Museum of International Folk Art curators Patricia Sigala and Chloe Accardi are dedicated to co-collaborating exhibitions alongside community members. For the upcoming exhibition, Between the Lines: Prison Art & Advocacy, this commitment to community feedback and engagement is particularly strong. What began as a small exhibition in the museum’s Gallery of Conscience last year, will be opening as a much larger show on August 9, 2024. Between the Lines: Prison Art & Advocacy will feature a wide range of prison art from across the country and the world. Local collaborations with for ..read more

For many people who live in New Mexico the nearest library might be three hundred miles away. Luckily, the New Mexico State Library runs two excellent rural library services: Books by Mail and three bookmobiles that serve different regions of the state. If you live 20 minutes outside of the city limits of any city in New Mexico, or if you live within city limits but are homebound, or if you can only read large-print books, you can sign up for Books by Mail. The Books by Mail collection contains more than 30,000 titles, including books in Spanish, audiobooks, eBooks, and more. For schools and s ..read more

What do we lose when we don’t know ALL of our histories? Understanding our great, great, great, great grandparents' lives and how they survived, where they settled or traveled, and what languages they spoke – all of these details reveal so much about who we are and how we landed here in this place, at this moment in time. How our ancestors interacted with other people and with the land has had ripple effects on why things are the way they are today. Dr. Gregorio Gonzales (Comanche, Genízaro), the tribal liaison for the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, works to develop relationships w ..read more

In a large, low-population state like New Mexico, with lots of rural communities, libraries play a vital role in literacy, education, and job skills training—along with the simple joy that comes from learning and being immersed in the numerous worlds that can be found within a book’s pages.  Each of the 130 libraries across New Mexico, including 21 tribal libraries, serves the specific needs of its own community. Many tribal libraries, such as the Santa Clara Pueblo’s library, maintain a community archive of historic photos, interviews, and oral histories that preserve the past and help r ..read more

Poetry is everywhere. Poetry is in the way we speak or sing or the ways we imagine. Poetry offers space and possibility. And poetry is the best kept open secret we have. Because as it turns out, poetry can sometimes have the unfortunate reputation of not being for everyone.  Thankfully, state poets laureate are working to change this perception and helping people find the magic and meaning in poetry. New Mexico State Poet Laureate, Lauren Camp, is no exception. Now midway through her three-year term, she’s made it her mission to traverse the vast reaches of the state to build community an ..read more

Jemez Historic Site, like all of New Mexico’s Historic Sites and museums, offers unique historical and cultural perspectives on the deep and wide-ranging communities, languages, and traditions across the state. And while New Mexico contains a complicated and layered history, these Sites not only honor history but vibrant and ongoing cultures that continue to this day.  Marlon Magdalena, the Instructional Coordinator Supervisor at Jemez Historic Site and member of the Jemez Pueblo, says that all aspects of his community, currently and in the past, are important. “My primary goal is just to ..read more

Traveling to some remote parts of Northern New Mexico can feel a little like traveling back in time. There’s the slower, rural lifestyle and lack of cell reception, for starters, but in some small pockets of rural communities, people still speak a 17th-century dialect of Spanish.  Encounter Culture host Emily Withnall speaks with National Hispanic Cultural Center’s executive director, Zack Quintero, archivist Robin Moses, and Librarian Amy Padilla about their work to collect and preserve this ancient Spanish dialect before it disappears—which they say could happen in just fifteen years. T ..read more

If you’ve ever been to a Sinclair gas station and see the green dinosaur out front, paleontologist Tony Fiorillo says it’s a fair approximation of New Mexico’s Alamosaurus—which was first discovered in New Mexico more than one hundred years ago. Not only is the Alamosaurus a “New Mexican icon,” as Fiorillo says, but it’s also the only dinosaur discovered in North America so far that appears to have migrated from South America. In addition to his work as a researcher and paleontologist, Dr. Tony Fiorillo is the executive director of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science. His ca ..read more

What would it be like to see a symphony? How can you capture the rhythm of waves or a murmuration in constellations of light? If anyone can offer a visual representation of multi-sensory experiences, multimedia artist Leo Villareal can. As Villareal shares in his conversation with Encounter Culture host, Emily Withnall, “I think of my tools more like instruments in a way. And I'm making kind of visual music.” Leo Villareal is a world-renowned artist with roots in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and in El Paso and Marfa, Texas. He currently lives in Brooklyn where he owns a gallery and oversees a team ..read more

Meet Emily Withnall, the new editor of El Palacio Magazine and your new podcast host of Encounter Culture.  As a journalist and writer—and New Mexican, first of all—Emily is acquainted with all facets of the magazine publishing process. In conversation with Andrea Klunder, producer and story editor for Encounter Culture, Emily talks about her love of audio storytelling that goes all the way back to growing up on radio. With Encounter Culture, she strives for captivating storytelling with just the right amount of wandering.  Emily is passionate about artists experimenting with public ..read more