Since its inception nearly 25 years ago, the program has placed more than 2,500 works of art in all of New Mexico’s 33 counties. Our goal is to reflect the diversity of the arts in New Mexico, the Southwest, and the nation while building a dynamic public art collection for the State of New Mexico.
Through a fair and open public process, committees made up of local and regional representatives work with New Mexico Arts staff to select artwork for their communities. The Art in Public Places program then commissions large-scale projects that are designed for integration directly into the architecture of a building, or the program purchases existing original artwork to be placed in public buildings permanently or on loan.
