Now retired from the New York City Ballet, dancer Jock Soto is one of eight New Mexicans who received the 2024 Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts.
Now retired from the New York City Ballet, dancer Jock Soto is one of eight New Mexicans who received the 2024 Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts.
The New Mexico Arts Commission and the New Mexico Arts Division are now accepting nominations for the 2025 Governor's Awards for Excellence in the Arts.
At the start of each year, a call is made for artists and art organizations to submit nominations of an artist, art supporter, or art organization that has made a significant impact on the arts in New Mexico. These nominations are assessed by the commission and the governor before awardees are chosen and honored in an exhibition and awards ceremony later in the year.
The number and expertise of awardees varies every year. Last year's eight awardees came from backgrounds in filmmaking, textile technologies, sculpting, paper marbling, artistic philanthropy, ballet, and public murals. Since the award's inception in 1974, an equally diverse bunch of more than 300 New Mexico artists and champions of art have been spotlighted.
The awardees  are celebrated and recognized by the governor for their achievements in a fall ceremony; they are further honored through a weeks-long exhibit featuring some of their work at the Governor's Gallery in the Roundhouse.
The award highlights these artists and individuals, but also highlights the significance of art in New Mexico as a whole, calling for celebration of the thriving art world these individuals help to preserve and advance.
Artists and arts organizations who call New Mexico home will have until 5 p.m. on March 17 to nominate the artists, art supporters, or art organizations they feel have made their mark on the state's arts. Self-nominations and nominations submitted by immediate family members or members of the same household are not allowed; only living artists will be considered.Â
