For the Culture: Black Arts Hub Calls on Community

by Shannon Yvonne Moreau

Since 2007, the African American Performing Arts Center (AAPAC) has been a cultural fixture on the corner of Copper and San Pedro. Constructed as part of EXPO New Mexico from legislative funding secured by former Rep. Sheryl Williams Stapleton and late Gov. Bill Richardson, the sleek, airy, colorful space in the heart of Albuquerque’s International District has hosted many arts and educational events over the years. To name just a few: the Musical Theatre Southwest production of Dreamgirls a month before lockdown, a community showing of the PBS Maya Angelou documentary And Still I Rise, a recent Martin Luther King, Jr. commemoration, and countless exhibits featuring local African American artists.

Now AAPAC, the only space of its kind in the Southwest, is in danger of being shut down. AAPAC’s foundation leadership received notice from EXPO New Mexico, which acts as AAPAC’s fiscal agent, that the New Mexico Department of Finance (NMDFA) is cutting funding for all administrative and programmatic contracts at AAPAC effective immediately. This means $375,000 of previously allocated state funding can only be used for building operations. “Halls, stalls, and walls,” says AAPAC Secretary-Treasurer Donna Owens. The money can no longer be utilized for AAPAC personnel to run programs or events, nor for costs of programs themselves. This decision pretty much puts an end to all events the AAPAC board had planned for the rest of year, unless the foundation can raise the money pronto.

How Did We Get Here?

According to a 2010 executive budget from the NMDFA website, $464,000 was allocated for AAPAC. That money, in effect, was not restricted from funding programming or paying AAPAC personnel and contractors. Then, in 2011, Susanna Martinez was elected state governor and ceased state funding for AAPAC during her administration. What programming AAPAC did put on was paid for out of the board members’ pockets and from facility rentals.

On top of that, says former AAPAC president Tracey Whitney, the board began being charged a rental fee for the AAPAC building, even as the state moved other Black organizations into the AAPAC office space. AAPAC had to start paying Expo to reserve the parking spaces at $500 per event. To finish it off, Expo NM was given a percentage of the money AAPAC managed to bring in for their own programming. During this stranglehold, AAPAC’s focus shifted to renting the facility to anybody who’d take it, says Owens.

“But renting is not what this place was set up to do,” says Whitney. “It’s to bring African American performing arts to the center for our community and the greater community at large. The whole idea was that we present, on a consistent basis, Black performances.”

State funding kicked in for AAPAC again around three years ago, during Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s first term. The new board, which convened last November, was excited about the plans they could implement for the coming year. Highlights included the Afriquerque live music series, a table reading competition for Black playwrights, a local independent filmmakers showcase, a poster and T-shirt competition for Black artists, a free summer program for kids, and a gospel extravaganza.

Then came the letter from NMDFA in late April 2024. That letter states that Section 4 of the General Appropriations Act pertaining to the State Fair is earmarked for building operations only. Any expenditures considered administrative or programmatic, such as events and cultural research, are excluded. Additionally, the letter states that for the state to give money to a corporation is a violation of New Mexico’s 2022 Anti-Donation clause. Because the AAPAC foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization, which is considered a corporation, they can no longer receive state funding.

As of print time, AAPAC has secured money from the City of Albuquerque to cover its summer youth program. The July and August Afriquerque performances are being underwritten by Whitney. Everything else is up in the air.

What We Gon' Do Now?

Interim AAPAC Foundation President John Smith and Owens laid out a short-term plan for raising money: renting the facility, submitting grant applications, reaching out to state legislators, and recruiting for community donations, memberships, and sponsorships. Over the long-term, Owens says they need to get to the point where programming is the priority, funded through the foundation’s efforts of raising at least $500,000, and facility rental would become secondary. Some friends of the foundation have already come through with donations and potential fundraisers. The board figures they have a month to raise enough money to keep AAPAC from shutting down.

What We Stand to Lose

When asked what Albuquerque and the Black community will lose if AAPAC shuts down, Owens said, “The preservation of our arts. We preserve the historical artifacts that we have from Africa. We preserve information. We preserve our theater and our music. There's no other center that will preserve that for us here in New Mexico. And as you can see, in other states, they're trying to get rid of our history. [AAPAC] holds our history here.”

Whitney adds: “Look at it like this: what we were planning to do with our film festival. I go to these film things all the time and the one thing that I never see are Black films. We know there are African American filmmakers here in New Mexico. Do you have a short? Do you have a trailer? Do you have a full-length feature? We could put that here. They can actually say, ‘I was in a real film festival.’ We would be able to give them this exposure and make them valid. We were looking at ‘how do we actually make a difference in the life of Black performers and writers, artists.”

Smith says that for “our Black youth we have where they can see the Black art. They can see Black performance. They can see Black plays. If they take this away, we don't have any place. Imagine a 12-year-old walking into the AAPAC exhibit hall and looking at all of the Black art that he has never seen, not even on TV.”

Owens concludes: “The death of Black artists here in New Mexico” is what we stand to endure.

How You Can Support AAPAC

August Wilson’s Jitney

Friday, June 28 and Saturday, June 29, 7pm & Sunday, June 30, 2pm
Tickets are $30 each (includes parking).

Afriquerque - The Rodney Bowe Experience
Friday, July 12, 7pm

Zenobia
Friday, August 9, 7pm

Tickets are $25 each (includes parking).

Become a member: nmaapac.com/membership
Donate: nmaapac.com/donate
Visit AAPAC’s website: nmaapac.com

[Editor's note: This is an expanded online version of an article that appears in the July 2024 print issue of UpLift Chronicles.]