Executive Director
New Mexico Arts
Michelle Laflamme-Childs is the executive director of New Mexico Arts (NMA), New Mexico’s federally authorized state arts agency and a division of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs. NMA’s mission is to ensure all New Mexicans have access to the arts in their communities through the state’s percent for public art program, state and federally funded grants to nonprofit organizations, direct programs and services, technical assistance, and educational and professional development opportunities to organizations, artists and arts educators throughout New Mexico. Laflamme-Childs serves on the boards of directors of the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, Creative West, the Northern Rio Grande National Heritage Area and the Santa Fe Human Rights Alliance and is a member of the International Women’s Forum. Her personal creative practices include writing poems and spinning fresh beats as a local commercial radio DJ. She holds a BA in English from the University of Massachusetts and an MA from St. John’s College in Santa Fe, and hopes someday to complete her MFA in creative writing at the University of Texas, El Paso. (Board term winter 2026 – fall 2026)
