Taos Center for the Arts in Taos, NM

The Taos Center for the Arts in Taos, New Mexico has been around for more than 50 years. It's home of the Taos Community Auditorium and the Stable Gallery. The center's mission statement is to be an "arts council, public leader, partner and catalyst [that] inspires creative expression throughout this diverse community by providing facilities and programming in the visual, performing and media arts."

The Taos Art Association decided to form the Taos Center for the Arts in the 1950s when the association bought Arthur Rockford Manby's 19-room Spanish-style mansion. The Englishman was an art collector in the late 1890s. He stole most of what he had and was later murdered.

When the Taos Art Association bought the mansion, it turned the mansion into art galleries and created an "open-air" community theater in its gardens.

During the 1970s private and corporate funds were raised allowing for more ambitious productions and art displays. In 2000 the Taos Center for the Arts was closed temporarily to raise money for extensive renovations. In November 2001 and $400,000 later in donations, the auditorium re-opened. The Stables Gallery re-opened in April 2002.

The Taos Center for the Arts holds a variety of events. There's the Storytelling Festival, GLBT Comedy Night, Chamber Music Group Concerts, and artist displays like Artists Off the Rim. Artists Off the Rim is a display of Northern Mexican art done by eight artists.
The TCA has a proscenium stage that's 36 feet wide and 16 to 18 feet tall. The playing area of the stage is about 25 feet deep. The auditorium seats 285 people.