About
Since 2014, the Paseo Project has brought projection, performance, and installation art to the streets of Taos with free, community events.
The PASEO was founded in 2014 as a project of Taos Fall Arts Festival. J. Matt Thomas, Agnes Chavez, Janet Webb, Molly Robertson, Anita McKeown and David Mapes formed a core team and together they established the enduring mission, guidelines and ethos. Its original purpose was to connect the multiple venues of Fall Arts’ exhibitions with street activities to keep visitors engaged and moving. Over the years the event has grown, from one night to two nights, hosting dozens of artists regionally, nationally, and internationally. In 2016, the PASEO team took the leap into a more sustainable model and became a 501c-3 nonprofit, The Paseo Project. The Paseo Project offers year-round programs and events in addition to hosting the annual fall PASEO festival.
Our Mission
The Paseo Project works to transform art through community and community through art.
Vision
Create a platform for art that is experimental, time-based, ephemeral, participatory, and context responsive
Encourage a conversation on contemporary art practices, local and global
Engage the community through education, workshops, presentations
*Financials available upon request
Challenge art and audience, local and global
Support local artists and businesses, emergent and established
Respect art making and artists
ART MATTERS:
Learn more about how The Paseo Project Advocates for the Arts in Taos
In the spring of 2023, The Paseo Project shared research on the Creative Economy and the greater impacts of arts, and The PASEO, for the community of Taos
Meet the Paseo Team
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Matthew Thomas
Executive Director
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Contessa Trujillo
Operations & Programs Manager
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Amber Vasquez
Education Manager
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Executive Director
Matt is an architect, artist, and curator. In the fall of 2013 he had an idea: what if for one weekend, we brought art outside and invited the community to come together to celebrate our historic downtown? Within months The PASEO was born. With the support of a passionate team of artists and creatives, the annual festival has brought thousands to the streets, celebrating cutting edge projection, supersized installations, and provocative performance art against the backdrop of the beautiful town of Taos.
Matt is the founder of Studio Taos, an interdisciplinary design and research firm. A graduate of Columbia University Architecture and Urban Design Program, Matt is determined to practice acts of urban design in the rural Southwest. Ever dedicated to a healthier, stronger and more creative community, Matt is also an organizer of Pecha Kucha Night Taos. He lives in Taos with his husband, dog, and 40 chickens.
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Education Manager
Amber Vasquez is an Albuquerque native and was a professional modern dancer for 10 years with internationally known dance companies. Amber has been running her own dance school since 2005 and created an integrative arts program for school children entitled “Dance and Learn” teaching school standards though dance and music. Currently Amber is director of DanceWorx a semi professional dance performance group based in Taos, New Mexico and acts as the early childhood program coordinator for Twirl Play and Discovery space creating play based early literacy programs that integrate dance, theater and art. Amber is an avid promoter of the arts in Taos and she sits on the board of directors for the Academy of Performing Arts, The advisory board for UNM Kids Campus and is a founding member of the board of ArtSoul.
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Operations and Programs
A native and deep-rooted Taoseña, Contessa's had a lifelong penchant for all things arts, culture, and community. She is an avid creator whose current focus on fiber arts, adobe architecture and history, and earth pigments have her knee-deep in fleece and mud. (That is when she's not out exploring or hanging with her family.) Having over two decades of experience within the arts and non-profit realms in Taos, San Francisco, and Portland (OR), Contessa wears many hats and holds a wide understanding of the inner-workings of arts-focused and nonprofit organizations. Passionate about community, creative practices that enhance and better people's lives, and collective power, she has a history and deep investment in working with at-risk youth, historically excluded communities, and peoples of color. With a focus on enhancing community, resource-sharing, and involvement in the arts and creative practice, Contessa hopes to further invest in, and have a demonstrable impact on, her beloved Taos community.
Our Board of Directors
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Elizabeth Crittenden Palacios
Board Chair
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Joleen Montoya
Board Secretary
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Nathanial Evans
Board Treasurer
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Enrico Trujillo
Board Member
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Elizabeth is a dedicated professional with a remarkable career spanning over 40 years, characterized by an unwavering commitment to the nonprofit sector. Her leadership roles showcase a wealth of experience and a deep-seated passion for creating positive impacts in communities. Currently serving on the Board of Paseo, Elizabeth brings a unique blend of skills and expertise to the organization, contributing to its growth and success.
