Pride Rainbow Walk Brings Family Friendly, Community Driven Culture to Emerging Arts District
Belen, New Mexico
On the sun drenched afternoon of June 28th, Pride was shining brightly in a small town just south of Albuquerque, NM.
Though the Rio Grande has run dry far earlier then it should, the shockingly lush landscape that the river sustains leads the way to Belen, NM where an arts culture cultivated by immersive art experiences as authentic community is emerging on Becker Ave.
Arts innovator, curator and founder of the annual Rainbow Walk, Megan Malcom-Morgan, believes that art should serve a purpose beyond personal expression.
The Rainbow Walk, founded in 2021 and now in it’s sixth year, is a growing expression of that purpose, specifically seeking broader community impact through art as well as supporting underrepresented artists through immersive art experiences.
In an increasingly institutionalized and hierarchical system, artists are often expected to conform to academic and commercial standards rather than pursue more experimental or socially engaged work. In Belen, it’s all hands on deck not just to create art, but to create spaces in which art can exist.
The experience is, in a word, spectacular. This quiet, urban space comes alive in a rainbow of texture and light.
Hands dripping with seemingly living color, literally pouring pride onto the street and into the land, transforming a non-de script intersection into a vital, thriving and engaged expression of love.
This visceral collaboration, tactile yet ephemeral, leaves evidence of creation at a scale that feels larger than life.
Impermanent motion reveals a more permanent mark, demonstrating how a relatively small number becomes many hands. And how these many hands, through mindful planning, can spontaneously execute with exuberance and freedom, a creative act which fosters safety, broadens horizons and establishes identity for a community.
Inspiration is not abstract, it’s the lifeblood of creation. One moment’s impact on the consciousness, on the beliefs that comprise it, has lasting implications.
Beliefs lead to actions, they define what we do with our awareness, the choices we make and what we decide is possible.
At a crossroads in Belen on a sunny day in June, belief becomes action. Independent of systemic support, a community comes together to create what is needed. Life becomes art and art becomes life.
And somewhere over the rainbow, the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true.
Learn more about the Rainbow Walk at www.meganmalcommorgan.com
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