New Mexico Listens is a year-long, statewide program presented in collaboration with the League of Women Voters of New Mexico supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities' initiative "A More Perfect Union." NM Listens involves inviting audiences in different locales to reflect on our diverse history and the ideals of our democracy. This program is focused on strengthening civic engagement and restoring faith in our democracy. We will hold community conversations on education, democracy, media literacy, civil discourse, local issues and more. Listening to each other respectfully will help us  learn from one another and gain other perspectives toward finding common ground while respecting our differences.  

The Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives Epidemic -- What's Happening in New Mexico?

 

Secretary of NM's Indian Affairs Department, Lynn Trujillo, discusses the MMIWR crisis with Lou DiVizio, NMPBS Public Affairs producer. Watch the 10-minute conversation above (minute 43:05-54:49) about the work of the MMIWR Task Force and “Missing in New Mexico Day.” This segment appeared on NM In Focus on October 21, 2022.

NM Listens helped shine a light on this often invisible, complex crisis. New Mexico has the highest rate of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives (MMIWR) in the nation. Most cases go unsolved for a variety of reasons, among them intergovernmental jurisdictional issues. Thanks to the work of many advocates, the NM legislature and Governor Lujan Grisham enacted Missing in New Mexico Day and other pro-active policies to deal with the epidemic.

On October 22, 2022, the first annual event was held at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque. Individuals and
family members were able to connect with experts, various law enforcement agencies, and get resources to help locate or find out what happened to their loved ones. Topics include the policy recommendations made by coordination and planning by the MMIWR Task Force. 

Share on Facebook
Share on Google+

New Mexico Listens Presents: Save the Bees

NM Listens in Santa Fe County brought "Save the Bees" a play by Senator Bill O'Neill to the stage. Directed by Duchess Dale, this play is about the difficulty legislators face from their respective partisan bases as they attempt to work across the aisle in the current polarized political atmosphere.

Share on Facebook
Share on Google+

NM Listens: Your Voice Your Vote

NM Listens in Santa Fe County held a panel moderated by HRA President Kevin Bowen on the state of civic engagement amongst young LGBTQ+ people in the community. Topics discussed were the importance of voting and effective allyship.

Share on Facebook
Share on Google+
unnamed.jpg

NM Listens: Youth Voice, Youth Vote 

15 Oct 2022

New Mexico Listens and the Human Rights Alliance will host a panel discussion highlighting youth voices in civic engagement.

Share on Facebook
Share on Google+

How is New Mexico Addressing the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives Epidemic - On NM In Focus

New Mexico has the highest rate of MMIP in the nation. Most cases go unsolved for a variety of reasons, among them intergovernmental jurisdictional issues. NM Listens, a joint project of the League of Women Voters of New Mexico and the New Mexico Humanities Council, will shine a light on this often invisible, complex crisis. Panelists include lawmakers and government officials who are working to address and mitigate the prevalence and trauma through newly funded efforts to advance cross-jurisdictional information-sharing and criminal justice policies and practices.

Learn what New Mexico is doing to address working on MMIP and plans for increased intergovernmental and community cooperation, resources, policy options, advocacy efforts, and funding.

New Mexico’s Department of Public Safety will hold MMIWR- Missing Persons Day (October 22, 2022) to help people file reports, submit DNA records, meet with investigators, and access support services.

Get a glimpse into the intense effects of the loss, the desperation, and despair through the eyes of a woman who lost her sister to partner violence. Here’s the link to conversation that NM Listens recorded in Santa Fe on May 5, the National Day of Awareness of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People, Christine Means (Dine) shared her experience in a conversation with Karen Radney Buller (Comanche). The recording includes clips of the May 5 activities on the Santa Fe Plaza.

Full video below.

Share on Facebook
Share on Google+

NM Listens: National Day of Awareness of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People

New Mexico has the highest rate of MMIP in the nation. Most cases go unsolved for a variety of reasons, among them intergovernmental jurisdictional issues. NM Listens, a joint project of the League of Women Voters of New Mexico and the New Mexico Humanities Council, shines a light on this often invisible, complex crisis. Get a glimpse into the intense effects of the loss, the desperation, and despair through the eyes of a woman who lost her sister to partner violence. NM Listens recorded this interview on Santa Fe on May 5, the National Day of Awareness of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People. Christine Means (Dine) shares her experience in a conversation with Karen Radney Buller (Comanche). The recording includes clips of the May 5 activities on the Santa Fe Plaza.

Share on Facebook
Share on Google+

NM Listens: A Purpose Driven Community

This New Mexico Listens program is a conversation with Santa Fe community members who work and volunteer at St. John's United Methodist Church food pantry. The discussion illuminates the core values and purpose of the food distribution program, what it means for the volunteers, and what it does for the community of Santa Fe.

Share on Facebook
Share on Google+

New Mexico Listens: The Path Forward

NM Listens in Santa Fe County held a panel discussion centered on the topic of LGBTQIA+ in a Post-Roe v. Wade era. Kevin Bowen, of the Human Rights Alliance, moderates this conversation.