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Joleen is a co-director and college counselor at the Bridges Project for Education where she works with first-generation to college students and families through the college admissions and financial aid process. Prior to her time at Bridges, Joleen was the Executive Director and founder of Evolving Creative Opportunities Arts Center, a community based arts center for youth in Taos, NM. She has worked in the non-profit sector for nearly twenty years, mainly in the areas of youth development and the arts. She believes in art as a tool for healing historical trauma in communities and as an agent for social change.
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Nathaniel Evans was born and raised in Taos, NM. He has been active in education after receiving a BS in Biology from Antioch College in Ohio. After receiving his degree, he was eager to come back to Taos and serve his community. In 2004, Nathaniel began teaching 7th and 8th grade math and science at Taos Charter School, and he became actively involved in the community. In 2016 he was elected to a four year term on the Taos Town Council and was re-elected in 2020.
Nathaniel believes that we need to continue to come together to improve our diverse community in as many ways as we can. We need to focus on providing opportunities for our youth and making Taos a more livable place by providing exposure to new ideas and self exploration through STEAM. He welcomes and needs the community’s input, advice and participation and knows firsthand that we are a strong, diverse community. We need to put aside our differences and unify for the betterment of the generations to come. Art is a critical aspect of keeping Taos a resilient community. Nathaniel is honored to serve as one the board members of PASEO.
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Enrico is a multimedia developer for The University of New Mexico branch in Taos, NM. His work has supported several nonprofits and community endeavors. His degree in Fine Art has lead him into collaborations that include CineMAS, the Southwest Gay & Lesbian Film Festival (Way Out West Film Fest), The Navajo Education Technology Consortium, ARTS Lab, Dome Fest, True Kids 1, and Taos Pride. He is always thrilled to collaborate in ways that bring communities together through art, technology, and shared stories.
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Dawning Pollen Shorty
Board Member
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Nina Silfverberg
Board Member
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Dawning Pollen Shorty is a talented sculptor and painter from Taos Pueblo. Her father, Robert D. Shorty, is an award-winning sculptor, writer and dancer. Her mother, Bernadette A. Track, studied modern dance and ballet at Juilliard and was one of R.C. Gorman’s muses and models.
Dawning was educated in the arts at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) and at the University of New Mexico. She has won many awards for her micaceous clay female figures. In addition to being an artist, she is a longtime art educator in the Taos Public Schools.
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For over twenty years, Nina Silfverberg has been thoroughly engaged in ensemble work, deciphering its language through costume and set design. Her theater designs have been seen from Edinburgh to Stockholm, from Finland to the U.S.A, and on numerous stages in between. Silfverberg always finds herself returning to fiber arts and felt. As an artisan, Silfverberg is both a continuous disciple of and gratefully challenged by the laborious process of felting and working with fiber art. As an artist, she thrives on creating work that sparks imagination.
As an ambassador of play and creativity for Twirl, a Play and Discovery Space in Taos, she has the honor to work with kids and families of Taos. Twirl is a Paseo partner that provides hands-on play-based programming for kids and families making science concepts come alive through art and creativity. With the Twirl team she has co-created programming that has culminated in community contributed art installations such as Light Play, Pendulum Play, Eye Play, Mandala Play as the Paseo festival has always been an annual cornerstone of Twirl’s community programs. As a Taos community member she loves connecting “community dots” and seeing art and creativity flourish in Taos . Please see ninasilfverberg.com for more information.
Our advisors
Rita O’Connell
Rita O'Connell worked with The Paseo Project for four years as Director of Development and Festival Manager. She is a performer, writer, and producer of things who has been kicking around Taos since 2007. Rita holds an MA in Public Advocacy and Activism from the National University of Ireland, Galway. She works with nonprofits and individuals to
advance creative, grassroots changemaking efforts, and she writes a lot of grants. A co-founder of KNCE 93.5FM, LiveTaos.com, and Curling Iron Productions, she believes deeply in the power of the creative community here in Taos. Rita is currently working in Northern New Mexico as a field rep for US Senator Martin Heinrich.
