RedLine is a proud partner and administrator of the Arts in Society grant. This collaborative program provides grants to both individuals and organizations that use art as a vehicle to promote social justice and community welfare.

We love highlighting our Arts in Society (AIS) grant recipients and all the unique and impactful projects made possible by their grant. And we’re excited continue this series with the 2022 AiS Grantee: Fort Garland Museum & Cultural Center.

Learn about the Fort Garland Museum’s AiS project, “Buffalo Soldiers,” and how it highlights the complex and underrepresented legacy of America’s all-Black Army regimens.

About the Fort Garland Museum & Cultural Center

Located in present day southern Colorado, Fort Garland was built by the U.S. Army in 1858 during American westward expansion, and 10 years after the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo ended the Mexican-American War.

The Fort was built to exert military authority in this newly acquired territory, to control the Indigenous population, and police the growing Hispano community.

10 years after the Fort emerged, the Ute Treaty of 1868, also known as the Kit Carson Treaty, resulted in the removal of the Ute from the San Luis Valley. Fort Garland was an active military outpost for 25 years until it was decommissioned in 1883.

In 1928, residents in Costilla and Conejos counties established the Fort Garland Historical Fair Association to preserve what remained. During the Great Depression, the association struggled to pay taxes on the property.

Eventually, the Colorado Historical Society acquired the site and restored five of the original adobe buildings. Fort Garland opened as a regional museum in 1950. The interpretation at the museum remained virtually unchanged for 7 decades.

Today, Fort Garland is in the midst of a dramatic reimagining. We recently received a planning grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to support a comprehensive reinterpretation plan. The new vision is radically inclusive and leans into complex and difficult histories.

Tell us about your project that utilizes your AIS grant: “Buffalo Soldiers”

Between 1875 and 1879, the 9th Cavalry was stationed at Fort Garland. The 9th Cavalry was one of four all Black Army regiments that were established in 1866 after the Civil War. These units would become known as the Buffalo Soldiers.

Many Buffalo Soldiers had been formerly enslaved. As a result, military service offered individuals the opportunity to make a living in order to provide for themselves and their families. Despite facing discrimination and segregation, they served valiantly and honorably.

Tragically, Buffalo Soldiers were sent out west where they were often on the front lines of conflict with Native Americans.

The support from Arts in Society will provide us with the opportunity to work with eight artists from around the country in order to examine the complex history and legacy of the Buffalo Soldiers.

Through our work with artists, scholars, descendants, and community, the project will explore the prejudice and discrimination faced by Buffalo Soldiers following emancipation, their role in American westward expansion and the displacement of Indigenous populations, and the legacy of this complicated history.

In June, participating artists gathered in Fort Garland to meet with scholars, descendants, and community members and to experience the history and culture of the San Luis Valley. The team then traveled west over Wolf Creek Pass for a collaborative workshop at the historic Mancos Common Press.

*Community Gathering at Fort Garland, June 2*

Over the next year, artists will continue to research and collaborate online and in-person. The project will culminate in an exhibition along with corresponding public programming in summer 2023.

Participating artists:

What’s next in the pipeline for Fort Garland in 2022? What other projects are you dreaming up this year and how will your AIS grant help to support these projects?

We recently opened Merciless Indian Savages, an exhibit by artist Gregg Deal (Pyramid Lake Paiute). Originally commissioned for the History Colorado Center in Denver, the show’s title references a line written in the Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefferson.

The show challenges audiences to ask “what does American Democracy mean to a person whose ancestors were dehumanized in its founding document?” and “how does an Indigenous person stay true to their identities while participating in a society that has historically marginalized and stereotyped them?”

The exhibit opened on June 24, exactly 164 years after the Fort was commissioned, with a powerful celebration of art, community and Indigenous excellence.

The opening featured a community conversation with Deal, as well as a dance performance by the Dineh Tah Navajo Dancers, and a slam poetry and platica with Jessican Helen Lopez, a former Albuquerque Poet Laureate, and mentors and youth from the NACA Inspired School Network.

In the coming months, we’ll continue to offer a variety of online and in-person programs aligned with our Borderlands of Southern Colorado initiative.

We’ll also continue working with community members, tribal partners, and scholars in order to develop the renewed interpretation plan for the site.

What was your experience like when applying for an AIS? What tips would you share with artists looking to apply for an AIS grant?

Applying for an Arts in Society award has been an incredibly rewarding experience.

While the questions are different from most grant applications, applying for an AiS grant has challenged us to reflect on how we can effectively and authentically engage our team, our partners, and our community in the work that we do.

I would advise artists and organizations to critically examine their relationships with the community and to reflect on how to develop truly collaborative projects.

Applicants should also spend time with Animating Democracy’s “Attributes for Excellence in Arts for Change” as they develop their project framework and goals.

By understanding the AiS mission and leaning into the more challenging aspects of the application process, artists and organizations have the opportunity to develop meaningful and transformative projects.