OffCenter Arts Celebrates 25 Years
This year, one of Downtown’s longest running art spaces turns 25 years old! OffCenter Arts has grown and adapted over the years and is using this year to set the groundwork for 25 more years. Thanks to Executive Director, Mika Maloney for giving us insight into the history and what’s coming next.
Tell us about OffCenter! When did it get its start and what has been happening the past 25 years?
OffCenter Community Arts Project is a free community art studio, opened in September 2001. We have art classes, a gallery space, rotating community exhibitions, and professional development resources for artists. But the core of OffCenter is Open Studio – which is free, drop-in art making time for artists of all ages and abilities. We have tools and materials for a wide variety of art mediums - sewing, beading, painting, collage, printmaking, mixed media and fiber art. We’re a non-profit; our mission is to enhance the lives of all people in our community by providing a safe and supportive environment for art-making and social interaction. The social connection piece is as central to our work as the art making. At OffCenter, art making facilitates connection across a wide range of common social barriers including housing and economic status, race, gender, and age.
That combination of social interaction and art making was something that OffCenter's founding director, Janis Timm-Bottos, brought out of her work from having helped to start ArtStreet at Albuquerque Healthcare for the Homeless. (Art Street opened in the mid-90s and still operates as a free community art studio. One of the main distinctions between OffCenter and Art Street is that we don’t provide therapy or direct social services that require licensed professional staff.) Janis wanted to construct a self-sustaining creative open art studio, open to everyone in the community. Over 25 years, OffCenter has been remarkably successful in reaching that goal – of not only being open to everyone but truly serving as a welcoming space for diverse communities to interact and connect.
When OffCenter (OC) first opened, we were in 3 rented storefronts on 7th St. between Central and Copper, including the space where the Rave Cave is now. (I’ve heard a rumor you can find a remnant painted on one of the walls still marking the kids painting area!) The next summer, OffCenter hosted our first We Art the People Folk Festival & Puppet Parade at Robinson Park. OC hosted that folk festival as a community celebration and an accessible opportunity for artists to sell their work until 2019. Although we don’t host that event any more, we still have a collection of giant puppets that make appearances at other community events.
After a few years on 7th, OC needed more space and moved to what is our current location on Park Ave between 8th & 9th. (We've been here for over 20 years now and are definitely bursting at the seams!).
There have been nine executive directors over the years, which is a lot of transition for an organization. But there are so many artists and volunteers, board members, other staff, and facilitators that have been incredibly consistent and committed to this space. I started at OffCenter as the executive director in June 2022 and it’s been amazing to get to know this beautiful and really fun community of people that make up OffCenter. People tend to fall in love with OffCenter once they get involved. It’s a bit magical to have a space that is oriented around creating and connecting – not consuming, not staying siloed in our roles. People have a lot of care for this space and I think that has served the organization well.
OffCenter Arts puppets
As an established part of the Downtown community for the past 25 years, what are you all up to today? What have been the joys and challenges of the Downtown neighborhood?
Being in downtown feels pretty core to OffCenter Arts. Part of the name is even a play of being just "off Central." Being downtown means even with Albuquerque’s limited public transportation options, most folks can access us by bus.
We have a lot of folks that find OffCenter pretty early on when they come to town for the first time or are looking for community in a time of transition. I think being downtown helps keep us ‘findable’ which feels really important.
I love that we’re downtown. I really see OC as being part of this creative core. There’s a lot of great art and creative projects happening in and near downtown. Obviously there’s room for downtown to become more active and more accessible. I see OffCenter as having a role to play in that, partly through the nature of being a space that fosters social interaction and that creates space for people to gather in a non-commercial venue. If we want a downtown that reflects the best of what Albuquerque is - which I think is very creative, very diverse, and very genuine– then we can’t have development or decision making only be driven by folks that can pay to be part of that process. If we only want commercial spaces, geared around consumption, then we’ll have a downtown that feels and functions like a shopping mall.
As for what OffCenter is up to now… it’s a lot! Open Studio of course is the heart of what we do. Supporting economic opportunities for underserved artists has been another long-time piece of OffCenter. Right now, that includes our exhibition programs and our gallery, as well as a growing list of artist professional development programs and resources. 2026 will see us expanding a lot of the professional development programs, including a 12-week artist program in the late summer, and a variety of workshops and panels throughout the year.