Share on Facebook
Share on Google+

New Mexico Listens presents New Mexico's Women: Heritage and Innovation 

Dr. Frances Levine

Dr. Frances Levine

Lisa Nordstrum

Lisa Nordstrum

Nicolasa Chavez

Nicolasa Chavez

Sylvia Ramos Cruz

Sylvia Ramos Cruz

In this special symposium organized by New Mexico Listens, historians explore the roles played by women from different socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds on the development of New Mexico and their contributions to our state’s unique multicultural environment.

Building on their legacy and bringing arts to the forefront, Indigenous, Hispano, Anglo women continue to work towards equal recognition and progress to help New Mexico fulfill its promise.

Panelists are: 

Dr. Frances Levine, recently retired president and CEO of the Missouri Historical Society (MHS) and the Missouri History Museum, previously served as Director of the Palace of the Governors, New Mexico History Museum. Fran is the author, co-editor, and contributor to several award-winning books, including Our Prayers Are in This Place: Pecos Pueblo Identity over the Centuries (1999, UNM Press), Through the Lens: Creating Santa Fe (2008 MNM Press, with MaryAnne Redding and Krista Elrick), Telling New Mexico: A New History (2009 MNM Press, with Marta Weigle and Louise Stiver), All Trails Lead to Santa Fe (2010 with Gerald Gonzalez, Sunstone Press), Battles and Massacres on the Southwestern Frontier: Historical and Archaeological Perspectives (2014 edited with Ron Wetherington, University of Oklahoma Press), and Doña Teresa Confronts the Spanish Inquisition: A Seventeenth-Century New Mexican Drama (2016 University of Oklahoma Press). Crossings: Women on the Santa Fe Trail will be published in 2023 by University of Kansas Press.

Lisa Nordstrum, history teacher, Santa Fe Preparatory School; NM K-12 Certified teacher with 30 years of experience; field researcher/educator for School for Advanced Research, Museum of Indian Arts and Culture; and NM History Museum.

Nicolasa Chávez, a fourteenth generation New Mexican, is a historian, curator and performance artist, whose work concentrates on the rich multicultural heritage of New Mexico and the connection between New Mexico and the Spanish speaking world. Her exhibitions include New World Cuisine: The Histories of Chocolate, Mate y Más, The Red that Colored the World, Flamenco: From Spain to New Mexico, and Música Buena: Hispano Folk Music of New Mexico. She is the author of The Spirit of Flamenco: From Spain to New Mexico (Museum of New Mexico Press) and A Century of Masters: the NEA National Heritage Fellows of New Mexico (LPD Press) which won a New Mexico Book Award. She performs and conducts lecture/demonstrations on the history of Flamenco, Spanish Dance, and Argentine Tango and currently serves as the Deputy State Historian for New Mexico.

 Robin Farwell Gavin, Curator Emeritus served as Curator of Spanish Colonial Art at the Museum of International Folk Art for 17 years and then joined the staff of the new Museum of Spanish Colonial Art where she is now. She was the lead curator for over 30 exhibitions concerning the Spanish colonial arts of Mexico and New Mexico. Her publications include Cultural Convergence in New Mexico: Interactions in Art, History & Archaeology (2021), Converging Streams: Art of the Hispanic and Native American Southwest (2010), and Cerámica y Cultura: the Story of Spanish and Mexican Mayólica (2003).

Sylvia Ramos Cruz is a retired general surgeon, poet, writer, and women’s rights activist. Her photographs and award-winning poetry and prose have appeared in Artemis Journal, Chamisa Journal, Choice Words: Writers on Abortion, Journal of Latina Critical Feminism, Malpais Review, Persimmon Tree, and Southwest American Literature Journal, La Crόnica de Nuevo Méjico, the Online Biographical Dictionary of Woman Suffrage in the US, and In Her Own Right: A Century of Women’s Activism 1820-1920. She has lectured widely and published articles on the suffrage movement in New Mexico.  Many of her virtual talks are available on video.

Materials and resources from the presentation are available for download below:

Symposium Abstracts »

Presenter Slides »

Equal Rights Amendment Fact Sheet »

Share on Facebook
Share on Google+
APurposeDrivenCommunity.wlink.png

New Mexico Listens: A Purpose Driven Community

28 Aug 2022

Join NM Listens in Santa Fe for a listening session on the community food distribution center, The Food Depot and their purpose-driven work.

Share on Facebook
Share on Google+

NM Listens Recap: Vision for Our Future

What is your story behind your family’s route and journey to establishing roots within our beloved community? Building off our "Old Roots, New Routes" program at the Edgewood Public Library in February, "Vision for our Future" uses reflections on Edgewood’s history to create a new vision for its future. These events are presented by NM Listens, a joint project by the New Mexico Humanities Council and the League of Women Voters Santa Fe County. NM Listens invites audiences across the state to reflect on our diverse history and the ideals of our democracy.

Share on Facebook
Share on Google+

NM Listens Recap: Old Routes, New Roots

What is your story behind your family’s route and journey to establishing roots within our beloved community? This program seeks to re-establish local connections, to engage as a community, and to collectively discover our sense of place and vision for Edgewood’s future with enlightenment from our past and present. These events are presented by NM Listens, a joint project by the New Mexico Humanities Council and the League of Women Voters Santa Fe County. NM Listens invites audiences across the state to reflect on our diverse history and the ideals of our democracy.

