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One of the ways in which the University of New Mexico collaborates with the City of Albuquerque is through the City's Public Art Urban Enhancement Division, which supports Albuquerque's fine arts projects.  The Division and UNM joined forces in 2015 to create an off-campus gallery that showcases student artists alongside local artists.  The College of Fine Arts (CFA) Downtown Studio is located just off Central at 4th and Copper.

The Refugee Well-Being Project brings together newly arrived families in Albuquerque with students at the University of New Mexico. Together they learn from, and teach, one another as students help them meet the challenges of settling in a new country. On this episode we talk with staff as well as a student and the woman she worked with from Afghanistan.  

Guests:

New Mexico has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the nation, and now that the Trump Administration has slashed funding for teen pregnancy prevention projects, researchers here say it’s like the rug has been pulled out from under them.

KUNM Call In Show  07/20 8a: At a time when New Mexico's economy is struggling, at least one sector is booming: The film and television industry. The state has become a center of production thanks to generous tax incentives, a big crew base, and large studios and sound stages. 

New Mexico is considering a plan to charge Medicaid patients copays as a way to save the state money. The proposal is drawing strong criticism from health care groups, poverty advocates and Medicaid recipients.

New Mexico allotted $940 million to pay for its share of Medicaid costs this year, but that’s still not enough to keep up with the growing number of people signing up for the program. The state Human Services Department is considering charging copays to people on Medicaid as part of a plan to cut costs.

For the past five years, young composers who are out on their own for the first time and discovering what it means to be professional have found themselves invited to spend a week at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival.  The seven-day workshop centers on a string quartet written especially for Santa Fe and includes rehearsals and discussions with the Flux Quartet and then a performance of the new works in a Festival concert.

Poverty advocates say the Republicans’ new plan to repeal and replace Obamacare would leave many low-income people in New Mexico without coverage.

For many artists in developing communities, creativity is abundant, but cash is not.

In Sarawak on the Island of Borneo, Senia Jugi learned at a young age to weave using bamboo, bembem, arrowroot and rattan. Her ethnic group, the Iban, use baskets for all kinds of everyday tasks as well as ritual occasions. She's advanced far beyond those early years and her works have received the UNESCO-World Crafts Council Award of Excellence.

An Iraqi man chose to seek refuge in a church in Albuquerque today rather than report for deportation.

A federal sting last year resulted in the arrest of an unusually high number of African-Americans in Albuquerque, and mostly vulnerable, low-level offenders—not the bosses of big drug and gun rings.

There are about 1,400 Iraqi nationals in the United States who could be sent back to Iraq any day now under new Trump Administration policies no matter how long they’ve lived here. 

One refugee in Albuquerque has been fearing his time is up in the country, even though he spent years helping the U.S. military during the Iraq War. Immigration authorities have ordered him to report to their offices for removal on Thursday, July 13. 

Jabulile Nala began making pottery when she was 13 and was taught by her mother and grandmother. But the family legacy stretches back for over 100 years and the Nala name is synonymous with Zulu ceramics. The work of her mother, Nesta Nala, is in major collections around the world. But it can be a struggle to continue this legacy without access to markets beyond their village.

The Indian art form of painting ritual designs on the floors and walls of houses, called “Madhubani” gradually moved from inside homes to the wider world on paper and canvas.

New Mexico’s top prosecutor is taking one of the state’s largest health care providers to court over alleged tax fraud. Attorney General Hector Balderas announced the lawsuit against Presbyterian Health Services yesterday.

The South Valley near Albuquerque is seeing an agricultural renaissance of sorts. First Choice Community Healthcare just broke ground today on a community farm there. Advocates are fixing their attention on local food as a form of preventative health care.

About 1,400 Iraqis could be deported from the U.S. under President Trump’s new policies. A federal judge temporarily halted their deportation through Monday, July 24, but a man who lives in Albuquerque has been ordered to report this week for removal from the U.S.—it could be dangerous for him. 

One-hundred sixty artists from 53 countries will gather in Santa Fe this weekend for the 14th Annual Santa Fe International Folk Art Market. Many will earn the majority of their income at the market and the proceeds help communities achieve economic independence.