Santa Fe · Community Nonprofit
Art education for Northern New Mexico's young artists.
ARTsmart brings working artists into classrooms and opens doors for the students who want to keep creating after graduation. Every brush, every studio visit, every scholarship starts with someone choosing to support this work.
Who We Are
Visual Art education for Northern New Mexico's young artists, helping build a lifelong practice. ARTsmart exists to support that access.
Your funding supports ARTsmart’s mission to ensure access to quality visual arts education for all youth in Santa Fe public schools and surrounding communities
Two programs. One mission.
ARTsmart focuses where the impact is most direct: putting working artists in front of students, and clearing the path for those students to keep studying at the college level.
01
Visiting Artists
ARTsmart funds the Visiting Artists program, bringing renowned artists from the community into local classrooms. Students don’t just learn technique. They work alongside someone who has built a life in the practice, and they see what that looks like up close.
02
Art Changes Lives Scholarship
Each year, ARTsmart awards a scholarship for further art education at the collegiate level. Applicants are evaluated on the strength of their work and their written reflections on their growth as artists. The result is a scholarship that follows the student, not a formula.
Support the work
Your gift provides the essential funding to support a young artist learning in the classroom.
Every contribution to ARTsmart goes directly to the work: visiting artist fees, studio supplies for classrooms that wouldn’t otherwise have them, and scholarships that let a graduating senior say yes to art school.
Beyond the satisfaction of supporting something that actually reaches kids, your gift may qualify for a tax benefit through our status as a 501(c)(3) organization.
Questions or larger gifts
Bruce Adams · 505.690.5904
ARTsmart New Mexico is a registered
501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
2023 Scholarship winner, Sofia Leya, In the Midst of Glory and the Brink of Collapse
2026 Scholarship
Apply for the 2026
ARTsmart
Art Changes Lives
Scholarship.
ARTsmart is excited to announce that the Art Changes Lives Scholarship is now accepting applications, which can be directly submitted to ARTsmart.
The Art Changes Lives Scholarship will award one outstanding graduating high school senior art student from Santa Fe County to attend up to four years of visual art-related studies at a university or college, including a two-year community college.
The Winning Student will receive $5,000 for the first year and $1,500 for three subsequent years. The award will be given directly to the college or university to pay for student’s related expenses including course credits, room, board, books, supplies, and studio fees.
2025 Scholarship Winner
Congratulations to
Willa Heil.
2025 Art Changes Lives Scholarship Recipient
“
For the past three years ARTsmart has held me firmly on the ground. I will always be grateful for your generosity, support, and care in pursuing my dream of becoming a cartoonist.
DaYoung Jung · 2007 Scholarship Recipient
Past Scholarship Winners.
2023
College Stipend
Sofia Leyba, Tufts University, Medford/Somerville, MA
2022
College Stipend
Jadyn Taylor, Rochester Institute of Technology, New York
2021
College Stipend
Artemisio Romero y Carver, Washington University, Saint Louis, MO
2021
Books & Materials
Jeanie Vo
2019
College Stipend
Sabrina-Leigh Thomas, Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA
2021
Books & Materials
Abigail Egge-Ogas and Ligaia Meyer
2018
College Stipend
Carly Trujillo, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
2021
Books & Materials
Rowen Brown, Holly Roper, and Celine Sandoval
2017
College Stipend
Ezri Horne, Books & Materials winner and first runner-up, received this scholarship in memory of our 2017 winner Alicia Stewart. She is attending Tufts University, Medford, MA.
2021
Books & Materials
Lexi Glinsky
2016
College Stipend
Sarah Surprise, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
2021
Books & Materials
Asa Benson-Core
2015
College Stipend
Adhilene Rodriguez, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
2021
Books & Materials
Raina Wellman
2014
College Stipend
Katarina Pittis, Tisch School of the Arts, NYU, New York, NY
2021
Books & Materials
Dune Alford
2013
College Stipend
Lydia Abernathy, Santa Fe University of Art and Design, Santa Fe, NM
2021
Books & Materials
Ravenna Osgood and Anastasia Pittis
2012
College Stipend
Diego Suarez, Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle, WA
2012
College Stipend
Wesley Carr, Alfred University, Alfred, NY
2021
Books & Materials
Sienna Fleming and Blythe Maunders
2011
College Stipend
Cheyenne Catron Cardell, Kenyon College, Gambier, OH
2021
Books & Materials
Aaron Ross
2010
College Stipend
Rebekah Birken, New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, NYC
2009
College Stipend
Corey Mandel, Bennington College, VT
2008
College Stipend
Elena Valdez, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
2007
College Stipend
DaYoung Jung, New York School of the Visual Arts, New York, NY