Placitas Artists Series receives $240,000 grant for community plaza project

The Placitas Artists Series has been awarded a $240,000 grant to support the design of Las Huertas Plaza in the center of Placitas.

The Our Town grant includes $90,000 in federal funds from the National Endowment for the Arts and $150,000 in matching funds from the State of New Mexico.

The project will focus on architectural and landscape designs for approximately eight acres of private land that has been acquired over several years by longtime Placitas resident Snow Watson, who is leading the initiative.

“Successful Our Town projects ultimately lay the groundwork for systems changes that sustain the integration of arts, culture and design into local strategies for strengthening communities,” Watson said in a press release.

The grant requires a partnership between a local government entity and a nonprofit organization. In this case, Sandoval County is partnering with the Placitas Artists Series, which serves as the cultural organization component.

The project’s design elements include overall site planning, artistic design of all spaces, and an outdoor plaza that can accommodate a farmers’ market and other cultural and agricultural uses.

The first phase will involve a charrette, an intensive design process commonly used by planners and architects to generate collaborative ideas. The process includes collecting design concepts, stakeholder review, and professional designers creating drawings and renderings based on community input.

The Placitas Artists Series has not yet announced the date, time and location for the initial charrette. 

The Our Town program encourages partnerships across multiple sectors, including agriculture, economic development, education, environment, health, housing, public safety, transportation and workforce development.