Las Cruces reviews museums master plan update; council members question moving Museum of Art to Municipal Court

Carol Bray, director of the City of Las Cruces Quality of Life Department, and Garland Courts, deputy director for quality of life and deputy director of museums, updated the City Council at a March 10, 2025 work session on progress implementing the Las Cruces Museums Master Plan adopted in 2021.

The presentation summarized short-range priorities and actions taken since 2021, including a new visitor-experience hire, increased public programming and partnerships, a recent increase in off-site and on-site outreach, and an expansion of collections storage. "We were able to hire a person that would drive our visitor experience," Garland Courts said, and that staff member has led quarterly community forums, surveys and outreach at community events.

The master plan, Courts said, has two parts: a short-range plan with goals and priorities, and a facilities-focused master plan addressing identity, stewardship and functionality. Courts told the council the museum system's collection is “over 11,000 items,” and staff recently secured a larger, climate-controlled storage unit that expanded from about 5,000 square feet to about 8,000 square feet.

Staff highlighted programming and partnerships used to implement the plan: increased social media outreach (about 12,000 Facebook followers and 3,000–4,000 Instagram followers, as reported), a quarterly Access magazine that covers museums and other Quality of Life offerings, and collaborations with organizations including NASA, New Mexico State University and the Bureau of Land Management. Recent exhibits named by staff included a retrospective by artist Gaspar Enriquez, programming on Chinese experiences in the borderlands, a project with downwinders in Tularosa, and development of indigenous “travel trunks” funded by an Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) grant to take exhibits into schools and community settings.

Courts said attendance and programming have changed since the COVID-19 pandemic. He presented historical attendance figures: a pre-pandemic peak of about 96,000, a drop to about 36,000 in fiscal 2021, and a later figure of about 25,000 in the most recent fiscal year; staff also reported roughly 700 programs in the last fiscal year and single events such as a “Chalk the Walk” that drew about 1,100 people. (Transcript figures on year-to-year attendance are as presented by staff and include numbers that are not fully reconciled on the record.)

On facilities, staff noted recent work on the Branigan Cultural Center portico and planned exterior painting, and said consultants examined options to expand gallery and staff workspace on the existing museum campus. Courts described the municipal courthouse (the old post office building) as an often-cited possible site for the Museum of Art but said converting the older building would require extensive renovations—freight elevators, gallery-ready spaces and significant cost—and may not be feasible.

Carol Bray reminded the council that a prior City Council resolution, R09272 (passed in February 2009), called for moving the Museum of Art to the old post office/Municipal Court building upon relocation of the court. Bray said staff could bring an item back to the council to rescind that 2009 resolution if the council prefers to keep the museum campus in its current location.

Councilors responded with praise for museum staff and support for keeping the museum campus intact. Councilor Korn said the Municipal Court building would be expensive to convert and expressed support for retaining and expanding the current campus; Councilor Flores and Councilor McClure also commended staff for programming and community engagement. A lighter interchange about meeting the Museums’ snapping turtle mascot—nicknamed “Zillow” by staff—followed.

Votes at a glance: The meeting closed with a motion to adjourn moved by Councilor Flores and seconded on the record; the motion to adjourn passed in roll call (Councilor McClure: yes; Councilor Korn: yes; Councilor Flores: yes; Mayor Pro Tem: yes; Councilors Matisse and Graham were recorded as absent; the mayor was absent).