When The FUNd opened in 1988 with a $5 million donation, it was the largest of the Foundation’s donor advised funds. Today it is our longest-standing active fund and awards between $200,000 and $300,000 each year. Though the donor wishes to remain anonymous, they are highly engaged in the grant-making process that contributes to the thriving visual arts community in the Albuquerque area.

Focused on contributing to visual artists and organizations, installations and exhibitions, especially those with youth engagement or a grassroots cultivation component, The FUNd provides economic opportunity through artist-in-residence as well as youth and arts justice programs and allows artists to grow and make a living from their art.

Past recipients have included Working Classroom, whose mission is to cultivate the artistic, civic and academic minds of youth through in-depth arts projects with contemporary artists. Another is Basement Films, a volunteer-run micro-cinema supporting experimental and under-represented forms of media-making through public screenings, performances, workshops and lectures.

“Public art has also been a recipient of awards from The FUNd,” says Khia Griffis, Foundation Community Impact Director. “For example, ‘Pueblo Matriarch,’ the bronze sculpture installed this May in the traffic roundabout at 12th Street and Menaul by Santa Clara and White Mountain Apache artist Greyshoes, was supported by The FUNd. The piece commemorated the Foundation’s 40th anniversary and was a way to reflect and celebrate the area’s historic agricultural usage, the heritage of the former Albuquerque Indian School and the presence of the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center nearby.”