NMHCBranded-NMListens-2022.jpg

New Mexico Listens: Vision for our Future 

This event will be hybrid in-person and offered on Zoom on March 19, 2022 at 10:30am.

Register for the Zoom webinar by clicking here

Building off our "Old Roots, New Routes" program at the Edgewood Public Library in February, "Vision for our Future" uses reflections on Edgewood’s history to create a new vision for its future.

Share on Facebook
Share on Google+

NM Listens Recap: Santa Fe Stories You've Never Heard

Santa Fe Stories You’ve Never Heard is a story panel presented by New Mexico Listens in Santa Fe County. Three panelists open up and share their lived experiences being citizens of the city of Santa Fe. During the Q&A after the presentations, they discuss their ideas on how to continue to foster diversity in Santa Fe.

Share on Facebook
Share on Google+

NM Listens Recap: Telling Reflections of New Mexico 

Presented by NM Listens, the New Mexico Humanities Council and the League of Women Voters of New Mexico Santa Fe County local league, this program explores the rich and multilayered histories that weave and intersect in New Mexico. A native son of New Mexico and heir to its complex legacies, Dr. Estevan Rael-Gálvez is the former Senior Vice President at the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the former State Historian of New Mexico. Currently, he is the CEO of Creative Strategies 360° and is leading several research and writing initiatives, including directing the Manitos Community Memory Project and writing a book on American Indian slavery and its legacy. This program is made possible through the support of the National Endowment for the Humanities under their initiative "A More Perfect Union."

Share on Facebook
Share on Google+
NMListensflyer12_1.png

Telling Reflections of New Mexico with Dr. Estevan Rael-Gálvez

5 Dec 2021

This program will be in-person at St. John's United Methodist Church at 1200 Old Pecos Trail in Santa Fe, NM and on Zoom. Masks are required for all in-person attendees.

To register for the Zoom webinar click HERE. 

A native son of New Mexico and heir to its complex legacies, Dr. Estevan Rael-Gálvez is the former Senior Vice President at the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the former State Historian of New Mexico. Currently, he is the CEO of Creative Strategies 360° and is leading several research and writing initiatives, including directing the Manitos Community Memory Project and writing a book on American Indian slavery and its legacy. He will be sharing his reflections on New Mexico and the importance of storytelling on December 5 at 7 PM.

Presented by NM Listens, the New Mexico Humanities Council and the League of Women Voters of New Mexico - Santa Fe County local league. This program is made possible through the support of the National Endowment for the Humanities under their initiative "A More Perfect Union." 

Share on Facebook
Share on Google+

"We the People" Zoom Conversation on Democracy Elections

New Mexico Listens organized a state wide conversation with panelists Dr. Finnie Coleman, Cindy Nava, Regis Pecos, and Dr. Elaine Rodriquez to discuss the issues facing Americans in our evolving democracy. Moderated by Dr. Meredith Machen, this discussion focused on education policy in New Mexico as a foundational access point to greater equity.

Cindy Nava is the Executive Director of Transform Education NM. Cindy is public policy advocate and educator dedicated to empowering youth through leadership development. She brings an immigrant lens to her lifelong commitment to advance equity and opportunity. After residing in NM for 26 years, Cindy became a US citizen in 2021 and voted for the first time.

Regis Pecos is Trustee Emeritus of Princeton University, the first Native American serve on the Board of Trustees of Princeton, his alma mater. His leadership experience and policy expertise extend across national, regional, state, and tribal governments. Until 2021, he directed the state’s Majority Office as Chief of Staff and Director of Policy and Legislative Affairs. Regis continues to serve on several boards and advocacy committees. He co-directs the Leadership Institute at Santa Fe Indian School, which he co-founded.

Dr. Elaine Rodriquez chairs the History and Political Science Department Highlands University where she teaches American government and Southwest history and politics. Her research and experience ranges from the impact of the National Voter Registration Act to Latino/a politics and culture. She brings new perspectives on sustainable economic growth, youth leadership development, and civic engagement through her service on the City Council of Las Vegas, NM.

Dr. Finnie D. Coleman teaches American and African American literature, history, and culture at UNM and serves as president of the Faculty Senate. For more than 20 years, he has worked as a higher education consultant specializing in diversity, equity, and inclusion on college campuses. Prior to his career in academia, Dr. Coleman served as an Army Intelligence officer.

Dr. Meredith Machen, Discussion Leader, is the Project Director for the League of Women Voters of NM and former state president. She co-chairs the Education and Immigration Committees. Since retiring from SFCC where she served as Vice President of Educational Leadership, she has focused on policy advocacy, voter education and outreach, and intercultural community collaborations.

Seeking to understand
who we are,
who we were
and who we aspire to be.

Follow us on...

Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube


Subscribe

Donate

Support NMHC

Home | Contact | Site Map

Website and Contents Copyright ©1997 - 2024 NMHC - New Mexico Humanities Council. All rights reserved.

design/programming by: 1uffakind.com