Branigan Cultural Center & Museum
490 N Water Street | 505-541-2158
The Branigan Cultural Center serves as both history and art museum. As such, you'll find the work of local and regional artists displayed a few paces from a turn-of-the-century parlor. When the Museum of Fine Art and Culture was completed in the spring of 1999, the Branigan Cultural Center it became the Las Cruces Historical Museum.

Bicentennial Log Cabin
The log cabin dates from the late 1870's, when it was built in the once flourishing mining town of Grafton, New Mexico. Located in the Black Range Mountains, northwest of Las Cruces, it was disassembled and brought to Las Cruces in celebration of the Bicentennial. The cabin once served as a store and post office. When the silver and copper mines quit producing in the late 1800s, Grafton began its slide to ghost town status. The flood of 1957 finally destroyed Grafton. This sturdy log cabin survived only because it was perched on a hillside above the flood waters.

The cabin was built of hand-hewn logs chinked with a mixture of clay, mud, ash and sawdust. The craftsman builder followed a German style pegged and notched construction method. He also showed a fondness for doors--the cabin has four, one on each wall. The doors offered multi-escape routes from both fire and marauders. Small windows cut into each of the doors let in cooling breezes, but also served as gun sites in times of danger.

In 1972 Sid Blakley discovered the abandoned cabin while hunting in the Grafton area. He and his wife donated the cabin to Las Cruces as a bicentennial gift to area children. Marion and Caroline George donated $5,000 to the project and the Las Cruces Home Builders Association disassembled, transported and reassembled the cabin on a corner across from the Branigan Cultural Center. The Home Builders Auxiliary furnished the cabin with furnishings of the 1880s. The log cabin became part of the city's museum system in 1987.

During Heritage Days, the log cabin is the backdrop for living history demonstrations. The log cabin is open year-round for individual and group tours. The tours are free but please call ahead at (505) 541-2155 for an appointment. 

City of Las Cruces Museums
490/500 N Water Street | 505-541-2155

Las Cruces Museum of Fine Art
490 N Water Street | 505-541-2155
The Las Cruces Museum of Fine Art’s main gallery has over 5,000 square feet of multi-use exhibition space. The gallery features curated, traveling, juried, and invitational exhibitions of contemporary art. Exhibitions are hosted by the Museum and the Museum’s supporting foundation, the Branigan Cultural Center Foundation. Artists Luis Jiminez, David Hockney, Eileen Cowan, Esther Parada, and Graham Nash are among the talents who have exhibited in the Las Cruces Museum of Fine Art.

The New Mexico Rail Road & Transportation Museum

351 North Mesilla Street | 505-541-2155
Now open every Saturday from 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m., the NM Railroad & Transportation Museum is displaying some of the materials and memorabilia collected thus far. Located in the historic Santa Fe Depot at 351 North Mesilla Street, the museum officially opened on May 10, 2003.

There are many railroad museums in the country. We feel confident there is a niche on our community for combining history and information in a successful and viable Railroad & Transportation Museum as a part of the Museum System of the City of Las Cruces. Our plans call for making the museum an informative, and at the same time entertaining, family museum.

At present the collecting focus is confined to railroads. The Railroad & Transportation Museum Committee is asking the community to consider the museum a safe and willing repository for the donation of objects/artifacts (bells, whistles, lamps, tools, toys, uniforms); printed materials ( photographs, posters, books, folk art, folk music, poems, old schedules, brochures, maps); or any kind of materials related to railroading.

If you have materials of the sort we are looking for or, which you could part with, please consider a donation to the new museum. We need your help in making this exciting museum project a success.

For further information, please call The Branigan Cultural Center at 505-541-2155.

