International Folk Art Market to Move From Museum Hill to Railyard Park

After nearly 20 years, thousands of visiting artists and so many millions of dollars impacting Santa Fe and heading to countries across the globe, the International Folk Art Market today announced it will leave its long-standing Museum Hill location behind next year.

“In July 2023, the International Folk Art Market (IFAM) will kick off its annual summer event in a new location, the Santa Fe Railyard Park,” reads a statement from the nonprofit. “With the year-round IFAM Center located a block away, IFAM is excited to hold the world’s largest folk art market in its own neighborhood.”

The IFAM Center and its offices are just up the street from Railyard Park at 620 Cerrillos Road.

The release goes on to explain that attendees can expect a similar size and scope to previous markets in 2023, including more than 160 artists from 52 countries—39 of which will come to Santa Fe for the first time next year. It also reports that market attendees spent an estimated total $9.86 million last year, additionally generating more that $812,000 in gross receipts tax. The market itself paid $246,211 in GRT, according to the statement.

“It’s going to be a little bit different,” IFAM’s director of marketing Adrienne Murray tells SFR of the location change. “It’s going to be a different feel with more opportunity for discovery. We’re going to lean heavily on the aesthetics that are already present—the trees, the flowers—but I think whereas before, when you had the two layers of the market mapped out for you, this new space is going to invite you to more take a walk; the way we’re going to lay out the booths will be more intuitive and feel more like you’re discovering things with different artists in different groupings, almost like neighborhoods.”

Additionally, Murray says, market organizers are hopeful for more foot traffic, be it from folks visiting the Farmers Market or simply traveling through the neighborhood. The New Mexico Rail Runner Express terminus also played a role in selecting Railyard Park for the market’s new location, as passengers can step off the train and take a short walk to the market.

IFAM went through numerous big changes last year following two years of inactivity due to COVID-19. In September, then-executive director Stuart Ashman stepped down and the nonprofit’s director of external affairs, Melissa Mann, took over. Last year also heralded the organization’s first-ever night market on the Plaza, an effort to pull in younger and working crowds who were less likely to attend an early morning event according to IFAM research. Those new offerings also allowed local businesses such as Jambo Café and Paseo Pottery to host events in partnership with IFAM.

The 2023 International Folk Art Market kicks off on Thursday, July 6 with a procession from 5-7 pm, and will run throughout the rest of that week. Ticketing will work similarly as in previous years, according to Murray, with the notable change that though entry will be timed, attendees may stay as long as they wish once inside. And though certain parts of the park will be blocked off for the market, Murray says that kids and families will still have access to its amenities.

“We’re obviously using a large portion of it,” Murray says, “but can your kids still use the jungle gym? Yes. Can you still use the walking paths? Yes.”

The Museum of International Folk Art, a part of the state Cultural Affairs Department and an entirely distinct organization from the market, will continue to occupy its building on Museum Hill. Murray says the move was not spurred by any “negative reasoning.”

“It’s really more us intentionally looking toward the future and asking how we can become a bigger part of this place that’s our home,” she says. “It got us thinking about why we weren’t closer to home.”

The statement, meanwhile, thanks the museums on Museum Hill and the organizations there for nearly two decades of markets.

“The organization is grateful to the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, the Museum of International Folk Art, and the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture for this long history,” it reads. “We also wish to thank the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, Museum of Spanish Colonial Art, and the Santa Fe Botanical Garden, as well as the surrounding residential neighbors who have so graciously allowed the world into their backyard. IFAM looks forward to maintaining its strong relationship with the Museum Hill community in tandem with the Railyard community.”

The New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs’ Cabinet Secretary Debra Garcia y Griego meanwhile tells SFR that, “[The] New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, Museum of International Folk Art, and Museum of Indian Arts & Culture have enjoyed our long partnership with IFAM and hosting the Market. We wish them the very best in their move to the Santa Fe Railyard, and look forward to exploring new ways to partner with them.”