Councilors OK plan to buy CSF campus

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Tonight’s the Night! The fate of College of Santa Fe and the Santa Fe Art Institute is in the City Council’s hands!

There are a couple of critical things you can do to help:

1) Call these City Councilors who may still be undecided and voice your support!

Patti Bushee (505) 955-2345
Carmichael Dominguez (505) 955-6814
Miguel Chavez (505) 955-6816
Ron Trujillo (505) 955-6811

2) Be at City Council Chambers at 7pm to show your support.

This is the public hearing at the full City Council, and **you and everyone you know who can advocate for CSF and the SFAI should be present, and willing to speak up.** CSF is scheduled for the 7 p.m. session of the City Council. Please arrive right at 7 p.m. or earlier.

Thank you, again for your help and support.

We couldn’t do what we do without you.

Please come to both of these meeting to show your support for the city of Santa Fe’s acquisition of the CSF campus, and the continuing operation of the Santa Fe Art Institute.

If you need more info about the proposal you can get it here.

Your presence is critical, both tonight and Wednesday to show those City Councilors who are still planning to vote “NO” how much community support there is for this proposal.

Thank you, again, for your support.

The details are:

On TUESDAY, July 28th, there will be another informational open house on CSF/Laureate at the Southside Library, beginning at 4. I also recommend arriving to this on time, as they will likely have a formal presentation. Your presence at this meeting is critical as at least one of the City Councilors representing the district where this meeting is being held is planning to vote “NO” tomorrow!

WEDNESDAY JULY 29th is the BIG DAY; this is the public hearing at the full City Council, and **you and everyone you know who can advocate for CSF should be present, and willing to speak up.** CSF is scheduled for the 7 p.m. session of the City Council. Please arrive right at 7 p.m. or earlier.

If you need inspiration for speaking at tonight’s meeting and Wednesday’s meeting or to the Councilors privately here are some things to keep in mind:

-CSF was conservatively estimated to contribute $20 million by CSF’s director of institutional research

-There is no taxpayer burden in this plan– the bonds issued will be payed for completely by a 26-year lease to Laureate

-Laureate has committed to invest $20 million into CSF

-The State of New Mexico has committed to invest $10 million

-CSF’s creditors have negotiated CSF’s debt down by about $11 million in order to help the City acquire the campus for a mere $19.5 million.

EMPHASIZE WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF THE COUNCIL DOES NOT VOTE YES:

-The CSF property will likely be tied up in lawsuits for 5 or more years. What will that mean for the St. Michael’s area, and its future for redevelopment?

-Brain Drain! Talented professionals who taught and worked at CSF are gradually migrating, and will continue to do so, if the City lets this go. This article outlines a little bit of this phenomenon:

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Local%20News/College-of-Santa-Fe-Faculty-s-exit-from-S-F–creates–brain-dra

-Young people! Santa Fe has a serious problem with the attrition of its own local youth, and now without a traditional 4-year college, this city is losing many more. Don’t Santa Fe’s designations as a UNESCO city and one of the largest art markets in the country lose a bit of meaning without the presence of young people and an innovative arts college?

-These young people and professionals are significant contributors to the intellectual and artistic life of this community. What do we lose without them?

-What will happen to the Santa Fe Art Institute, if the City lets this go, and the campus property is mired in lawsuits for years?

July Open Studio!

Please join us on Thursday, July 23rd for our monthly Open Studio! The residency program is completely full yet again, and we have an incredible wealth of talent to share with you! We will start with a few short readings, then we will do a brief guided tour of the visual artists’ studios and give you a chance to talk with each of the artists and writers after. We begin at 5:30 and ddmission is FREE!

July Residents:

Mike Brohman
Stefan Chinov
Joy Davis
David Groff
Marius Lehene
Meredith Nickie
Stephanie Patton
Kambui Olujimi
Stephen Tapscott

The Santa Fe Art Institute is proud to announce that it has been awarded a $50,000 grant by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
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