This month, the Jazz Journalists Association named Tom Guralnick one of its 2016 Jazz Heroes , individuals of positive influence on their musical communities. Since he arrived here in 1976, Tom has created, or helped to create, three thriving local organizations, the New Mexico Jazz Workshop, the New Mexico Jazz Festival, and Albuquerque's Outpost Performance Space .

In 2014, Spanish artist Janire Nájera set out on a journey from New Mexico to California, following the 19th Century trade route known as the Old Spanish Trail. Traveling in an SUV through six states, Najera documented the descendants of the Trail's first Spanish settlers. The result is Moving Forward, Looking Back , an exhibition that has been seen around the world and is on view now through September at Albuquerque's National Hispanic Cultural Center. Nájera describes the journey as her

Kids, probably from the start of civilization, have been plagued by that irritating question. And so is Samuel, a young boy who takes a day off from school to find the answer. Samuel's Story is a new multimedia book for kids by New Mexico performance poet Hakim Bellamy .

How do we bring Native American composers into the conversation about new music? The University of New Mexico's 45th annual John Donald Robb Composers' Symposium , being held on the UNM Albuquerque campus from March 28 to April 1, will look at indigenous contributions to contemporary art music. All events are free and open to the public. Peter Gilbert, Assistant Professor of Music at UNM and the Symposium's Co-Director, says that one of the gathering's panel discussions will look at the role

She spent her life in the place she was born, Acoma Pueblo. As a very young girl there, under the guidance of her great-aunt, Lucy Lewis began to learn the traditional art of Acoma pottery. Over the next 80-plus years, she not only mastered that art but changed it, and in the process helped to bring a new appreciation to Native Art. On March 12 , Albuquerque's Indian Pueblo Cultural Center looks at the artistic legacy of the late Lucy Lewis. Andrew Thomas, Native Art Specialist at the Center's