The Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) is a college focused on Native American art, located in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Many IAIA graduates transition into full-time careers as self-supporting artists, while others continue their education at universities and art schools nationwide.
IAIA operates the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, which is housed in the historic Santa Fe Federal Building (the old Post Office), a landmark Pueblo Revival building listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The museum houses the 7,000+ piece National Collection of Contemporary Indian Art.
History
The Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) was co-founded by Lloyd Kiva New (Cherokee, 1916â€"2002) and George Boyce. It was funded by United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), in 1962. The intertribal art school was created upon the recommendation of the BIA Department of Education and the Indian Arts and Crafts Board. Three factors led to the creation of IAIA: dissatisfaction with the academic program of the Santa Fe Indian School (SFIS), a BIA paradigm shift towards post-graduate education, and the influence of the Southwest Indian Art Project and the Rockefeller Foundation.
IAIA began operations on the campus of the SFIS in October 1962. From 1962-1979, IAIA ran a high school program and post-graduate art courses and beginning in 1975, was accredited to grant college degrees in various formats culminating in the accreditation of four-year degrees in 2001. In 2013, a two-year low residency MFA Program in Creative Writing was approved and implemented. In 1986, the Institute of American Indian and Alaska Native Culture and Arts Development was congressionally chartered as a non-profit organization, similar to the structure of the Smithsonian Institution, removing it from the control of the BIA. Today, IAIA sits on a 140-acre campus 12 miles south of downtown Santa Fe and also operates the Museum of Contemporary Native Art, located in the Santa Fe Plaza, and the Center for Lifelong Education.
Museum of Contemporary Native Arts
In 1991, The Institute of American Indian Arts Museum, now called the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, was founded by the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, as the only museum to focus on contemporary intertribal Native American art. IAIA operates the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, which is housed in the historic Santa Fe Federal Building (the old Post Office), a landmark Pueblo Revival building listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The museum, which showcases work by Native artists, features the Allan Houser Sculpture Garden. The museum houses the 7,000+ piece National Collection of Contemporary Indian Art.
Partnerships
IAIA is a member of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC), which is a community of tribally and federally chartered institutions working to strengthen tribal nations and make a lasting difference in the lives of American Indians and Alaska Natives. IAIA was created in response to the higher education needs of American Indians. IAIA generally serves geographically isolated populations that have no other means accessing education beyond the high school level.
Notable faculty
Notable alumni
Notable administration and staff
- Lloyd Kiva New (Cherokee, 1916â€"2002), co-founder and president
- Joseph Sanchez, curator and artist, one of the Indian Group of Seven
See also
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Santa Fe County, New Mexico
References
External links
- Official website
- Museum of Contemporary Native Arts