SWAIA announces interim head

Santa Fe, NM - Dr. Bruce Bernstein, a current SWAIA Board member, will take on a larger role for that organization over the next several months leading up to the Santa Fe Indian Market. Bernstein will act as a management consultant, assisting the Board and the staff in their preparations for the upcoming Indian Market in August.

“We felt that the staff was very capable of executing the Indian Market,” explains Board Chair, Vivian Arviso. “But given the recent departure of our Executive Director, we felt it would be fairer to them to have some extra help. We are fortunate to have a Board with diverse backgrounds and to be able to call upon individual members.”

Bernstein is a familiar face in Santa Fe. He brings a rich background with him when it comes to Native American art and the Santa Fe Indian Market, in particular. He is currently a senior scholar in the Smithsonian’s Anthropology Department in Washington, D.C., where he is finishing research and writing projects on Native arts, including the Santa Fe Indian Market. Prior to that position, he was the Assistant Director for Cultural Resources at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. Before leaving New Mexico he had been the Director and Chief Curator of the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture for ten years, and held positions at the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian and UNM’s Maxwell Museum of Anthropology. He is widely published and has curated numerous exhibitions on American Indian art. A SWAIA Board member for the past four years, he has been involved with the organization as a volunteer and judge for over 25 years.

“Very few people know the Santa Fe Indian Market as well as Bruce does,” states Arviso. “He knows the artists, he knows the collectors, and he knows the organization. I think he will provide a great deal of help during our transition period.”

The SWAIA Board has launched a search for a new Executive Director, whom they hope to identify and hire by September.

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Aboriginals: Art of the First Person is proud to be a business member and support of Southwestern Association of Indian Arts.

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