Institute of American Indian Arts
The Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) is a unique educational institution located in Santa Fe, New Mexico, founded in 1962 to support the artistic development of Native American students. Originally established as a school for Indian artists under the auspices of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, IAIA has evolved into a prominent college that offers a range of art-related programs, including creative writing, ceramics, sculpture, and performance arts, among others. The school initially focused on a co-educational curriculum aimed at assimilating students into mainstream culture but later shifted to prioritize artistic expression.
Over the decades, IAIA has faced various challenges, including financial difficulties and changes in leadership, but has remained committed to nurturing artistic talent. It became a chartered institution in 1986, allowing greater autonomy and the ability to raise funds as a nonprofit entity. The institute is notable for having hosted significant artists and educators, contributing to the revitalization of modern Indian art. Additionally, the IAIA Museum, opened in 1992, serves as a platform for showcasing Native American art and culture. Through its programs, IAIA has impacted nearly three thousand students, offering them a transformative experience in the arts and helping to foster a greater appreciation for Native American artistic heritage.
Institute of American Indian Arts
Date: Established 1962
Tribes affected: Pantribal
Significance: The training site of most of the leading contemporary Indian artists of the United States
In 1961 Hildegard Thompson, director of Indian education within the Bureau of Indian Affairs, was authorized to start a school for Indian artists. She picked the old Santa Fe Indian School (Santa Fe, New Mexico) as its site. Superintendent George Boyce decided on a co-educational, boarding, college preparatory, and vocational training curriculum. He appointed Lloyd Kiva New as the director of the arts department. Boyce directed the program from 1961 until 1967, stressing that the purpose of the school was to develop the whole individual. Its goal, in fact, was to assimilate the Indian artist into mainstream American culture.
The doors of the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) opened on October 1, 1962, to students who were at least one-quarter Indian, aged fifteen to twenty-two years. Offered were grades ten through twelve and two years of postsecondary training. The art areas offered were creative writing, metals, textiles, ceramics, sculpture, painting, and music and performance. Boyce was succeeded as director of the IAIA by Howard Mackey, and he in turn by Lloyd Kiva New, from 1967 to 1978. New redesigned the school into an art school, adding merchandizing courses as well as filmmaking in the early 1970’s and a museum training program in 1971. Students were coached in etiquette, required to pass an apartment living course, and visited white homes to speed acculturation.
The 1970’s were a troublesome decade for the IAIA. Fiscal problems resulted in program cutbacks, causing a drop in student enrollment which brought more budget cuts. New failed in an attempt to convert the school to a four-year college. In 1975 a charter was granted for operation of the IAIA as a two-year junior college offering the associate of fine arts degree. The secondary education program waned, recovered, and waned. The artistic vitality slipped noticeably. The decade ended with the award of the campus to the All Pueblo Indian Council for a high school, forcing the IAIA to lease facilities from the College of Santa Fe in 1981, where many IAIA graduates completed their college educations. In 1986 the institute was redefined by the federal government as a chartered institution, allowing it to engage in fund-raising as a not-for-profit entity, hire faculty without civil service restrictions, and appoint a national governing board. In 1992 the school opened a museum with gift shop in downtown Santa Fe.
The institute has been credited with revitalizing modern Indian painting. On the staff have been such well-known artists as Allan Houser, Fritz Scholder, Linda Lomahaftewa, Otellie Loloma, and Louis Ballard. Nearly three thousand students have passed through the IAIA, most of them men. Some of them were troubled teenagers for whom art proved no therapy; others, however, have been gifted scholars and artists. For those who sought to become artists, the IAIA experience has been described as “a gift of time.”