Transforming our Historic Grounds to Engage New Audiences
Every day, hikers, bikers, and wanderers are attracted to the Nuevo Mexicano Heritage Arts Museum’s grounds and to the Arroyo Chamiso that stretches out behind it. Here, surrounded by mountain views and native flora and fauna, passersby enjoy a space for discovery, reflection, and peace. But few of these casual visitors make the connection between our beautiful site and the museum’s mission to tell the story of New Mexico’s heritage arts. A new grounds renovation project will help us address this reality, transforming our campus into an accessible and engaging extension of the museum.
We invite you to invest in our historic grounds and our efforts to make them more accessible to all visitors by making a tax-deductible, matched donation today.
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In late 2025, SCAS | NMHA received a highly-competitive Trails+ grant from the New Mexico Outdoor Recreation Division. The Trails+ program invests in trails and outdoor infrastructure to support healthy communities, local economies, and long-term access to nature. This $90,000 grant, which we are required to match through donations, will allow us to make much-needed improvements to our grounds, inviting visitors to our campus to engage with our mission en plein air and to make a connection between our unique collection and the New Mexico landscape. Specifically, our Trails+ project will allow us to:
Activate our currently underutilized 2.64-acre grounds on Museum Hill with new accessible ADA-compliant pathways, outdoor recreation, and learning opportunities.
Install wayfinding and interpretive signage, and strengthen connections to the Arroyo Chamiso trail system and our neighbors on Museum Hill.
Expand the Jardín de los Artistas Ethnobotanical Garden, originally created by Boy Scout Troop 28 in 2003, to support hands-on learning about regional ethnobotany.
Establish a rotating outdoor sculpture garden featuring contemporary New Mexican Hispano artists and linking new artwork to traditional forms in our collection.
Together, these improvements will create a welcoming, nature-forward campus that helps visitors of all ages and abilities discover the region’s botanical heritage, cultural history, and nearby trail systems.
We are asking our community to step forward with an investment in this important project to transform our museum campus into an accessible, inviting, and mission-relevant space.
With the matching power of our TRAILS+ grant, your donation will have double the impact. Please donate today to help us engage new audiences through updates to our historic campus.
Thank you for your support! If you have questions about our current grounds renovation project or how you can invest in New Mexico’s Hispanic heritage arts with a donation to NMHA, please contact Karen M. Phillips, Director of Community Engagement and Giving, at karen@spanishcolonial.org.
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