BY BRANDI ENGEMANN
Executive Director
Los Alamos Arts Council

We want to start off with a thank you to the community that has heard our call for support and showed up in droves. Your donations, your kind words, your visits to share your stories, and general good will has given our staff and board the energy we need to pull through these difficult times. 

We have had questions about what comes next. First off, you got us through our first fundraising goal of $10,000 before September 1st in less than one week. We need an additional $10,000 by October 1, but the good news is we are already halfway there. In addition to this we have many new household members and our first three business memberships were created in August; a special thanks to SALA Event Center, Dr. Elena McAtee, and KokoPilates for their memberships. Pumpkin Glow is also possible this year thanks to N3B and community sponsors. We will be distributing new membership cards in the coming weeks, members should keep an eye on their inboxes for details on pick-up.

We aren’t out of the woods yet. This funding will give us breathing room to get through Pumpkin Glow, allow us to put on one final show in the Gallery, and to get Affordable Arts pushing forward. We have looked ahead into the new year and have adjusted our budget for this new normal but the truth is, we cannot continue to do this without this same energy from you, our community, year round.

Every year we set our budget with the funding we can rely on from Los Alamos County as well as income from craft fair booth fees, classes, and sales in the gallery factored in. Once we have created our calendar of events and programs and established the expenses related to that, we create our fundraising goals for the year as well as what we plan to ask from sponsors and through grants. Every year, despite our efforts, we fall short of our goal and have to cut programs or let staff go to make up the shortfall. This is unsustainable long term, and has led to repeated funding crises over the past few years. 

Direct donations are part of any healthy nonprofit organization, and we need your support year round so we don’t reach a crisis point again. It can seem easy to point fingers at Los Alamos County or other large funders, but the truth is, nonprofits rely heavily on private donations and we are no different. We need to raise $65,000 this year in donations to meet our goals and make it through 2026. This goal is only $5,000 higher than last year’s goal, but in 2024 we only received $12,000 in direct donations, far short of the target. 

We need enrollment in our classrooms or we cannot reliably staff education programs. The gallery sales have to hit targets or we will have to restructure our consignment structure with artists, something we are trying to avoid at all costs. 

We continue to reach out to sponsors for our large events and programs, and we are writing several grants to help stabilize our education programs. But in the end, the community of Los Alamos will need to keep up this energy for our organization and for all of the nonprofits who are going to struggle in the coming years as the economy changes rapidly and traditional funding sources dry up and become more competitive. 

We cannot thank all of you enough for showing us that this space and the programs the Arts Council provides are valuable and beloved. We know this is a tough time for all of us, but as they say, many hands make light work. We can do this together and we will be right here fighting for the things we love alongside you.

Things you can do to help today:

Set up a one time or recurring donation on our website: https://www.losalamosartscouncil.org/giving-page-1-1

Sign up to take a class, or share classes when you see them: https://www.losalamosartscouncil.org/education-programs

Business sponsorship or membership: https://www.losalamosartscouncil.org/businessmembers

Buy tickets to an event such as SAFOS Dance Theatre October 3rd (help us pack this theater!): https://www.losalamosartscouncil.org/safosdance

If you are employed by LANL, set up LANL Giving. You can find more information about this on our website: https://www.losalamosartscouncil.org/giving-page-1-1

Donate your time as a volunteer at an event such as Pumpkin Glow or the Kite Festival! To get involved, email Info@LAAC-FLAC.org or look for our volunteer calls on our website

Enroll in Smith’s Inspiring Donations (LAAC’s number is MB336)

Purchase something off our Amazon wish list: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/FAR6Q2KK6RCK/ref=nav_wishlist_lists_1

And of course, purchase art from local or regional artists in the gallery and gift shop!

About us: the Los Alamos Arts Council is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that operates out of the Fuller Lodge Art Center in downtown Los Alamos, NM. LAAC programs a gallery and gift shop space, education programs including a summer camp, and several cultural programs on an annual basis including arts and crafts fairs, a kite festival, and many, many more.