Lumière Club

Lumière Club

CCA’s social film club features outstanding cinema, great conversation has moved online until we are able to safely open our theaters again. Lumière Club is named after French inventors Auguste and Louis Lumière, who were among the first filmmakers in history. In 1895 they devised and patented an early motion-picture camera and projector from which the modern cinema is derived.

Making a gift to CCA of at least $300.00 will automatically include you in this august group of like-minded supporters. Lumière Club curates a variety of programming, with up to six events themed around film, lectures, post-film discussions, special guests and performances.

Méliès Society

Celebrated as a pioneer of film, Georges Méliès was a French illusionist and film director who led many technical and narrative developments in the earliest days of cinema.

With an annual gift to CCA of at least $2,500, you will also be included in our Méliès Society affinity group. In addition to the Lumiere Club programming, Méliès Society will convene two very special events during the year. These might include dinners with industry notables, “behind the scenes” opportunities, early entry to exhibitions or pop-up encounters with film productions in New Mexico.

Méliès Society level donors will be recognized throughout CCA’s extensive programming as supporting creativity across the arts, humanities and sciences.

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The Board of Directors for the Center for Contemporary Arts of Santa Fe (CCA) has voted to close the organization after serving the Santa Fe and northern New Mexico community on its forty-fourth year of operation. The decision was reached after careful consideration of options presented during its current strategic planning initiative.

“Closing a cherished, community organization like CCA is one of the most difficult decisions a board can make,” said David Muck, CCA Board Chair. “However, we simply couldn’t secure the level of individual donations required to achieve the high quality of programming and exhibitions envisioned by CCA’s professional staff and board of directors,” he continued.

Many nonprofits in the U.S. were hit hard by Covid and CCA is a good example. The CCA Cinema closed during Covid, and attendance was slow to resume, reflecting national downward trends in moviegoing post-Covid as reported in multiple news outlets, such as IndieWire and others. In 2023, the organization forecast the cinema to perform at only 50% of pre-Covid levels, resulting in monthly losses. Though grants and individual donations to the organization were up significantly in 2022 and 2023, they simply weren’t enough to make up the difference in the annual budget and cover both current and planned exhibitions and operations.

“This tough decision did not come lightly,” said Danyelle Means, CCA Executive Director and Head Curator. “For a nonprofit institution that operates independently of state support, the annual donations needed to sustainably continue operating was not enough, especially in the wake of challenges from pandemic closures and reduced attendance,” Means continued.

CCA did have its share of recent successes: CCA Executive Director Danyelle Means had secured a three-year grant of $100,000 per year from the Ford Foundation, with an option to renew for another three-year period. The organization was also the recipient of a $50,000 inaugural grant from Ruth Arts Foundation, as well as other granting organizations. Self-Determined, a 2022 CCA exhibition, was listed as one of the world’s Top 50 Exhibitions of 2022 by Hyperallergic magazine and CCA’s new monthly Closer Looks cinema series was a hit with film enthusiasts.

The CCA board of directors considered closing the organization in December of 2021, but voted to remain open in 2022 in hopes of a recovery post-Covid. However, despite the hard work of CCA staff and the accomplishments like the ones mentioned above, the shuttered period during which the cinema was closed proved too challenging to overcome. CCA Cinema’s final day of public operations is Thursday, April 6, and all upcoming CCA gallery exhibitions and public programs are cancelled.