Our weekly and monthly drop-in groups have also been core programs over the years. Those groups are facilitated, and focused on one medium or type of art making, but not as structured as our art classes.
Current groups include a weekly drawing group that meets on Saturdays from 10 to noon, our Wednesday evening Open Sew and Fiber Art groups, that meet from 6-8 pm on Wednesdays and let the sewists take over the whole front studio. Plus our Puppet Theater group who meet weekly on Tuesdays and then perform a collaboratively written musical puppet show at our Artwalk receptions. (Catch them this Friday, performing at 6:30 pm.) We have monthly Open Paint, Strengthening Creativity, and Artful Journal groups. There’s more… they’re all on the website here.
2026 is a big year for OffCenter, not only 25 years, but also looking toward the future of the organization. What can you share about plans this year to kick off celebrations, connections, and the long term sustainability of this essential creative space?
25 years feels like such a great milestone! I’ve been in my role as director for 3 ½ years now, and it’s been an honor to step into a stewardship role for an organization that is so alive and active. There’s a lot of organizational strength that comes through two and half decades of deep community building work. There are also lots of ways that OffCenter still feels like a young organization to me with lots of room to learn, refine the ways we serve, and build more sustainable structures so we can stay useful for the next 25 years. What we offer has always felt important but right now the need for welcoming community spaces that allow for self-expression, creative learning, and true community building across differences – that feels especially important.
So this year is both an opportunity for us to celebrate the ways OffCenter has supported folks for the past 25 years — and to do some work towards what will make the next 25 years sustainable.
We will have a big celebration and fundraiser in September. Details aren't ready to share for that just yet but we’ll share those in our email newsletter, in the studio, and social media.
We’re also, as I mentioned, really bursting at the edges of our current rental space. It’s been part of the vision for OffCenter to have a larger space for decades. This being our 25th year makes it feel like an especially good time for us as a community to get serious about what the future of OffCenter could look like. We’re focused on finding ways throughout the year where we can open up more conversations with folks – reflecting on how OffCenter has served over the years, where the need is, what the vision is, and how we might get there. Some of that is collecting stories from people about how they’ve connected with OC in the past, some of that is of course going to be fundraising, and some of that is doing some dreaming and planning!
Puppet Group performing at an ABQ Artwalk.
How can Crossroads readers get involved and support OffCenter this year and into the future?
Come by the studio! Drop in for Open Studio, sign up for a class, stop by during Artwalk. There are so many ways to get involved – whether you consider yourself an artist or not. (Spoiler alert: we consider you an artist, but we won’t make you call yourself one.) OffCenter is a really unique place; dropping in to get a tour and check out the studio is really the best way to start to understand the full scope of what we offer the community.
We accept donations of art materials, both for artists to use in the studio and that we pass on to other organizations, educators, and individual artists. (Bring us stuff! Come get stuff!)
Financial donations are incredibly important in making it possible for us to serve the community. Over 35% of our annual budgeted income comes from donations from individuals. People can add an extra donation when they shop at the gallery, or sign up as a monthly recurring donor, donate stocks, donate online, mail us a check – there are lots of ways to give us money! Even through signing up to take a class - people can choose to sign up at the Supporter level from our tiered pricing options and that’s a really helpful way for people to sustain our programs.
We send out a weekly(ish) email newsletter – that’s consistently the best place to find out about events, programs updates, and classes. People can sign up for that here.
Anything else you’d like to share?
One of the most beloved events that OffCenter hosts is our annual Little House Auction! This is a fundraiser but it really serves as the most fun community exhibition, with 150-200 ‘little house’ artworks created by artists for us to auction. The auction is at FUSION on Friday, May 15, but we kick off the project with a look back at past houses as part of our Artwalk exhibition at OffCenter in March. March is also when folks can start to sign up as Little House artists and pick up the wood ‘blanks’ that most artists use to create their Little House.
We have volunteers cut 4x4s into funky wood house shapes, that artists then collage on, paint, add fabric, metal, clay, all sorts of materials to create mini masterpieces. (You can see a ton of past houses on our website here.)
Save the date - Friday, May 15 - attend the auction. And come by the studio in March during Artwalk or any of our open hours to sign up as a Little House artist! Event details - and sponsorship opportunities - are on the website here.