“To empower creativity and leadership in Native Arts and cultures through higher education, life-long learning and outreach.” IAIA is an accredited college located in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
At the University of Arizona, 31 participants convened for the Rockefeller Conference on Indian Art, a meeting that would set the stage for a new discussion regarding Indian art production.
As a result of the Rockefeller Conference on Indian Art held at the University of Arizona, a new, exploratory workshop, the Southwestern Indian Art Project, was created by the Rockefeller Foundation and the University of Arizona. Directed in part by Lloyd H. 'Kiva' New, the workshop hosted Indian youth from around the country during the summers of 1960 and 1961 and taught contemporary art forms and practices. The Southwestern Indian Art Project is generally considered the direct precursor to the fine arts program at IAIA.
Upon the success of the Southwestern Indian Art Project at the University of Arizona, BIA Commissioner Glenn Emmons, under the advisement of the Indian Arts and Crafts Board, instructed Director of Indian Education Hildegard Thompson to explore the possibility of an Indian art center operated by the BIA. In 1960, dissatisfied with the current operation at the Santa Fe Indian School, Thompson recommended new construction and remodeling of the campus to serve as a new art school. This school would become IAIA.
George A. Boyce, a career educator with the BIA and superintendent of Intermountain Indian School in Brigham City, Utah, was hired by Hildegard Thompson to be the first superintendent of IAIA in 1961.
After two years of planning, the Institute of American Indian Arts commenced operations on October 1, 1962.
Creative Writing has long been a strength of IAIA. In the Spring of 1963, Actor and Arts & Crafts board member Vincent Price created a student award for Creative Writing in his name. During the first year of the awards, first prize went to Janet Campbell for 'Red Eagle'. The awards would be held for many years to come with Mr. Price conducting public poetry readings of the work of the winners.
Douglas Crowder was among the primary students responsible for the various sculptures and other public art installations at IAIA in the early years of its operations. The 'Drummers' and Fountain are still present on the campus of the Santa Fe Indian School.
Held at the Department of Interior's Art Gallery in November of 1964 through January of 1965, the exhibition compiled the most comprehensive collection of American Indian art to date. Included in the show were IAIA students Larry Bird, George Burdeau, and Hank Gobin.
President Lyndon Johnson invited dancers from IAIA to perform for President Yameago of the Republic of Upper Volta during his visit to the United States.
Held in Washington, D.C., IAIA students, faculty and staff participated in the five-day American Indian Performing Arts Festival. The festival consisted of dances, other theatrical events and an art exhibit of IAIA student work at the newly opened Interior Department Art Gallery.
IAIA Assistant Art Director James McGrath coordinated, designed, curated, and escorted the Exhibition of American Indian Arts and Crafts throughout Scotland, Berlin, Turkey, Argentina, Chile, and Mexico City between August 1966 and March 1969. The exhibition was critically acclaimed, and featured the work of many IAIA students. It was widely considered instrumental in establishing contemporary Native art as an international art medium.
Following the retirement of George A. Boyce in the summer of 1966, Lloyd H. New was appointed Director of IAIA in the fall of 1967. New would hold this position until his retirement in 1978.
Paul Kravangna and IAIA Students opened Hookstone, a center devoted to student art sales.
Commissioned by renowned Arizona-based architect Paolo Soleri in 1965, the theatre was designed specifically for the intricacies of contemporary Native American theatre. "The building of a setting, in which to create 'Indian Theatre' implies special considerations, for when one says 'Indian Theatre,' he is not talking about Greek theatre, nor Shakespearean, nor New York theatre...When one says 'Indian Theatre' he implies a form of theatre devoted to Indian form, but not limited to an Indian audience." Lloyd H. 'Kiva' New, 'Indian Theatre: An Artistic Experiment in Progress,' 1969, IAIA Archives, MS015, Lloyd H. New Papers.
Indian Summer was an innovative educational program and featured introductory lectures, workshops, field trips, films, and field study in American Indian culture at IAIA, designed primarily for educators.
