The Paseo Project to Receive Second Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in 2022
Taos, New Mexico—The Paseo Project has been approved for a second Grants for Arts Projects award from the National Endowment for the Arts to support their Artist in Residence Program. This project will assist in bringing international artist CHiKA to Taos for a one-month residency engaging with our community in Augmented Reality experiences and workshops. The Paseo Project is among 1,125 projects across America totaling more than $26.6 million that were selected during this second round of Grants for Arts Projects fiscal year 2022 funding.
“The National Endowment for the Arts is proud to support arts and cultural organizations throughout the nation with these grants, including The Paseo Project, providing opportunities for all of us to live artful lives,” said NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD. “The arts contribute to our individual well-being, the well-being of our communities, and to our local economies. The arts are also crucial to helping us make sense of our circumstances from different perspectives as we emerge from the pandemic and plan for a shared new normal informed by our examined experience.”
With this funding, The Paseo Project will present a summer 2022 Media Arts residency and installation by CHiKA, a NY-based artist who has been featured at The PASEO in 2015 and 2018.
“We are thrilled to learn that The Paseo Project will be receiving their second NEA grant in 2022. This support helps us to continue bringing free, community centered - and cutting edge - art to Taos. We’re excited to include youth workshops and apprenticeship opportunities with this residency that will make deeper impacts throughout the county,” said Paseo Project Executive Director, Matthew Thomas. “CHiKA’s time spent working with the Taos community will help inform this engaged month-long residency, grounding it in regional geographic and social dynamic.”
For the summer 2022 residency, CHiKA will present GO03_Taos, a fusion of physical and nonphysical structures acting in harmony with each other through augmented reality (AR) to inspire people to explore our world with fresh eyes. GO03_Taos follows GO02_NowHere, on display in Manhattan May - June 2021; and GO01_GI, developed at the 2020 NARS Satellite Residency on Governors Island.
The physical heart of GO03_Taos will be placed at Taos Plaza; the five nonphysical, virtual structures will be placed at significant locations around Taos Plaza, forming a star shape. The five elements of Chinese philosophy and the five Platonic solids are embedded inside of the star for the public to discover, using a custom geolocational app on their smartphone.
GO03_Taos will add a layer of ephemeral vibrancy to the town, and encourage audiences to experience each location in the uncanny space between real and virtual. In the month of July CHiKA will work closely with local apprentices to build her installation and give a site-specific projection mapping workshop.
The first Arts Projects Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts was awarded to the Paseo Project in January to support the annual PASEO Festival scheduled for September 16 and 17, 2022. For more information on other projects included in the Arts Endowment grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.
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The Paseo Project Artist in Residency Program is just one of a number of events the Paseo Project has planned for 2022. This summer the Paseo will be hosting a total of three artists in residence, each featuring a variety of Artist Talks and community workshops and events, as well as their annual PASEO outdoor art festival scheduled for September 16 and 17. See paseoproject.org for more information as these events unfold.
Learn more: www.paseoproject.org