Craig Anderson Resigns from Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe

Craig Anderson has resigned as executive director of the Center for Contemporary Arts in Santa Fe to “focus on curatorial pursuits.” In what appears to inject a note of managerial uncertainty for an organization that has endured a lot of it,  “Anderson will continue to offer his services to CCA as an advisor and as a curator,” the board of directors announced in a press release. The last line of the release indicates that “the CCA is currently reviewing applications and expects to announce Anderson’s (executive director) successor in the near future.”

Craig Anderson had returned to Santa Fe from Miami “to assist CCA during this critical period of CCA’s growth,” said John C. Bienvenu, President of the Board of Directors. “During Craig’s tenure, CCA has achieved stunning successes and is well-positioned to further expand on its mission to serve as a physical center of gravity for Santa Fe’s cultural community.”

Anderson relayed for the press release, that “2011 was a terrific year for CCA.” The center was home to the super-sized crowd-sourcing art experiment that was Meow Wolf’s The Due Return during summer 2011, which reportedly saw 11,000 visitors to the center’s Muñoz Waxman Gallery from May through August.

Meow Wolf's The Due Return at CCA, summer 2011

The fundraising that permitted Due Return to finish its two-story ship came in part from its winning the first SPREAD, a community crowd-sourcing dinner begun by Irene Hofmann, Phillips director and chief curator of SITE Santa Fe. The $7000-plus purse of SPREAD gave sign of both the bonanza of community good will for the Meow Wolf collective, and reflected what some privately commented was effectively funding of Center for Contemporary Arts programming by SITE Santa Fe-run initiatives.

CCA in 2011 also completed a $150,000 renovation of the CCA Cinematheque and launched the Studio at CCA, an intimate second film screen and multi-use space, according to the press release that announced Anderson’s departure.

Upcoming CCA events for 2012 include Santa Fe’s Theater Grottesco, a series of concerts by Santa Fe New Music in June, and solo exhibitions for artists George O. Jackson, Jamie Hamilton and Alison Keogh this winter and spring.  In 
addition, CCA will be launching a new “Science on Screen” series in collaboration with the Santa Fe Institute.

CCA is also preparing plans for a new lobby, café and sculpture garden, the press release said.

The other CCA board members include screenwriter and film producer Bill Conway, filmmaker Dyanna Taylor, art dealers William Siegal and Sandy Zane, John Gordon, who had been President of Santa Fe University of Art and Design; Eliot Fisher, Gordon Groff, Carla Lopez, Theodora de Portago and Albert S. Waxman, a venture capitalist and philanthropist who funded the Munoz-Waxman Gallery at the center.