Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that art education in New Mexico is taking place on occupied indigenous land of 23 tribes. It’s important that we acknowledge the history and ongoing colonization of where we live and work here and in our country. It’s also important to acknowledge our own place in the story of colonization. We don’t pretend to know the answers in undoing the ugly legacy of colonization, but at the very least, we can be accountable and deepen our understanding of our individual and our collective responsibility in fighting for change. As a member of NMAEA, we each have the opportunity to work for change.​
Adapted from a speech by Maria ArchuletaÂ
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Native tribes of New Mexico:​
Jicarilla Apache Nation
Mescalero Apache Tribe of the Mescalero Reservation
Ohkay Owingeh
Navajo Nation
Pueblo of Acoma
Pueblo of Cochiti
Pueblo of Jemez
Pueblo of Isleta
Pueblo of Laguna
Pueblo of Nambe
Pueblo of Picuris
Pueblo of Pojoaque
Pueblo of San Felipe
Pueblo of San Ildefonso
Pueblo of Sandia
Pueblo of Santa Ana
Pueblo of Santa Clara
Pueblo of Santo Domingo
Pueblo of Taos
Pueblo of Tesuque
Pueblo of Zia
Ute Mountain Tribe
Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation​
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NMAEA Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee
The purpose of the ED&I committee is to help members better create safe environments and serve their students and support their colleagues—including those who are often marginalized, due to their race, class, gender, sexual orientation, and more. The committee will work in concert with the Board of Directors and members to respond to previously unaddressed and newly emerging issues, and to advance NAEA ED&I priorities.
Adapted from NAEA ED&I Commission Purpose
Priorities:
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In step with the NAEA, follow with decisive actions aimed at dismantling structural and institutional inequities within our national association and beginning a long overdue cultural shift that centers upon greater equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility;
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Serve as a catalyst for the work of NMAEA, arts education partners, and individual members in prioritizing, brainstorming, and enacting sustainable structures and systems for infusing greater equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility into their local workplaces, arts institutions, and communities of creative practice.
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Black Lives Matter
New Mexico Art Education Association affirms the heartfelt stance articulated by NAEA President-elect, Dr. James H. Rolling, Jr., in Black Lives Matter: An Open Letter to Art Educators on Constructing an Anti-racist Agenda. The heinous murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and so many others have brought to the forefront of our awareness the tenacious grip of injustice against Black men and women in the United States. This injustice has gone overlooked by many throughout our history as a nation. As Dr. Rolling states in the Open Letter, any organization “that is not actively anti-racist is complicit with the outcomes of a society that has long institutionalized its racism.” As New Mexico art educators facing cultural and racial conflict in our own state’s history and present times, we acknowledge our failure to be anti-racist, creating structural and systemic change and equitably shaping human potential. Racism “violently impacts the lives of those we are entrusted to teach and protect.” With justice for our colleagues, our students, and their families as our goal, we seek to transform art education by collaborating to disrupt racism.