SANTA FE, NM – Seven influential art trailblazers have been chosen by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham for the 2025 Governor’s Awards for Excellence in the Arts.
“Each of these artists tells a part of New Mexico’s story—our Indigenous heritage, our Western traditions, our multicultural identity,” Lujan Grisham said. “Together, they create a tapestry that reflects the full beauty and complexity of who we are as New Mexicans.”
The governor, the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, New Mexico Arts, and the New Mexico Arts Commission are proud to recognize these awardees who represent the very best in artistic achievement.
Peter “Amahl” Amaral, Musician, Albuquerque
A co-founder of The New Mexico Jazz Workshop in 1975, drummer Peter “Amahl” Amaral showcased world class artists in NM such as Mose Allison, Richie Cole, Herb Ellis, and Eddie Harris. He’s toured with greats like Natalie Cole, Junior Brown, and others. A 2020 New Mexico Music Hall of Fame inductee, he now hosts the Taos Jazz Bebop Society’s “NM Jazz Artists” series and has a radio show. A teacher of many NM drummers, at 83 he’s still swinging.
Kevin Box, Sculptor, Cerrillos
For more than 25 years, Kevin Box has pioneered a process that transforms the delicate beauty of paper into enduring sculptures in bronze, stainless steel, and aluminum. Through close collaboration with his wife Jennifer, world-renowned origami masters, and expert foundry and fabrication teams, the work emerges as a collective achievement—merging material innovation with artistic vision. Exhibited in fine art galleries and botanical gardens across North America and collected internationally, his sculpture celebrates creativity, collaboration, and timeless storytelling.
Alden Timothy Cox, Painter, Bloomfield
Experience the West through Tim Cox’s eyes. Tim paints what he knows: contemporary cowboys, horses, cattle, and ranch life. Among Tim’s awards are the Prix De West and two Great American Cowboy Awards from the National Cowboy & Western History Museum. He recently won the Desert Caballeros Western Museum’s 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award at the Heart of the West gala. He is an Emeritus Member of the Cowboy Artists of America.
Keshet Dance Company & Center for the Arts, Major Contributor to the Arts, Albuquerque
Rooted in dance, mentorship, and a welcoming space for the arts, Keshet Dance Company & Center for the Arts activates community and fosters unlimited possibilities through education, engagement, innovation, and the pursuit of justice. Founded in 1996 by Shira Greenberg, Keshet has grown into a multifaceted organization that brings together professional dance, inclusive education, entrepreneurial support, and transformative justice initiatives.
Cannupa Hanska Luger (Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara, Lakota), Interdisciplinary Artist, Glorieta
Cannupa Hanska Luger is an award-winning multidisciplinary artist and cultural innovator whose expansive practice introduces new methodologies, ideas, and speculative technologies rooted in Indigenous innovation. Through installation, performance, and community engagement, he uplifts cultural continuity, ecological repair, and collective care. His work is exhibited and collected internationally.
Nacha Mendez a.k.a. Margarita Cordero (Chihene Nde Nation), Musician, Santa Fe
Nacha Mendez, Gila Apache and Chicana, grew up in La Union, New Mexico, where she discovered her love for music at an early age. A nationally acclaimed singer and composer, she has been honored with a National Endowment for the Arts Award and the New Mexico Platinum Lifetime Achievement Award. As Executive Director of the Nacha Mendez Music Scholarship, she empowers young girls across New Mexico through scholarships, music education, and mentorship.
Connie Voisine, Poet, Las Cruces
Connie Voisine is the author of the poetry book The Bower, which she began writing during a Fulbright Fellowship to Northern Ireland. Her writing appears in Poetry, The New Yorker, and other magazines and she was named a Guggenheim Fellow in 2021. Voisine has been a professor in the Creative Media Institute at New Mexico State University since 2001 and lives in Las Cruces with her husband, Rus Bradburd and daughter, Alma.
New Mexico Arts and the New Mexico Arts Commission will host a pair of events in October to recognize this year’s Governor’s Arts Awards recipients. The governor will present the awards at a ceremony at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 16 at the St. Francis Auditorium at New Mexico Museum of Art, followed by a public reception in the courtyard with light refreshments and a sparkling cider toast. An exhibition of work from the 2025 recipients will be on display in the Governor’s Gallery on the fourth floor of the Roundhouse beginning Thursday, Oct. 16 with an opening reception from 2 – 3:30 p.m.
About the Governor’s Awards for Excellence in the Arts
The Governor’s Awards for Excellence in the Arts are presented in collaboration with the Office of the Governor by the New Mexico Arts Commission and New Mexico Arts. This year’s Awards are made possible in part by major contributions from the Gale Family Foundation, Ramon Jose Lopez & Nancy Nichols Lopez, Catherine Oppenheimer, Henry Muñoz, Thornburg Investment Management, the New Mexico Music Commission, and the members of the New Mexico Arts Commission. The awards celebrate the diversity of New Mexico’s cultural and artistic traditions, as well as new and innovative forms of artistic expression. They also recognize the important work of arts supporters and contributors who passionately ensure the arts are available and accessible in their communities.
Established in 1974 by then-Gov. Bruce King and First Lady Alice King, the Governor’s Arts Awards celebrate the role that artists, craftspeople, and arts supporters play in the economic and cultural life of New Mexico. Throughout its existence, a diverse and prestigious list of painters, weavers, sculptors, dancers, musicians, storytellers, poets, actors, playwrights, and potters have been honored. Learn more at nmarts.org/all-programs/governors-arts-awards.