Lili Rusing
Lili Rusing is a development consultant specializing in funding for the arts and humanities, with particular expertise in grant strategy and writing. Rusing has more than a decade of experience fundraising for the country’s leading art and culture organizations, where she has secured more than $20 million in funding from foundations, government agencies, corporations, and individuals. Current
and recent clients include the Guggenheim Museum, the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, the International Center of Photography, the Jewish Museum, the New York Public Library, and Creative Time, among others. Rusing holds an M.S. in Fundraising Management from Columbia University and a B.A. in Art History from Northern Arizona University. Lili served on the Paseo Board of Directors for five years.
Sarah Stolar
Sarah Stolar (b. 1974, Chicago, IL) is an interdisciplinary artist who lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Working from a vast technical perspective, the breadth of her work includes painting, drawing, multi-media installation, film, video, and performance art. Rooted in a 25-year investigation of the female psychological narrative, common threads in her work include coming of age, loss of innocence, sexuality, beauty, power, death, spirituality, and identity. Sarah is the daughter of artist and educator Merlene Schain, and in the family lineage of 19th-century German painter Adolph von Menzel and Rookwood Pottery master potter John von Menzel of the American Arts and Crafts Movement. She grew up in her mother’s art studio and award-winning art school Schain Studios in Cincinnati, OH, received a BFA in Painting from the Art Academy of Cincinnati, and an MFA in New
Genres from the San Francisco Art Institute. Sarah's visual art, performance, and collaborative work have exhibited across the United States and in France, Argentina, Brazil, Spain, Germany, Austria, Finland, Italy, and Cuba with solo exhibitions at the New Mexico Museum of Art, Harwood Museum of Art, and BGMoCA in Montevideo, Uruguay as well as awards and honors from international film festivals, et al. She has been featured in multiple publications and podcasts including Yale University Radio Archive, Fifty Feminist States, The Nation Magazine, and Hyperallergic. A committed educator for over fifteen years, Sarah Stolar serves on several boards and academic committees, and is currently the Chair of the Department of Fine Arts and Digital Media at the University of New Mexico - Taos.
Agnes Chavez
Agnes Chavez is an artist/educator and founding member of The PASEO Festival. In 2014 she founded the STEMarts LAB a Research and Innovation project that applies the latest arts, science and technological innovations to youth programming. She was co-Director and education program director from 2014-2018. As an artist she explores our relationship with art, science, technology and nature as a process and tool for social change. Her work focuses on data
visualization, light, sound and space. As a curriculum developer she has created the STEMarts Curriculum Tool an online hybrid platform that complements real world science and art festivals with STEAM activities and resources built around the work of the artist. She is the developer of the SUBE multisensory language curriculum for teaching Spanish and English to kids through art, music and games now in its 24th year.
Janet Webb
Janet Webb has lived in three places in her lifetime: Los Angeles, New York City, and Taos, New Mexico. The latter has been her home since 1973. Though her college education culminated with a degree in drawing and painting, she has found her most rewarding accomplishment to be keeping a business
running in Taos since 1982. Webb Design Inc is a design and marketing business focused on the tourism industry and fine arts arena. Janet’s other community involvements include SOMOS, the literary society of Taos, and Harwood Museum of Art.
Morten Nilssen
Morten Nilssen moved to Taos in 1981 and worked in construction before establishing Moondance Recording Studio. He was employed by the Taos Art Association for twelve years in the eighties and nineties. In 1994 he was hired as technical director for the Taos Talking Picture Festival and was later
executive director for Taos Talking Pictures. He is currently the executive director at Taos Youth Music School and holds the position of president of the board of directors of the Nina Elizabeth Nilssen Scholarship Fund. Nilssen was the first Board Chair of The Paseo Project, serving 2017-2018.
Liz Neely
Liz Neely is a passionate advocate for how creativity and ‘making’ empower and inspire our lives giving us a lifelong learning mindset fueled by curiosity. As an established museum professional, she’s focused on designing engaging experiences for visitors onsite and online. Liz was a founding PASEO Team member and served on the founding board as
Vice President from 2017-2018. Liz is currently the Curator of Digital Experience at the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico and has held positions at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Harwood Museum of Art and the American Alliance of Museums. She received her MBA from Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management.
CHiKA
CHiKA is a Japanese-born, New York-based New Media Artist, and Educator.
