La Cumbre works urgently to fill the increasing void in federal support for cross-cultural and traditional arts and crafts that engender self-reliance for artisans in ancestral disciplines. La Cumbre provides a home and studio space for learning, teaching, research, and development of collaboration models that can leverage this sharing locally and around the world in other communities.
Long term, we seek a naming opportunity benefactor to endow the La Cumbre Center for Arts and Culture in Taos in perpetuity. La Cumbre is an approximately eight acre compound with five historic adobe buildings in Talpa, the oldest Hispanic community and settlement in Taos, New Mexico. The property is owned by the people who also run Mabel Dodge Luhan House (see current MDLH workshops) as part of a foundation working to preserve the properties and mission of both centers in perpetuity. We hope to identify the right benefactor to name the Center for Arts and Culture in Taos and endow La Cumbre and other properties to build upon the successful workshops, residencies and community engagement activities already underway.
Short term, La Cumbre seeks $35,000 in funding to continue current programs for another 12 months as we pursue permanent endowment funding to operate in perpetuity.
In addition to our continuing programs with our weaving cohort, collaborations are slated with the Couse-Sharpe Historic Site, The The Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, Oklahoma State University which administers the Doel Reed Center, the Harwood Museum of Art/University of New Mexico, the Taos Center for the Arts (TCA) and others.
La Cumbre is currently working in collaboration with Martinez Hacienda (La Hacienda de los Martinez) of Taos Historic Museums , the University of New Mexico Taos HIVE and Futuros Ancestral to support our current collective of “sheep to loom” weavers as they prepare for a La Cumbre exhibit and events in conjunction with the Harwood Museum in 2026.
Futuros Ancestral has received Taos Center for the Arts and National Endowment for the Arts funding as well as Northern Río Grande National Heritage (National Park Service) grants for these projects, under the astute leadership of Layne Jackson Hubbard. Additionally, La Cumbre is working with the Taos Land Trust and Taos Historic Museums to reestablish traditional agricultural practices training for the local community which includes the cultivation of heirloom seeds and sustainable agricultural practices for the local community and beyond.
La Cumbre Center for Arts and Culture in Taos has already received encouragement and promises of future support/collaboration from Taos County Department of Economic Development, Taos School District, the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, and Taos Center for the Arts.