New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum

4100 Dripping Springs Road | 505-522-4100
Nestled with a perfect view of the Organ mountains is the New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum. In the main gallery, "Tools and Traditions" is a diverse showing of tools used years ago to cultivate New Mexico's farmland. Recently opened "Generations" is the first permanent exhibit in the main gallery. The exhibit uses the biographies of 33 New Mexicans to tell the story of 3,000 years of agricultural history in the state. The temporary gallery is showing "The Enduring Cowboys," an exhibit prepared cooperatively with New Mexico Magazine. The exhibit examines the reality of cowboy life through biographies, photos and artifacts of more than 30 individuals. Enduring Cowboys can be viewed here through Jan. 15, 2000. A book of the same title is available for purchase through the Museum Mercantile. In the Conservatory Gallery, "Wired Wild West," is an extensive display of the multitude of barbed wire that harnessed the land. It created boundary for both people and livestock. "Shoofly" Lithographs / Prints of famous artist - Robert Shufelt dot the main gallery hallway. Milking demonstrations are held twice daily at the dairy barn. Longhorn cattle, churro sheep, goats and Jerusalem donkeys also are displayed. Wildflower garden an apple orchard and crops. Next to the blacksmith shop is a 21' Chicago Aeromotor Windmill is pulling a 2000-pound counter weight.

Other Museums in New Mexico

NMSU Arts Schedule
A calendar of the scheduled arts events and New Mexico State University.

Allen Theaters
Offers 3 commercial movie theatres in Las Cruces.

Las Cruces Chamber Ballet
Doña Ana Arts Council office, 224 N. Campo; (505)523-1654. The company presents two productions each season, "The Nutcracker" and a spring production, plus productions for schools and community groups. It also provides dance scholarships and educational dance opportunities for serious dance students.

Las Cruces Community Concert Association
The group sponsors a subscription concert series every year; this year's series started with the Western Ballet Theater performing "Alice in Wonderland" Sept. 23, and continues Nov. 17 with pianist Vladimir Svoysky, then Flamenco Olé on March 2 and folk duo Neal and Leandra, April 14. Call (505)522-4552 or 524-6754 for information.

Southern New Mexico Music & Dance Society P.O. Box 3133, Las Cruces, N.M. 88003. SNMMDS is a nonprofit grassroots organization that promotes traditional music performance with concerts from September through May. It also sponsors jam sessions on the first and third Sundays of the month, and contra dances on the third Friday of the month. For information, call (505)522-1691. For jam session information, call (505)522-0988.

Las Cruces Arts & Crafts Association
The organization promotes and encourages talent and ability through exhibitions, awards, lectures, demonstrations and workshops to enhance cultural appreciation in the community.
Regular meetings and demonstrations are at 1:30 p.m. the third Sunday of the month at the Branigan Library, excluding June, July and August. Demonstrations are given to impart artistic techniques and information of interest to artists. The general public is welcome to attend and join the association. Call Lois Christensen, (505)522-1339, for information.

Yearly events include a membership show and special workshop. The group also sponsors the fine arts show at the Southern New Mexico State Fair each year.

Exhibitions throughout the community are encouraged. The association shows its paintings at the Terrace Gallery on the second floor of the Branigan Library.

Mesilla Valley Concert Band
P.O. Box 30001, Dept. 3F, Las Cruces, N.M. 88003. The community-based concert band led by Dr. William Clark serves Las Cruces and the surrounding areas.

Sweet Adelines
Las Cruces Grande Sweet Adeline Chorus is part of a nonprofit worldwide singing organization. It teaches and performs the American folk art of four-part, barbershop-style harmony. The group meets at 7 p.m. Tuesdays at the Mesilla Valley Christian Church.

A Childrens Theatre of The Mesilla Valley
Constance Suter, (505)527-1515. ACT is designed to give children in first through eighth grades stage production experiences. Actors are taught the basics of performance, movement, voice and makeup for the stage.

SPLAT
Michael Mandel, (505)521-7311. The Society for Poetry, Literature and Alternative Theater has open readings at 7:30 p.m. the third Tuesday of every month at Palacios Bar, Route 28 in Mesilla.