During the 1971-1972 school year, Antioch College, a Washington-Baltimore campus, granted accredited college semester transferable credits to IAIA students for the first time.
Under the direction of Chuck Dailey, the campus building established in the mid 1960s formerly known as the 'Art Gallery' became the IAIA Museum. The first exhibition held in the museum was 'Earth Colors,' a BIA traveling exhibit opened in the spring of 1972.
Earth Color was the first formal exhibit in the former 'Art Gallery' space renamed the IAIA Museum in 1972. The exhibition featured parts of the same collection that traveled with James McGrath and the Department of State during the International Exhibition of American Indian Arts and Crafts.
During the 1950s, Yeffe Kimball traveled the country with various photographers capturing images of contemporary life in numerous Native communities. In 1974, Kimball donated more than 4,000 slides, photograph, films, and stereographs collected on her trips to IAIA. The collection is now part of the permanent collections of the IAIA archives.
“By Authority vested in me as Commissioner of Indian Affairs, The Institute of American Indian Arts, located at Santa Fe, New Mexico, is hereby authorized to grant an Associate of Fine Arts Degree and a High School Diploma to Indian Students who: are one-quarter or more Indian by blood quantum; are legal members of federally recognized tribes; and shall have completed prescribed courses in a satisfactory manner, according to the requirements set by The Native American Council of Regents and The Bureau of Indian Affairs. Signed, Morris Thompson, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, April 3, 1975.”
Initially opening at the All Pueblo Indian Cultural Center in October of 1976, the BIA and IAIA exhibit 'One With the Earth' traveled the United States and Canada for over 20 years. The exhibit started as a bicentennial project with a $50,000 grant from the Department of the Interior to its subagency, the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The exhibit featured pieces from the BIA's large collection of Native art, as well as pieces from the IAIA 'Honors' collection. Below is a review from the New York Times:
In order for IAIA to pursue its ultimate goal of becoming an accredited four-year college, the high school program was discontinued after the 1979 school year.
John C. Wade was appointed IAIA president in 1979 following Lloyd H. New's retirement in 1978. Wade led the IAIA through the move to College of Santa Fe, as well as spearheading the effort towards the IAIA Congressional charter.
Following a decision to return the Santa Fe Indian School campus back to the All Pueblo Indian Council and move the high school students of the Albuquerque Indian School to Santa Fe, IAIA was forced to vacate the campus and take residency on the campus of College of Santa Fe.
After achieving candidate for accreditation status in the spring of 1978 from the NCA and NASA, the Institute of American Indian Arts was fully accredited by the commission on Institutions of Higher Education of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools effective October 19, 1984. The Institute now offered programs leading to certificates and Associate of Fine Arts Degrees in Two-Dimensional Arts, Three-Dimensional Arts, Creative Writing, and Museum Training.
IAIA became an independent, 501c3, non-profit, educational corporation in 1986. The Higher Education Amendments of 1986 severed the school's ties with the BIA and allowed IAIA to be operated under an independent Board of Trustees. The new congressional non-profit charter allowed IAIA to seek grants from private sources while still applying for congressional appropriations.
In Janurary of 1987, the Bureau of Indian Affairs appointed Carol M. Baker as the interim president of IAIA, the last BIA official to run the school. The Board of Trustees took control June 1, 1988, ending Baker's term.
After the reorganization of IAIA in 1986, the Board of Trustees hired former IAIA President Lloyd H. New to serve as president during the transition year of 1988-1989.
After nearly two years of identifying IAIA board candidates, 10 individuals were sworn in by Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Ross O. Swimmer to serve on the newly formed IAIA Board of Trustees.
Rancho Viejo Partnership donated 140 acres of property to IAIA for use as a new college campus.
The former GSA building, constructed in 1922 and located on Cathedral Street in downtown Santa Fe, was transferred to IAIA for use as its new museum, which opened to the public in 1992.
On August 1, 1989, Kathryn Harris Tijerina assumed her term as IAIA President. She was the first permanent president since the reorganization in 1986.
