition, on Friday, October 23rd at 5 PM in the Thaw Visual Arts Gallery at 500 Montezuma Ave. in Santa Fe. Each artwork in Perspective was chosen from student submissions by outside jurors who play meaningful roles in New Mexico's arts community.

This year’s jurors:
Ruben Olguin, a New Mexico-based artist and Assistant Professor of Media and Art at Northern New Mexico College, works in ceramics, adobe, sound, video, and electronic media. His work draws from his mixed Indigenous American and Spanish (mestizo) heritage and focuses on spending as much time in the desert as in the computer lab.

Selina Fernandez is a Mexican-American Q***r artist and musician from Santa Fe, NM. She teaches mural arts, music, and printing at the Barrio School and Alas de Agua Arts Collective in Santa Fe. Her inspiration to make art comes from the daily experiences of her community, her Mexican roots, and her passion to bring awareness to issues around social justice.

Our students suggested the exhibition’s theme, Onism, which reflects the realization that you are one person in one place in a vast world; the 9th through 12th grade artists whose work was selected each answered the theme in their own way.

Come meet the artists, talk with the jurors, and see the show. The exhibition runs through Friday, December 4th. The opening reception is free and open to the public!

10/20/2026

National Portfolio Day at NMSA is this weekend! 📢
12 of the top art colleges and institutes in the US will be reviewing portfolios at New Mexico School for the Arts for National Portfolio Day!

Any visual artist (high school-aged or older) from New Mexico can participate in this regional National Portfolio Day, hosted by NMSA on Sunday, October 25th, from 1 to 5 p.m. in NMSA's Thornburg Center (500 Montezuma Ave.) Bring 10 to 20 pieces of your work or a sketchbook for constructive feedback and information about college admissions and scholarships.

This event is a rare and valuable opportunity for New Mexico's artists to receive professional feedback, even if you don't plan to attend an art school. Enjoy these photos of NMSA students at past portfolio days!

NMSA is thrilled to be able to provide this opportunity and continue our mission of providing access to the arts to the state of New Mexico

Free and open to the public, with free on-campus parking.

10/19/2026

If your teen loves to dance, write, act, play music, make films, or make art, our open house on Saturday, October 24th, is the best way to see what the next four years could look like at New Mexico School for the Arts. NMSA is New Mexico’s only tuition-free, statewide public arts high school, where students in grades 9 through 12 receive a mastery arts education in one of six departments (Cinematic Arts, Creative Writing & Literature, Dance, Music, Theater, and Visual Arts) while completing a full academic program.

Because our students come from communities across the state, we also offer an on-campus dorm program, so distance doesn’t stand in the way of a student who wants to study art. At the open house, you can tour the campus, meet faculty, see the dorms, and ask our admissions team about applying. Students and families can get a real sense of the work our young artists do every day and where it can lead.

Join us on Saturday, October 24th from 11:00 am - 1:00 pm on NMSA's Campus in Santa Fe. RSVP at the link in our bio!

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10/19/2026

Get your cauldrons, coffins, and jack-o'-lanterns ready for our Creative Writing & Literature department's next spooky event: the annual Tombstone Tales Reading!

This year, someone has murdered the headlining poet! How horrifying! The clues will be hidden in the readings...can you figure out who the villain of our tale is before the end of the show?

Join us for this hauntingly fun event on Thursday, October 29th at 6:00 PM in NMSA's Zane Bennet Gathering Space. Free and open to the public!

10/16/2026

On Saturday, November 7th from 11:00am–2:00pm, you are invited to pick out a beautiful hand-crafted bowl made by a local artist, fill it with soup from local restaurants, and enjoy a meal with our community. We’ll be serving soup and bread from La Choza, Jambo Cafe, Sweetwater Harvest Kitchen, High Mountain Cuisine, Sage Bakery, and our very own Ground Up Garden Stewards.

Empty Bowls is a fundraiser for the GroundUp program, which increases food sovereignty by educating our youth and empowering them to grow food and cook for themselves. Last year’s incredible support was pivotal to the growth of the program, allowing us to double our food production and educational growing space, build new community partnerships, and support nearly twice as many teens in the successful completion of the stewardship program.

Get your tickets at the link in our bio!

Know someone who would love good soup, hand-made ceramics, and a chance to support our community? Invite a friend! The more people who come together, the more we can grow GroundUp’s impact in our community.

10/16/2026

Visual Artist Opportunity! 📢
12 of the top art colleges and institutes in the US will be reviewing portfolios at New Mexico School for the Arts for National Portfolio Day!

Any visual artist (high school-aged or older) from New Mexico can participate in this regional National Portfolio Day, hosted by NMSA on Sunday, October 25th, from 1 to 5 p.m. in NMSA's Thornburg Center (500 Montezuma Ave.) Just bring 10 to 20 pieces of your work or a sketchbook for constructive feedback and information about college admissions and scholarships.

This event is free and open to the public, with free parking on campus.

10/15/2026

Siena Sofia Bergt, the new chair of NMSA’s Cinematic Arts department, premieres their feature film, Radon’s Daughters, at the Santa Fe International Film Festival tomorrow, Friday, October 16th, at 8 p.m. at Sky Cinemas Midtown. Inspired by growing up in Santa Fe and based on real events their family lived through, the film took about eight years to make and is a distinctly New Mexican story.

Siena is an NMSA alum (2013) who went on to study film at Columbia University, where they became the first Columbia film student to finish a feature while still in school. They came home to New Mexico to make this film and now teach our young artists the craft of filmmaking and visual storytelling through a New Mexican lens as NMSA's Cinematic Arts department chair.

We’re proud to have them leading the department, and we hope you’ll join us in congratulating them on the premiere!

Link to more info about Radon's Daughters at SFIFF in our bio!

Slide 1- Film still from Radon's Daughters
Slide 2- Siena Sofia Bergt

Address

500 Montezuma Avenue
Santa Fe, NM
87501

Telephone

+15053104194

Website

http://www.nmschoolforthearts.org/, https://linktr.ee/newmexicoschoolforthearts

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