Mesilla Valley Film Society
Fountain Theatre, Calle de Guadalupe in Mesilla; P.O. Box 1139, Mesilla, N.M. 88046; (505)524-8287. The society offers alternative U.S. and international cinema every night and Sunday afternoons, plus occasional film festivals and an Oscar Night bash.

Sin Fronteras/Writers Without Borders
Sin Fronteras/Writers Without Borders meets at Doña Ana Branch Community College, room 116, the second Wednesday of every month at 7 p.m. Sin Fronteras accepts plays for their playreading series and manuscripts for their journal. Call Michael Mandel, (505)521-7311, for information.

Storytellers of Las Cruces
Storytellers of Las Cruces is a non-profit organization that tells stories for schools, clubs, organizations and other functions. This is a free service. Call (505)526-5940 or 526-8377 for more information.

Las Cruces Cultural Complex
The cultural complex offers art education for adults and children, 500 N. Water, (505)541-2155.

Mesilla Valley Writers
Mesilla Valley Writers is an established group of published authors as well as beginners. It meets at 7 p.m. on the first Tuesday of the month, Sept. through June, at Branigan Memorial Library in the Pearl Higgins Room on the second floor. Membership is $10 per year. Programs include workshops, professional writers, agents and others with helpful information for the beginner or established writer. The organization also sponsors critique groups in the different genres of writing. For more information, contact president Ed Mayfield at (505)382-0715, secretary Jean Clark at (505)525-2874, or treasurer Bill Bean, (505)522-6684.

Border Book Festival
The Border Book Festival, a celebration of books and writers that began in 1994, takes place every spring with a trade show and writers' conferences and panel discussions.

But it also makes its presence known throughout the year with programming, writing workshops, play performances and other events.

The Premio Fronterizo Awards are given yearly to Southwest writers "whose work transcends borders, real and imagined." Past recipients have included Rudolfo Anaya and Tony Hillerman.

The festival has been recognized in Publisher's Weekly as one of the top regional book festivals in the U.S. For information on any of the events, call 524-1499.

Enchilada, Heritage
The Whole Enchilada Fiesta and Heritage Days festivals will be held together Oct. 2 through 4 at the Downtown Mall. The Whole Enchilada Fiesta, in its 19th year, features plenty of food and entertainment, including the world's largest enchilada, whose size breaks its own record each year.

Heritage Days is a great way to soak in the history and culture of the area. Its folk art displays and oral history events will be celebrated at the Log Cabin Museum, located north of the Downtown Mall. Friends of Fort Selden, dressed in 19 century clothing, will present demonstrations of soap and candle making, butter churning, quilting, paper making and flint knapping.

Renaissance Craftfair
The Craftfaire, Nov. 7 and 8 at Young Park, is the arts and crafts event of the year, with more than 100 juried arts and crafts booths, plus a floating dragon, a costumed royal court, a Renaissance Village, a gypsy camp for children and lots of food booths and period music.

It's put on by the Doña Ana Arts Council. For information, call 523-6403.

Mariachi Conference
The fifth annual Las Cruces International Mariachi Conference will be Nov. 12 through 15 at the Pan American Center, New Mexico State University.

The conference has gained recognition throughout the Southwest and was recognized by the state Tourism Association as the "Special Event of the Year."

The mission of the Mariachi Conference is to promote, preserve and enhance the artistic values of Mexican cultural traditions through education of all age groups, with an emphasis on youth. It brings together music and dance enthusiasts for workshops and performances, several of which are open to the public. Conference highlights also include a Mariachi Mass Sunday, Nov. 15, and a music-filled festival at Young Park Nov. 14 and 15, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

This year's featured vocalist will be Pedro Fernández, a popular recording star from Mexico. For information, call 525-1735.

Festivals Galore
These are some of the regularly scheduled festivals in the Las Cruces area: