Santa Fe's Bureaucratic Laws Restrict Artists

Mid-afternoon at The Railyard visitors, Native New Mexicans and commuters await NM Railrunner on a sunny day after rain the previous night.

Italian native Cavallero Carlos Gislimberti paints en plein air by railyard. Gislimberti who has lived in New Mexico in Taos and Santa Fe for 25 years is one of the rare artists who, like me, paint in public. When I asked if the police bothered him when he paints on Santa Fe streets, he replied, "I keep moving from place to place."

Makes me sad that Santa Fe has become so fascist with so many unconstitutional laws enacted by the corporate controlled city government and city council that artists, street musicians, performers and Indian artisans are nearly absent from our streets.

Santa Fe claims to be the third largest art market in the U.S., but its city government chills creativity, makes true artists feel unwelcome and supports middle men who feed at the public trough and get much of the funding supposedly intended for artists.

Native New Mexican visitors come up on the train from Albuquerque and report they feel shunned and unwelcome at overpriced galleries where gallerists treat them like thieves if they are not Anglo and well-dressed.

It is a struggle to nurture creativity in a town which claims it supports the arts, but in reality, uses rules and regulations to stifle any unsanctioned art practice.

Dr. King said "disciplined nonconformists dedicated to peace, justice and brotherhood" were the hope for the future. Same could be said for the arts, which flourish when unconventional creative people are allowed the freedom to make art without boundaries.

Santa Fe has become a caricurature of a place that touts itself as an art center while enforcing arbitrary laws that stifle creativity.

My grandmothers taught me that a free person does not ask permission to be free. Freedom of expression, assembly and movemnt are inherent human rights endowed by the Creator. Governments should protect these rights instead of restricting them with growing bureaucracy and legislation.

Remember that Georgia O'Keeffe, who now has a fortress like museum dedicated to her art, complained often about Santa Fe whose Museum of Fine Arts refused to collect her paintings, and chose instead to live and paint up north in the village of Abuiqui. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Still, artists will find places to express their creativity despite restrictions. It is just unfortunate that young people and children don't get to see art made in public when artists are forced inside behind closed doors.

__________________

Photos and Text by Charleen Touchette 2009

TouchArt Ltd

http://www.oneearthblog.blogspot.com/

Poverty Rate Continues to Rise

New Grafitti or Free Expression in Santa Fe, New Mexico

(Left- Fascito tag has appeared, been covered up and reappeared on the new State Capitol Garage under construction that is more expensive and better built than most homes in this poor state. Right -Pancho Villa's Face and various slogans have been tagged recently on adobe walls on Santa Fe's wealthy North side.)

Photographs by Charleen Touchette 2009

Poverty Rate Rose Again in 20089/10/09
_______________________
Nearly 40 million living in poverty in 2008 and more in 2009 is obscene.
Greed has reached intolerable levels in the U.S. and throughout the world. That the super rich and powerful take millions and billions more than anyone needs is horrific when 13.2% of Americans live below the poverty line and there are also nearly that many millions who are working poor families that struggle to make ends meet everyday.

The New York Times reported today that the percentage of people living in poverty, defined as a family of 4 with an income of $22,025 or less, has increased again as measured by the 2008 census. With rising unemployment, decreasing rates of Americans with health insurance, this percentage is sure to increase to an even higher rate once the date for 2009 is recorded. (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/11/us/11poverty.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss )

Remember the percentage of people living below the poverty line reported by the New York Times represent the total nation. Urban ghettos, Indian reservations and rural areas have much, much higher percentages of people in poverty as well as much higher unemployment rates.

As Martin Luther King III, Dr. King’s oldest son, predicted at our 2007 Realizing the Dream Summit in Washington D.C., the number of people living in poverty in America will reach over 40 million by the 2009 census.

The mega-rich and powerful must stop congratulating themselves on their philanthropy and community good works. (http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Opinion/Our-view-Pi-amp-ntilde-on-Awards-Tuesday--see-you-at-Lensic- )

CEOs of bankrupt investment firms like the now defunct Thornburg Mortgage in Santa Fe, New Mexico, whose clients lost their life savings, should not make over $188,000 per month - $2 million, 256,000/year). (http://sfreporter.com/stories/where_s_the_money/5007/)

We have returned to the greed makes right mentality of the infamous Robber Barons of the 1800s. Each year the ranks of the poor swell while the world’s wealth is consolidated in the hands of less than .5% of the world’s population.

If the mega-rich would cease using their influence and political power to make it nearly impossible for the average family to survive and stop lobbying for laws that destroy small, independent and family businesses in favor of multinational corporations, the middle class would have a fighting chance. If they and their multi-national corporations paid fair living wages and didn't exploit the poor with pay-day loans, environmental devastation and unfair labor practices, there would be far less need for their selective giving that usually benefits the "charity" administrators in the upper middle and upper class far more than the families and individuals in need.

All people deserve human rights of clean air, water and earth, freedom of speech, assembly and movement, fair living wages and the right to work with dignity.

When 1.5% take millions and billions more than they need and steal natural resources that belong to all, and refuse to pay taxes by moving their multi-national corporations off-shore, it is common sense that the poverty rate will continue to grow and the middle class will cease to exist creating the climate for the fascism and corruption that is growing at every level of government from local to state and nation.

Until excessive greed is treated like the crime it is, the violence and crime rate will continue to rise as more millions are forced into inhumane conditions of poverty and hunger.

Wake up, America. Fairness benefits everyone and creates a just society. As Dr. King Jr. said, I can not truly be free until you are free.

Equal rights and justice make peace possible.
We are all related. It is way past time we acted like it.
_____________________________
Charleen Touchette
New Mexico Coordinator of MLK III’s Realizing the Dream Beloved Community
TouchArt - http://www.oneearthblog.blogspot.com/