Roundhouse ‘Culture Day’ Offers Best of State Museums & Historic Sites

by Department of Cultural Affairs

The New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs will host “Culture Day” at the State Capitol Rotunda from 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. on Tuesday, February 24, 2015. Interactive exhibits featuring New Mexico’s state-run museums and historic sites, as well as arts, historic preservation, archaeology, and library programs will be offered to legislators and visitors to the Capitol throughout the day.

• New Mexico Arts will provide “Oculus Rift Glasses” offering the wearer a cutting edge virtual “Pull of the Moon Experience.”
• The NM State Library will display the new “Brainfuse” online tutorial offering professional homework help for students of all ages and grade levels, as well as assistance for job seekers. NMSL’s Bookmobile will also be parked outside the Roundhouse for tours.
• The Museum of International Folk Art focuses on the upcoming exhibition The Red That Colored the World, opening Sunday, May 17, as part of Santa Fe’s Summer of Color.
• At the New Mexico History Museum/Palace of the Governors see examples of the original Spanish colonial paintings on display in Painting the Divine: Images of Mary in the New World and use a replica antique press to print an image of your own.
• The New Mexico Museum of Art gives a sneak peek of three works that will be on display in the upcoming exhibitions, Colors of the Southwest.
• The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture will have information about public programs; current and permanent exhibitions demonstrate a pump drill on shells and give samples of Native tea and mesquite meal with applesauce.
• The New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum’s popular chuck wagon will be on hand serving fresh-made biscuits at the Capitol’s east entrance
• The New Mexico Museum of Space History will have its Mercury capsule near the Capitol’s east entrance. Inside the Roundhouse, the museum’s education department will wow visitors with hands-on science experiments.
• The New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science will bring bird specimens to promote the National Geographic Exhibit Birds of Paradise: Amazing Avian Evolution;, as well as the fossilized skull of NM’s newest dinosaur, Ziapelta sanjuanensis. The Planetarium and Observatory Program will bring a Solar Telescope to observe flares and sun spots safely (weather permitting).
• The National Hispanic Cultural Center will offer tortillas from Bueno Foods and feature information about art education and culinary arts.
• The Historic Preservation Division will help you find that historic building or archaeological site you’ve been curious about online, show how to construct a miniature adobe home and give you a free poster.
• The New Mexico Humanities Council will display program materials related to the Chautauqua Presenters Program and the year-long National History Day Program for students in grades 6-12.
• The Office of Archaeological Studies offers its ancient lifeways display, including hands-on artifacts and demonstrations of yucca cordage.

At noon, cabinet Secretary Veronica Gonzales will be joined by a chorus group from the New Mexico School for the Arts. Entertainment will also be provided by Santa Fe Youth Symphony Association Advanced Elementary Strings, Gonzales Community School Grade 5 Choir, and Acoustic Americana Ensemble – Academy for Technology and Classics.
From 1:30-2:30pm, a group of four New Mexico Storytellers will spin tales in the Rotunda.

The Department of Cultural Affairs is New Mexico’s cultural steward and is charged with preserving and showcasing the state’s cultural riches. With its eight museums, eight historic sites, arts, archaeology, historic preservation and library programs, the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs is the largest state cultural agency in the nation. Together, the facilities, programs and services of the Department support a $5.6 billion cultural industry in New Mexico, accounting for one in ten jobs, and $2.2 billion in salaries.