As hip-hop beats flowed from a small radio on a school desk, the teens in Claudia Miller's language-arts class formed a wave of bobbing heads.

The 24 De Vargas Middle School students all had pencils or pens in hand, and most were writing vigorously in their notebooks. Some were mouthing the lyrics.

Standing in the middle of the class was Amaryllis DeJesus Moleski, a local poet and educator with the Santa Fe Art Institute.

Moleski visits Miller's class twice a week to conduct writing workshops. On Thursday, she encouraged students to give some human traits to the idea of justice.

"Think about, for you, what justice is," Moleski told the students before they started writing.

"Some kids just keep a lot of stuff bottled up inside them," said Jackie Martinez, 13. The writing workshop, she said, gives her a chance to express her feelings without being embarrassed.

"I was pretty shy (before)," said Edgar Vergara, another student, "but now I want to read it out loud."

Miller has been working with the Art Institute for four years, two at Alameda Middle School and the last two at De Vargas. She said the workshops are an avenue for all kids, from special education students to those working at a college level. "One of the things that I love about the program," Miller said, "is that they're all engaged."

And that's exactly what Diane Karp, director of the Art Institute, envisioned when she started the education outreach program eight years ago. "It's engagement that gives them a voice," she said.

The program is also one reason Karp thinks the larger Santa Fe community should be concerned about the future of the Art Institute.

Working on the campus of the College of Santa Fe, the institute's staff members have watched helplessly as the college has struggled to stay open. They now worry the school's closure in May will leave them homeless.

Institute locates on CSF campus

The Santa Fe Art Institute was founded in 1985 by Pony Ault and William Lumpkins, a well-known architect and artist.

Its initial mission was to provide a place for artists, both local and visiting, to interact with each other and with community members.

In 1999, it moved from its Second Street location to a 17,000-square-foot building designed by Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta, which is part of an art complex on the CSF campus.

Included in the five-building complex are the Anne and John Marion Center for Photographic Arts, a 100-seat lecture hall, an art history and visual resource center, Tishman Hall and a permanent building for the Art Institute.

The college owns the building and the land on which it sits. The Art Institute has a 99-year lease on both, for which it pays $1 a year.

Karp took the helm of the institute in 2001 and immediately established a series of programs that still exist.

Among them are an artist residency program that initially provided studio space for New York artists affected and displaced by the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Since then, dozens of artists have spent one to three months living and working at the institute.

The program is a chance for artists — up to 12 at a time — to use all of the institute's resources with no expectations about what they produce.

"It's really a special opportunity," said Letha Wilson, a Brooklyn artist currently in residence. "This facility itself is really inspiring."

The residency has given the 32-year-old Wilson a chance to work on pieces for an upcoming show without worrying about her usual day-to-day business.

Michelle Laflamme-Childs, who directs the residency program, said the institute receives about 300 applications a year and accepts about 60 to 65 artists who include visual artists, writers and composers.

Resident artists also take part in open studio sessions that give community members a chance to visit them and see their work in progress.

Throughout the year, the Art Institute also sponsors and hosts a series of lectures and workshops, always pertaining to the current year's theme. This year, filmmaker Godfrey Reggio, photographer David Maisel and painter Rackstraw Downes will lecture and provide workshops around the topic of memory.

Finally, the institute provides education and outreach through programs such as the one at De Vargas. In the past, institute educators have worked in all of Santa Fe's public middle schools, some charter schools, the emergency youth shelter and even the youth detention center in Albuquerque.

Some students who show an interest in the arts receive mentorships through the program.

Sebastian Velazquez, a student at Tierra Encantada Charter School, formerly Charter School 37, first got involved with the institute after meeting Johanna Kohout at the emergency youth shelter and attending a graffiti workshop.

Since then, he's participated in other workshops and interned at the institute last summer. "It's a really positive place with good vibes from all the people there," he said.

Will the institute move again?

Like many other nonprofit organizations, the institute is dealing with tough financial times. Donations and grants are down, so much so that funding is 35 percent less than usual, Karp said. That means scaling back programs and reducing the amount spent on visiting artists and lecture series.

While a decreased budget is a challenge, Karp said, it is not something the institute can't handle. "We are financially stable and fiscally responsible," she said. "We have no debt and we have great support."

The bigger issue is what will happen to the institute's building in the very near future.

Officials at the College of Santa Fe have already announced that the school will close in May. The 100-acre campus was put up as collateral for $35 million in bonds and loans. The state is attempting to acquire the assets, but legislation authorizing a takeover is still pending in the Legislature.

If it is not approved, there is really no telling what might happen, as the college has already defaulted in paying off bonds.

"Our deepest hope, and our first plan, is to stay where we are," Karp said, referring to the possibility that a state university or college would honor the institute's lease. "This building was designed for us and for our program."

If not, Karp said, the institute's board has discussed buying its current building and the property on which it sits or looking for an alternative space.

In the end, though, Karp said the institute will continue to do what it has always done: empower young people to find their voice, and provide the community with a place to view and create art that stimulates.

"Our mission is what really drives us," she said. "It's not our building that drives us."

Contact John Sena at 986-3079 or jsena@sfnewmexican.com.