LEAP Updates from 2025
We wanted to give you all a little summary update on what LEAP has been up to in 2025 (and a little bit from 2024 too)! Read on to find out…
LEAP expanded its art and nature programs this year while continuing stewardship efforts at Questa Park. A major spring focus was the community-wide Earth Day clean-up in April, where over sixty Questa Junior-Senior High School students, volunteers, and local partners joined together to pick up trash, remove invasive plants, and beautify the area. Nearly 1,000 pounds of trash were collected, and participants celebrated with lunch at the Questa Youth Center. The event was made possible through collaborations with local organizations and funded by Chevron Grants for Good and individual donors.
Throughout the summer, LEAP expanded its creative, nature-centered workshop offerings. At Columbine Campground, Vida Camp youth took part in a “Printing with Nature” workshop, where they learned about local plants while creating leaf prints on paper and fabric. LEAP also co-facilitated the first experimental PEAR Workshop Series (People and Plants, Education and Environment, Art and Restoration) organized by Maggie Gaddis, Executive Director of the Colorado Native Plant Society, and Lee Lee of the historic Taos Distillery, an emerging arts-and-ecology initiative. As part of PEAR, LEAP hosted a plein-air art day at the Taos Land Trust, where volunteers from the Taos Chapter of the Native Plant Society of New Mexico developed plant cyanotypes, printed leaves and flowers and sketched botanical shadows, surrounded by the species they help protect and promote.
Voices of the Northern Rio Grande
The Voices of the Northern Rio Grande Project continues to grow its story-gathering work through interviews with elders and community members of all ages, field recordings, and partnerships with the Questa Public Library, the Questa Farmers Market, local schools, and other community groups.
A big highlight was the launch of Voces de Nuestro País – Voices of our Area in the fall of 2025, a monthly story-sharing event curated and hosted by Michael Rael, where community members – especially elders, nuestros tesoros – share their memories, humor, struggles, and life experiences. These events are now also available as audio and video podcasts on major platforms, and all recordings, photos, and videos are added to a growing digital community archive developed with the library and the Manitos Community Memory Project. By sharing stories both in person and online, the project strengthens connections across the Northern Rio Grande and helps keep our shared history alive for the future.
The Community Memory Lab at the library is growing, and we’re excited to share that our fleet of Story Boxes is expanding as well. Featuring rotating, locally voiced stories, these interactive installations are bringing people together in creative ways and helping our community preserve and celebrate the unique stories and culture of North Central New Mexico.
LEAP was also invited to participate in a Manitos Community Memory Project Cohort with the Shift Collective & History Pin in an exploration of decentralized digital storage strategies for community-based archives. It was an educational and insightful experience and we love History Pin! Check it out, make an account and start pinning!
The project is also opening up new, creative ways for people to share their stories. Last year (2024), students at Alta Vista Elementary participated in an immersive art-and-story workshop led by Claire Coté and Cat Gilliam, in collaboration with art teacher Maya MacDonald. Students created reflective cyanotype prints and shared heartfelt stories, which were later sewn together by Joan Long and Claire Coté into two youth story quilts, now on display at Questa Library as part of their permanent art collection.
We’re deeply grateful for the opportunity to work with community members of all ages – youth, elders, and everyone in between – on meaningful projects that celebrate art, nature, culture, and the stories that connect us. Your support keeps this work thriving.
Please help us continue our work by making a donation today!
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