Ms. Phyllis Kennedy
Phyllis Kennedy is a Program Coordinator with New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, and is responsible for grants in the categories of Arts & Education, Arts in Social Service, and Colleges, Universities & Government Entities. She also coordinates the New Mexico Poetry Out Loud recitation contest, an annual event with a state final held in Santa Fe each winter.
As the former executive director of the New Mexico Alliance for Arts Education she was able to combine her interests in art and politics with legislative advocacy work with hundreds of stakeholders to restore New Mexico’s elementary fine arts programs.
Phyllis coordinates New Mexico Arts & the Military's initiative which takes its lead from the NEA's Healing Arts Partnership and seeks to link state agencies and non-profit arts organizations with service members, veterans, and their families.
The first New Mexico Arts and the Military round table took place September 29, 2016. The second was held in Albuquerque January 26, 2017. The third round table discussion was hosted by New Mexico Military Institute, Roswell NM on January 9, 2018.
September 28 - October 7, 2018 New Mexico Arts & the Military, the Center for Contemporary Arts, artist Shirley Klinghoffer, and many individuals and organizations collaborated to present the Love Armor Project 10th Anniversary Exhibition & Community Outreach Program. Panel discussions included Advances in Neuroscience and Art Therapy in the Treatment of PTSD since 2008; Fiber Arts: Commemoration, Commentary, & Community; American Veterans for Equal Rights (LGBT veteran advocacy and service organization); and a Veterans History Project Oral History Training Session.
In addition to her fine arts degrees Phyllis holds a New Mexico elementary teaching license with K-8 visual art endorsement and a Montessori Early Childhood credential. She taught visual art in a public charter school for five years. Her photographs are in the New Mexico Museum of Art and the Albuquerque Sunport Collection.