In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the massacre at Wounded Knee, the IAIA museum produced the exhibition 'Radicals and Renegades' in October of 1990. The exhibit featured selections from the IAIA collection.
This exhibition drew largely from the collections of IAIA, but also featured the work of Kevin Redstar, Tony Abeyta, Bob Haozous and David Bradly, among others. As curator Rick Hill described the exhibit, which traveled extensively after its showing at IAIA, "The human figure is an enduring symbol of Indian art, it's art and evolution have rarely been discussed using contemporary art and artists. The IAIA Museum has attempted to place the historic use and symbolism of the human figure in a context contemporary collectors of Native art can appreciate."
After more than two years of renovations, the IAIA museum reopened in the newly acquired Federal Building on Cathedral Place on June 21, 1992.
Creativity is Our Tradition was the permanent, centerpiece exhibit for the IAIA Museum when it opened the doors of the new facility on Cathedral Place in June of 1992. The exhibition's purpose was to demonstrate that 'our tradition is one of dependence upon creativity, not a fear of it. Tradition to Indians is a very dynamic and ever-expanding set of ideas and ways of thinking that have been passed on from our ancestors, and to which we add our own distinctive pattern. Our past was never static. Our present is unique in Indian history and our future is dependent upon how effectively the generations to come will utilize ways of Indian thinking.' The exhibit featured primarily the works of IAIA students, alumni and faculty, and celebrated the 30th Anniversary of IAIA.
On June 17th, 1994, Dr. Perry Horse was inaugurated as the second permanent president of IAIA.
The Equity in Educational Land-Grant Status Act of 1994 was part of the larger 'Improving America's schools' bill and granted Land-Grant status to 29 tribal colleges, including IAIA.
After serving as a member of the IAIA board and as Interim President for nine months, Beatrice Rivas Sanchez was appointed President by the Board in July 1996.
Having previously served IAIA as the Director of Development, Della Warrior replaced Beatrice Rivas Sanchez on December 19, 1997, on an interim basis, and appointed permanent president in March 1998.
Savage Truth opened in June of 1998, and expressed the realities of contemporary Indian life through the eyes of 12 artists. Alcoholism, racism, commercialism, gaming and poverty are presented through art installations--with an emphasis on the process of making art. It was considered an experiment in collaborative arts production. Lloyd Kiva New wrote 'The Savage Truths' exhibition as an example of the evolutionary process. It represents the self-conscious effort of a select group of leading contemporary Indian artists to express themselves as individuals in a group effort, to comment upon the way things are going.
Nearly six years after the completion of the Campus Master Plan, IAIA broke ground upon its new home in April 1999.
Just before the start of the 2000-2001 school year, IAIA commenced operations at the new campus in Rancho Viejo. The first buildings opened were the administration building, hogan, and facilities building.
The Higher Education Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges approved baccalaureate accreditation at IAIA in October 2001. The National Association of Schools of Arts and Design approved baccalaureate accreditation at the Bachelor’s level, limiting it to B.F.A.s in Creative Writing, Museum Studies, Studio Arts and Visual communications; and an A.A.S. in Visual Communications and A.A. in Indigenous Studies.
Opening in July of 2006, 'Relations' included new works across many mediums. The purpose of the show was to address how Native identity is sustained and transmitted from generation to generation. The show included outdoor performances, technological installations as well as traditional art pieces from 13 artists. The show was a response to the Biennial celebration of Santa Fe in 2006.
In July 2007, Dr. Robert G. Martin replaced interim president Dr. Rich Tobin as the president of IAIA.
The Center for Lifelong Education opened at the IAIA campus to help preserve and strengthen Indigenous cultures. The center likely holds the designation as the first gold-certified LEED building to be built at a tribal college. Besides providing new office space for the CLE staff, the building contains several conference rooms, new offices for student life and a cheery, larger cafeteria for the campus.
In January 2010, IAIA opened two new facilities, the Science and Technology building--which contains the museum studies and new media departments, as well as the collection of MoCNA and the digital dome--and the Sculpture and Foundry building.
Celebration!
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