International District Art Projects | Albuquerque, NM

INTERNATIONAL DISTRICT
Albuquerque, NM

From 2011-2025, Artful Life artists have worked closely with residents of Albuquerque's most diverse legislative district to nurture relationships, co-create works of art/performance, and catalyze community-led development initiatives.

Take a look at what we've made together (at right).

"Stories of Rt. 66 Final Performance 2014. Project Director: Valerie Martinez

The Community

There are more than 47 languages spoken in the International District. It is the epicenter of refugee settlement in New Mexico as well as home to native New Mexican families, immigrants and others who are African-American, Asian-American, Middle Eastern, Latin American, Mexican-American and Cuban. The district is dotted with ethnic restaurants and features several cultural festivals each year.

At the same time the district also faces a range of critical challenges—high poverty and unemployment rates, a high infant mortality rate, urban blight, and crime at three times the national average.

Phase One: 2011-2013

In 2011, at the invitation of then-State Senator Timothy Keller, Valerie Martínez and a team began talking to residents and meeting with a wide range of neighborhood organizations. Martinez/Littleglobe then partnered with the City of Albuquerque/Cultural Services and several other organizations to lead the "Stories of Route 66: The International District" arts engagement/creative placemaking project that began in 2014. The project received an NEA Our Town grant and featured significant community involvement in the co-creation of art.

Phase Two: January-July 2014

For seven months, each Sunday, a multidisciplinary artist team worked with over 130 community members (ages 5-75, from 7 countries speaking 8 languages). Starting with smaller works of collaborative art, this community ensemble then co-envisioned and co-created five works of art, film, and performance (see details below) that premiered at the ID Live! festival in July of 2014.

Phase Three: 2014 - 2017

In 2015 Artful Life (directed by "Stories of Route 66" project director Valerie Martinez and located in Albuquerque) assumed Littleglobe's work and works of art in the ID and continues administration of ID projects. As a result of the individual and collective capacity generated during the "Stories of Route 66," the project resulted in a range of community-led development projects including:

Mural at Louisiana & Zuni (March 2017) with the theme "What does Diversity Look Like?"
The Refugee Mentoring Project
The Migration Experience Film/Discussion Series
Avenue ID, an avenue banner art project along Central Ave (Route 66) in the heart of the district
Global 505, a coalition of organizations serving Albuquerque's immigrant and refugee communities
The first & second annual International District Health Fair which produced gorgeous portraits of residents of the ID

Phase Four: Cultivating the Next Generation of Creative Activists (2018 to 2024)

From 2018 to 2024, Artful Life focused on creating and supporting neighborhood-based youth artist teams. Teens who are residents of the International District were paid for training in community arts engagement under the supervision and guidance of experienced Artful Life professional artist. These teen artist teams facilitated the following community arts projects.

"Vision Zero" Mural at Expo New Mexico: at the New Mexico Fairgrounds - community engagement, youth artist team (2023)
Pop Up Park with Art at the corner of San Mateo and Southern--community engagement, cultivating green spaces, art (2019)
"We Grow as We Go" mural as Seafood 99 Market (2019)
Arte del Sol, a culmination of 10 months of creative collaborative work by an ID Youth Team (2018)

Phase Four projects have invested another $200,000 into the ID community.

Long-term commitment

Since 2012, these projects invested over $500,000 into the ID community.

The project follows the Arts and Community Development model at the core of Artful Life's practice.

The project (and all its programs) have been generously funded by the National Endowment for the Arts/Our Town Program; the McCune Charitable Foundation; the FUNd at the Albuquerque Community Foundation, the City of Albuquerque, the Global Education Fund, New Mexico Arts, Bernalillo County/County Commissioner Maggie Hart Stebbins, the New Mexico Humanities Council, PNM with in-kind support from the Bosque School, PB&J Family Services, La Montanita Co-Op and many individual donors. We are so grateful for all who are making this work possible.

For more information, contact us.

