Founded in 2016, PARSE SECO is an experimental creative space and art residency located in the heart of Arroyo Seco, NM. It is a nomadic branch of PARSE NOLA co-founded in 2010 by Ricardo Barba.
PARSE SECO provides a unique platform for underrepresented artists, musicians, and creators to present immersive experiences for the community in an intimate setting.
We strive to provide an inclusive sanctuary for the expression and amplification of minority and marginalized voices. Using methods of learning and therapy through art, PARSE SECO is a space boasting public art that sets trends, questions narrative and viewpoints and nourishes the artistic youth by emphasizing the importance of creative expression seemingly neglected by the standard educational model.
While PARSE SECO is in a constant flux of creative change, the one thing that remains constant is the dedication to increase representation of minority voices in the art world and the importance of mentorship through art .
PARSE SECO provides a unique platform for underrepresented artists, musicians, and creators to present immersive experiences for the community in an intimate setting.
We strive to provide an inclusive sanctuary for the expression and amplification of minority and marginalized voices. Using methods of learning and therapy through art, PARSE SECO is a space boasting public art that sets trends, questions narrative and viewpoints and nourishes the artistic youth by emphasizing the importance of creative expression seemingly neglected by the standard educational model.
While PARSE SECO is in a constant flux of creative change, the one thing that remains constant is the dedication to increase representation of minority voices in the art world and the importance of mentorship through art .
GOALS
- Nourish communal progress and systems change through engagement and alignment with healthy forms of expression and positive portrayal of all demographics.
- Disrupting gatekeepers by forcing representation of emerging minority artists to increase inclusivity and racial acceptance within the world of art.
- Target demographics proven to be more susceptible to abuse, bullying and gang violence for inclusion into programming and mentorship.
- Increase the capacity for societal contributions of local underrepresented artists through workshops, outreach, and exposure with no charge.
- Create programming that engages the community by introducing modern, immersive and contrastive forms of artistic expression.
- Multidisciplinary Partnerships: non-profit, educational, government, and nongovernment agencies together with business and philanthropic community.
- Approaches: Collaboration with targeted at-risk youth segments and agencies, hands on mentorship with in-field allies, and increasing the awareness of the benefits in youth-driven art programming.
- Data-driven strategies: applying regionally relevant data to dictate focus groups, using positive online impressions to monitor influence of subject matter of artists, employing anonymous social media posts to celebrate successful creative expressions surrounding targeted subjects to promote a safe zone for expression.
- Committee-based planning to guide impactful strategies using successful models from all over the globe.
Parse SECO Team
Cecilia Cuff
Operating Director Cecilia Cuff blossomed in Chicago, an environment that not only integrated art into every day life, but also ensured that all art from Fine to Modern to Musical, was highly accessible to its youth and inhabitants. This accessibility model helped to framework Cecilia’s ideologies as she graduated from the University of Illinois, taught on Chicago’s Southside and later began to work on hotel and restaurant design and renovation. For over a decade, Cecilia traveled the globe designing and renovating food and beverage operations for the Nascent Group and Hyatt Hotels and Resorts creating programming that celebrated the individuality of the demographics that she experienced while putting into place programming that added sustainability and art for its indigenous peoples. After residing in 8 cities and 3 countries, Cecilia landed in New Orleans and was introduced to PARSE NOLA, which would unexpectedly change the way she moved forever. In 2014, Cecilia moved to Taos, New Mexico to assist Taos Ski Valley in the design and construction of The Blake, Taos Ski Valley’s newest luxury art-focused hotel addition as well as renovate Taos Ski Valley’s existing food & beverage programming. In true fashion to her background, Cecilia's focus remained on integration of the arts into the corporation as well as inclusivity of the community in any way possible. Cecilia's most recent venture brags the completion of an $800,000 renovation of a 7,000 square foot boutique event space in Taos which was home to infamous historical characters such as Billy the Kid and Dennis Hopper. With the PARSE NOLA founder, Ricardo Barba and a newly appointed Taos art cooperative family, Cecilia erected PARSE SECO in 2016. Along with the PARSE SECO team, Cecilia facilitates the monthly artist residency, music experiences, art mentorship programs for at-risk-youth and free community workshops, and additional programming. Cecilia was elected to the Board of Directors of the Taos Arts Council in 2017 to help unify and empower the diverse arts community in Taos and enhance the quality of life in Northern New Mexico through art. She is also an active board member of The Arroyo Seco Live Board of Directors. |
