House Majority Whip Reena Szczepanski, D-Santa Fe, leads a press conference on House Bill 8, which seeks to establish a Creative Industries Division within the Economic Development Department. The paintings on the right are by Ricardo Caté, a Native American caricaturist. (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal)
SANTA FE – New Mexico would establish a new economic development agency – backed by $67 million in federal funding – to support artists and creative entrepreneurs under legislation introduced at the Roundhouse.
The legislation, House Bill 8, calls for a new Creative Industries Division within the Economic Development Department to oversee funding, which could help with everything from gallery spaces to marketing and training.
Reena Szczepanski, D-Santa Fe, speaker of the majority of the House of Representatives, described it as a “transformational initiative” that would enhance New Mexico’s strength in the arts and help diversify the economy. Half of the funds would be used to support the arts economy in rural and overlooked areas.
“We know there are creators in every community in New Mexico,” Szczepanski said at a news conference in the Capitol surrounded by musicians, artists and others.
She is co-sponsoring the bill with Sen. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces.
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The proposal provides a comprehensive definition of the arts. For example, the department could support video game developers, architects, furniture makers and chefs alongside more traditional artists working with wood, metal and ceramics.
About $2 million would be used to operate the new department. The bill also provides that $65 million will go to a creative industries fund that will award grants on a competitive basis to projects or programs with the potential to grow the arts industry.
Legislators – particularly in budgetary committees – sometimes stall attempts to create new agencies or standalone funds separate from the general budgetary process.
But Steinborn, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, said it’s appropriate to take some of the cash windfall generated by the state’s oil boom and devote it to growing another sector of the economy.
“We’re talking about a powerful industry in the state,” he said of the art.
Rose Eason, chief executive of gallupARTS, a non-profit group, said there is already a strong demand for financial support that would support the establishment of classrooms and workshops, apprenticeship programs and the conversion of a vacant lot into a gallery and retail outlet.
“This level of government investment in the creative industries would be game-changing for areas like mine in McKinley County,” Eason said.
A department dedicated to the arts economy, she said, would recognize its importance to New Mexico and make it easier for creative entrepreneurs to navigate state programs.
The proposal was referred to two committees in the State House.
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