2014 Community Ensemble

Ahmad, Shazia; Ahmadi, Basibeh; Ahmadi, Farhad; Ahmadi, Farshad; Ahmadi, Mehrshad; Alabatric, Nadia; Alilmi, Fatemeh; Alkozai, Habiba; Alkozai, Hidayatullah; Alkozai, Imranullah; Alkozai, Malalai; Alkozai, Rahila; Alkozai, Riazallah; Alkozai, Sifatullah; Alkozai, Spogmai; Alsiri, Ahmed; Altagracia, Floyd; Amancio, Alexis; Amadia, Osarumwese; Amer, Haneen; Amer, Hussam; Amer, Suha; Amer, Yousuf; Ardomatamedo, Osman; Benavidez, Camilla; Benavidez, Claudia; Callahan, Erin; Cardiel, Aurea; Cardiel, Enrique; Cardiel, Juan; Cardiel, Jesus; Cathey, Karen; Chavez, Nickola; Chavez, Owen; Chavez, Sebastian; Christian, Charlie; Delghan, Maryam; Delghan, Razieh; Donaldson, Roy; Elisea, Norma; Fisher, Beverly; Ganaway, Erin; (Ganaway) Schmid, Zach; Gardner, J; Garduño, Rey; Ghadari, Bibimah; Green, Laura; Grillo, Stephanie; Gurung, Alina; Howe, Mary Beth; Husseini, Nadar; Husseini, Sayd; Husseini, Saree; Jaynes, Julie; Johnson, Gea; Johnson, Irene; Johnson, Savannah; Keller, State Senator Tim; Kerwin, Dorothy; Kerwin, Sam; Khalaf, Suzan; Larragna, Paula; Lhasa, Lea; Luethi, Molly; Marechal, Paula; Martinez, Joe; Masland, Nan; Maxamad, Abdi; Maxmad, Fatama; Maxamad, Gaden; Maxamad, Ismeen; Maxamad, Maryan; Maxamad, Nasir; Maxamad, Osmeen; Maxamad, Sadua; McMahan, Mick; McMurray-Avila, Marsha; Michel, Daniel; Mlakha, Naseer; Mlakha, Rita; Mlakha, Yusif; Mlakha, Marvin; Monfiletto, Max; Monfiletto, Tony; Moshfeghi, Amir; Muham, Nadar; Muham, Said; Muham, Saree; Naidu, Alabha; Nguyen, Hanh; Parra, Acriana; Petropolous, Helen; Poole, David; Poole, Wynona; Richards, Noreen; Rodriguez, Pilar; Sadat, Sadiya; Sadat, Sayed Mubin; Sadat, Sayed Qasim; Sadat, Sayed Samim; Sadat, Sudigha; Said, Muham; Sanchez, Vania; Sinandile, Khanyi; Sinandile, Nkazi; Sinandile, Tali; Sinandile, Thandiwe; Subedi, Phul Maya; Subedi, Prajwal; Subedi, Pramila; Tomlah, Muna; Ta, Nhu; Tomala, Allen; Tomala, Amer; Tomala, Fareed; Tomala, Nadia; Tomala, Stephen; Tomala. Lobna; Touchton, Ashton; Vigil, Brian; Vogel, David; Wong, Sin; Yaqoob, Sanaa; Yahha, Yasra; Zhu, Zhu.

THANK YOU!

We would also like to thank the following businesses, organizations and individuals gave of their services, time, money and goodwill to enable the "ID Live!" works of art to happen in July of 2014. We are indebted to their generosity and support:

Mayor Tim Keller; CABQ/City Councilor Rey Garduño; ABQ Ride/Art-in-Transit; the National Hispanic Cultural Center; Tricklock; Desert Plastics; Home Depot, La Montanita Coop; Rocky Mountain Stone; Reliance Steel; Bounphom Limary and C & L Industries; International District Healthy Communities Coalition; Jessica Goodkind and Brandon Baca, UNM Refugee Well-Being Program; Bob Shipley & Reading Works; Seth Roffman & the Green Fire Times; Tim, Shane and Adriana at ARTS Lab; Juanita Bethke & Cardinal Rieger, Van Buren Middle School (Little Free Library Steward); Jenn Luc (LFL Steward), East Central Ministries (LFL Steward); Dorothy Kerwin (LFL Steward); Wilson Middle School (LFL Steward); Working Classroom; New Life Homes/ Sundowner; Darshan Jessop at the Littleglobe Home Office; Ellen Babcock; Claudia Benavidez; Zach Baiamonte; Steve Bold; Kay Bounkeua; Sherri Brueggemann; Susannah Burke; Enrique Cardiel; Land Clark; Jennifer Dann; Frank Davila; Dana Feldman; Beth Fischer; Moises Gonzalez; Cheryl Gooding; Art Goodmon; Laura Marcus Green; Richard Hess; Estacia Huddleston; Norty Kalishman; Wendy Lewis; Trish Lopez; Jerry Lovato; Christian Maes; Nick Mang; Bob Maze; Joseph Millard; Luz Montoya; Brendan Picker; Michaele Pride; Henry Rael; Aida Rascon; Sean Raybun at Meisters Workshop; Paul Resnick; Robert Reznik; Niall Ridgley; Beatriz Rivera; Joe Samora; Shelle & David Sánchez; Petra Sánchez; Ruben Sánchez; Veronia Sánchez; Christina Sandoval; Ken Sandoval; Suzanne Sbarge; Louis Schalk; Nick Shaw; Alf Simon; Christy Snyder; Molly Sturges; MJ Vargas; Efrain Villa; David Vogel; Margy Waller; South San Pedro Neighborhood Association; La Mesa Neighborhood Association; Fairwest Neighborhood Association; Trumbull Village Neighborhood Association; Elder Homestead Neighborhood Association.

PROJECTS IN THE INTERNATIONAL DISTRICT