Doña Ana Arts Council quietly shuts down after 50 years

LAS CRUCES — This year would have been the 50th anniversary of the Doña Ana Arts Council, but by the first of February, it had quietly closed its doors and donated its assets to another nonprofit. 

There was no public announcement. Its downtown office and gallery sat vacant and its phone went straight to voicemail, with no staff to return the call.

“My first reaction was surprise and then dismay and sadness," Heather Pollard, who served as the council’s first executive director beginning in 1983, told the Journal. "The arts council was the name of the game for many, many years in Las Cruces.”

Cruces Creatives, a nonprofit makerspace that opened in 2018, confirmed that the arts council chose it as their sole designee, following a law that says a nonprofit that closes must distribute its assets to another tax-exempt organization with a similar mission. It was not immediately clear whether DAAC had formally dissolved the corporation.

"This is a sad day for all of us," Misty Morton, DAAC's board president, told the Journal, describing the council as "an extremely vital part of our region's creative ecosystem for decades."  She also expressed gratitude to volunteers, artists and board members who sustained the organization since it began as an informal association in 1971.

Longtime board member Michael Mandel told the Journal, “It fell apart.”

The silent death of a longstanding institution that supported a long-running renaissance fair, led the rehabilitation of a 1926 historic theater building and advocated for an arts and culture district that today features prominently in the city’s marketing strategy shook the creative community, although several former volunteers and board members declined to speak about the council’s final years on record.

A pillar of the Mesilla Valley

Incorporated in 1976, the Las Cruces-based nonprofit was a pillar of the Mesilla Valley creative community, hosting exhibitions and a large annual arts fair, summer youth and education programs, literary events, musical and dramatic performances.

Among its founders were organizers of the Renaissance Arts Faire, active since 1971, that draws tens of thousands of visitors to the city’s Young Park. The faire and the arts council have been closely identified ever since — although last November, some former participants staged an alternative “Renaissance Goes Rogue” event at First Presbyterian Church.

In 1998, DAAC acquired the Rio Grande Theatre, which was privately owned and in poor condition. The council mounted a long-running campaign to renovate the 400-seat cinema and proscenium-stage performance venue. In 2002, the council deeded the theater to the city but continued to operate it as a private contractor with its offices located on the top floor.

The council’s partnership with the city ruptured in 2017, when city staff moved to take over management of the theater itself and the council voluntarily terminated its contract, leaving downtown and its home of two decades.

Over the next decade, the council saw frequent changes of leadership as it moved from a gallery space in Mesilla to a former bank and then an office suite in downtown Las Cruces.

From 2019 through 2025, the council welcomed and soon parted with four directors: Former hospital executive Steve Ruwoldt served for just over two months in 2019 and was followed by former Las Cruces City Councilor Greg Smith (2020-22) and artist Araceli Solis (2023-24). Karrie Porter, a museum curator and consultant who succeeded Solis in 2024, said she was terminated last November. JeKaren Bell, a Unitarian Universalist minister and artist, was announced as interim director.

Smith, who led DAAC through the COVID-19 pandemic, told the Journal, “When I left that position three years ago, I believed the arts council was in a secure spot, ready to promote and support the arts here for another 50 years.”

Kathleen Albers, who served DAAC for decades as a volunteer, executive director and in other roles, called the closure “a huge loss for the entire Las Cruces community.”

Since retiring from the council in 2021, Albers co-founded the Arte Institute for Lifelong Learning, which held classes and events at DAAC until they were told last month that the facility was closing. For now, her classes have moved online.

While she and her new organization had worked with and contributed to DAAC, Albers said, “I have not been involved in the leadership or running of the organization. … It really breaks my heart to see this happening to what was a thriving nonprofit.”

The fate of the Renaissance Arts Faire, which would be marking its 55th year in 2026, is unclear. 

A swift, quiet ending

Mandel said that in the closing weeks of 2025 DAAC’s board of directors fragmented, with some members resigning as they faced yet another director search plus financial and accounting concerns he did not detail.

“The last few meetings were pretty much useless,” Mandel said. “We didn’t have enough people.”

Porter said she reached out to institutional experts to help advise the organization before she fell out with the board, saying, “I wasn’t able to take that to the next level.” Porter said events and programs grew more expensive over time even as the organization’s staff shrank.

“Any nonprofit that made it through the pandemic years worked miracles,” she said.

Cruces Creatives Executive Director Lea Wise-Surguy told the Journal that DAAC approached her near the end of January, with just a few days for DAAC to vacate the property. 

“Their work made a real difference in the arts community, and their impacts will continue to be felt,” Wise-Surguy said. “We thank them for the tools, supplies, art and furniture they donated to Cruces Creatives, and affirm we will keep supporting the art community as best we can, especially in this difficult time.”

Algernon D’Ammassa is the Journal’s southern New Mexico correspondent. He can be reached at adammassa@abqjournal.com.