About this property
The IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (abbreviated as MoCNA) is a museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico dedicated to collecting and showcasing works of art by contemporary Indigenous artists and is considered the only museum in the United States to do so. Founded by the Institute of American Indian Arts in 1991, the museum hosts nearly 10,000 works of art from 1962 and onward and is located in the Sante Fe Federal Building (the old Post Office), a historic Pueblo Revival building. Contemporary intertribal Native American art is the focus of exhibitions and the permanent collection. The MoCNA is located near the Santa Fe Plaza and Saint Francis Cathedral in the historic Santa Fe downtown area. In 2020, the museum was one of 20 recipients for funding from the Ford Foundation's America's Cultural Treasures philanthropic initiative. In 2025, the museum received an Access for All grant from the Art Bridges Foundation, allowing it to allow free admission on Fridays through to December 2026. In August of that year, the museum partnered with the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts to showcase Taiwanese Indigenous works. As of March 2025, the Museum's Director is Patsy Phillips, and its Chief Curator is Manuela Well-Off-Man. The museum collects, exhibits and interprets progressive art works by Indigenous artists. It has an active public programming series. Objects in the collection, when not on exhibit, are held in the museum's 7,000 square foot storage facility located on the IAIA campus 12 miles south of the museum; the facility also includes conservation laboratories. The Allan Houser (Chiricahua Apache) Sculpture Garden and Art Park is located in the courtyard west of the museum building. Selections of Houser's work is exhibited on a rotating basis, and is on loan from the Alan Houser Foundation.
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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Everything a full report reveals about Federal Building
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Questions about this property
When was Federal Building listed on the National Register?
Federal Building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 14, 1974.
What type of historic resource is Federal Building?
Federal Building is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Federal Building?
The period of significance for Federal Building is recorded as the early_republic era.
Can I research the history near Federal Building?
Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near Federal Building will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
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