Her work creates what she describes as the symphony of light: creating minimalist geometric shapes and visuals that explore dark space while inviting people to reinvent themselves through the relationship between objects and visual images. Light and sound are the main elements she uses in her installations, which are ultimately a visual performance that experiments with improvisational communication and immediate interaction with the audience in
real time. Her work has shown in numerous international venues and festivals, including Metropolitan Museum, the American Museum of Natural History, the Museum of Art and Design, NY Hall of Science, Eyebeam, Harvestworks, the Hammer Museum, San Francisco Art Institute, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Museo Regional de Guadalajara, Matadero Madrid, and International Biennial Contemporary Art ULA-2010, Mapping Festival, Mutek, Dumbo Art Festival and among others.
Erin Elder
Erin Elder is an independent curator of contemporary art guided by interests in land use, experimental collaboration, and non-traditional modes of expression. Her research-driven projects take highly participatory forms, working with a broad definition of art to bring audiences into a direct experience of particular places. Underscoring Erin's work is a commitment to the creative process and direct support for artists. From 2009 - 2013, she cooperatively founded and directed PLAND, an off-the-grid residency program near Tres Piedras, NM. From 2012 - 2015, she was the
Visual Arts Director at the Center for Contemporary Arts in Santa Fe, where she curated 50+ exhibitions and many public programs. Under her direction, the program worked directly with artists on exhibitions of new work, designed specifically for the unique gallery spaces at CCA. With an MA in Curatorial Practice from California College of the Arts and 15 years of experience in the art world, Erin operates Gibbous, a consulting service that supports committed artists at pivotal moments in their careers.
Anita McKeown
Anita is an itinerant interdisciplinary artist, curator and researcher interested in Creative Placemaking and Open Source Culture and Technology. Previously, Director of the CATALYST initiative at SMARTlab,UCD, she is
currently focusing on completion of her PhD, while working on independent live and situated art projects, working as Art Services Unincorporated (ASU).
Mariannah Amster & Frank Ragano
Mariannah Amster and Frank Ragano are Co-Executive/Artistic Directors of Parallel Studios which produces CURRENTS: Santa Fe International New Media Festival. Currents is an annual, citywide event which takes place for three weeks every June. Since 2002 Parallel
Studios has brought together the work of established, unrecognized and emerging New Media artists, from New Mexico, the US and the world, for events showcasing interactive and fine art video installations, multimedia performances and web-based art forms.
Lucy R. Lippard
Lucy R. Lippard is a writer, curator, and activist who has spent a “lifetime in and on the edge of the arts”. Author of 23 books on contemporary art, her most recent being: Undermining: A Wild RIde Through Land Use,
Politics, and Art in the Changing West. Her commitment to conceptual, ephemeral, and activist work now spans five decades, two of which have been spent in a small New Mexican village.
David van der Leer
David van der Leer, Principal of DVDL Design Decisions, is a consultant, curator, educator, moderator, researcher, strategist, and writer. David’s passion is reinventing the institutions of yesterday—and dreaming up the most inspirational institutions of tomorrow—through excellent architecture and interdisciplinary programs.
David founded DVDL Design Decisions in 2018 after having worked and consulted with institutions, government agencies, corporations, and individuals for 15 years.
Creative, intelligent, intuitive, and forward-looking, David has extensive experience in bringing together interdisciplinary teams to
create successful design projects.
David has created, chaired, and led nearly 30 design competitions, and he has commissioned numerous design and art projects. He enjoys rethinking conventional design competition and commissioning processes, and actively promotes new practices in events like the Design Competition Conference he developed and co-chaired at Harvard University in 2015.
Born and raised in The Netherlands, David is a graduate of Erasmus University Rotterdam, and of the High Impact Leadership program at Columbia University’s Business School.
Ann Landi
Ann Landi has been a contributing editor of ARTnews for nearly 20 years and writes on art several times a year for The Wall Street Journal. She is also the author of The Schirmer Encyclopedia of Art, and holds degrees in art
history from Princeton and Columbia. Currently, Ann is focused on her website, Vasari21, which presents artists with information about building a life as a professional artist.
In Memoraim
Josh Comfort
Josh Comfort, a PASEO advisor for many years, passed away in 2021. A registered Architect and Arts Advocate based in Denver who visited Taos and owned properties here since 2000, Josh was a six year participant in Denver’s Biennial of the Americas, a hemispheric celebration of the Arts. He had
also served for 5 years on Denver’s Commission for Cultural Affairs and it's Public Art Committee, overseeing Public Art and implementation of the City’s cultural plan, Imagine2020. We are grateful for all of his support.