Joel Meinholz
Gallery Director & Space Curator Meinholz, a free spirit, avid traveler and cultural influencer, draws inspiration from elements around him and inadvertently plants seeds of those daily inspirations in every contact he is a part of. His aim is to connect artists and their statements with relevant current events and create a larger discourse involving socioeconomic and political commentary and freedom. After years in the professional skateboarding industry and producing events in Miami, Los Angeles, Chicago, Austin, and New York, Meinholz is focusing his efforts to curate and produce events at PARSE SECO. Working with underrepresented artists has presented an interesting juxtapose to the metropolis lifestyle as an opportunity to relate to those not normally in the spotlight as well as give opportunity and eminence to underrepresented segments. Meinholz's curative work has been featured in several outlets and mediums including his "LOST IN AMERICA" series featured in VICE MAGAZINE, "WALLRIDE HERE" series featured in SLAP MAGAZINE, the interactive digital media travelers journal "POOR MANS NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC" featured in CULTURE ON DEMAND, "BUM RUSH THE SPOT" series featured in HUCK MAGAZINE. Meinholz has made an impact from Brooklyn, New York, where he produced a play entitled "Stories of Freedom and Flight" to Miami, Florida where he most recently produced an event for the YoungArts Foundation entitled "OUTSIDE THE BOX" featuring Street Skateboard legend, Jason Moran and his musical Jazz inspiration, Mark Gonzalez. Meinholz continues his immersion into Taos teaching photography at the University of New Mexico, helping to rebuild the skateboarding community by resuscitating the skatepark as well as teaching the art of zine making to at risk youth. Most recently, Meinholz journeyed to Palestine to produce a skate play with the Freedom Theater with a cast made from local Palestinian actors, as well as younger skaters. A Skate Play is inspired by the Richard Bach novella Jonathan Livingston Seagull, a fable about a seagull learning about life, flight, community, transformation and freedom. |
Ricardo Barba
Chief Visionary Officer Ricardo Barba is a painter, sculpture, cultural creator, activist and entrepreneur. He is the co-founder of PARSE NOLA in New Orleans, PARSE SECO in New Mexico and PARSE BUFF in the city of Buffalo, New York. Along with the SECO team, he believes we can use art to reform the social norm. Ricardo graduated from the University of Chicago. He holds degrees in Multimedia, Graphic Design, and Political Science. Ricard Barba created his first grassroots organizations in 1999 in the city of Chicago. Hosting art shows in four different locations around the city, With the goal of Introducing art to the community. Marshall James Kavanaugh Resident Wordsmith Kavanaugh is a dream laborer of words and various art forms used to create poetic dream spaces for his readership to explore. His works contain both the surreal and the absurd in a culture driven attempt at documenting the creative activism of his generation. Originally from Philadelphia, for several years he has been on the road traveling coast to coast performing spoken word. Most recently in 2017, he co-organized a series of readings across the country with a variety of performers under the moniker, Poets For Peace. He has published two collections of short stories, several small chapbooks of travel fiction, and a collection of haikus with the small press, A Freedom Books. When he is not on the road he usually can be found in the Philadelphia area with his two cats building large TV installations. Steven Ma Residency Director Steven Ma is a fabricator and facilitator. He has worked with artists on projects ranging from bicycle-powered concerts in New York City to musical architecture in Paris. He is a jack-of-all-trades which includes, but is not limited to, woodwork, metalwork, bicycle repair, electrical wiring, sound systems, emergency medicine, and bread baking. He received a Masters degree in Organic Chemistry from the University of California-Los Angeles and a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry and Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish from the University of California-Irvine. |