About Taos MainStreet

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Downtown Taos MainStreet is a community-led 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to revitalizing the Historic Downtown District through strategic investment, cultural preservation, and public engagement. Accredited by Main Street America in August 2019, we serve as the action-based implementation partner coordinating with the Town of Taos, Taos County, local businesses, property owners, and community organizations. Guided by the belief in the power of place, and the people who shape it. We focus on collaboration, creativity, and honoring both the history and future of our vibrant downtown.

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Mission

Preserving the history and building the future of Downtown Taos.

Vision

We believe that the plaza district is for everyone. It is a safe walkable, and bike-able place with a strong, diverse economy and thriving businesses. It features vibrant and inviting public spaces where residents and visitors feel like they belong. At the core of our approach to revitalization is a commitment to creating places of shared prosperity, equal access to opportunity, and sustained, inclusive engagement.

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About the MainStreet Program

The Main Street Program (Main Street America) was created in the late 1970’s as part of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. This program was created with a Four-Point Approach: economic vitality, design, promotion, and organization. Transformation strategies are created for each community to center around the four points. Transformation strategies are used to take the community vision and market understanding and create qualitative and quantitative outcomes for the MainStreet community.

New Mexico MainStreet (NMMS) was created by the state legislature in 1985 to “assist local communities in implementing this strategy to revitalize their downtown commercial corridors.” NMMS serves 31 affiliated MainStreet Districts and 12 Arts & Cultural Districts. NMMS is essential in helping Taos MainStreet to promote economic vitality in downtown Taos.

Meet the Team

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Executive Director & Founder
Born and raised in Taos, he brings a strong understanding of the community to this position. After graduating from Taos High School he moved to Albuquerque to attend the University of New Mexico where he studied business, astronomy, and sociology.
After his studies at UNM he started a business and family before deciding to return to Taos in 2018. He took the position as Taos MainStreet’s first Executive Director on January 1, 2020.
He is responsible for the daily operations of the organization, planning, fundraising, project implementation, as well as the management of staff, volunteers, programming, and communications. He is focused on developing and implementing projects in three main areas: physical improvements and infrastructure in the district, economic revitalization work, and capacity building.
It is critically important to him to create opportunities for younger generations who grow up in this community and those who might relocate to Taos. He strives to build partnerships across the public and private sector to help achieve MainStreet’s core objectives of engaging people, building places, and revitalizing economies.

Vice President & Secretary
Co-founder and Director of Red Willow Hospice
I grew up in Taos, where my family has been for generations.
I recognize the importance of honoring culture, tradition, and history. My dad taught me about farming, agriculture, and water. I loved playing in the Acequia, which my daughters now do.
I have been a Registered Nurse (BSN), for nearly ten years. I come from a family of nurses, whom I look up to. My nursing background includes long-term care, critical care, diagnostic imaging/interventional radiology, and hospice care. My passion for holistic end-of-life care, led me to my current role as Co-founder and Executive Director of Red Willow Hospice, a community-based and integrative hospice.
My interest in volunteering, strategic planning, creativity, and community collaborations brought me to becoming a Board Member for the following organization: Taos Pueblo Foundation, Taos Elders and Neighbors Together, Holy Cross Medical Center, Taos Whole Community Health, and Taos County Chamber of Commerce.
I am excited to share ideas and be a resource for community growth and development, health, and wellness.

Treasurer
Was born and raised in Taos.He currently works for Fidelity Investments as a Senior Manager in Retirement Brokerage Services. A graduate of Taos High School, class of 2008, Juan Carlos went on to graduate from The University of New Mexico with a degree in Political Science and a minor in Business.
Like many, the COVID pandemic brought about massive change for Juan Carlos. One positive change was the ability to work from home. He took the idea of working from home quite literally and moved back to his beloved Taos in November of 2020.
With his love for Taos, Juan Carlos has looked to become more engaged with the community. He hopes that through this work, he will be able to help families craft nourishing lives like his own.

Community Engagement Coordinator
As the Community Engagement Coordinator at Taos MainStreet, Arcenio enjoys this important role and his daily schedule. Born and raised in Northern New Mexico, Arcenio fulfils a lifelong desire to directly serve his community by showcasing the wonderful aspects of downtown Taos. Married for 37 years, he and his wife Yvonne have been blessed with four children, Aurora, Adonis, Arcenio III and Candido. Coming from an athletic family, Arcenio has been a coach and athletic director and has worked extensively with Native American Youth in New Mexico and Arizona. Arcenio received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Adams State University in Alamosa, Colorado in 1996 in Business Administration, however, his career track has consistently veered towards education and public service. Within the Taos MainStreet suite, Arcenio has the privilege of getting to know the various owners, managers and shopkeepers of current downtown businesses; and spend considerable time inside the historic Taos Plaza. He is also involved in organizing events designed to invite and welcome everyone to the heart of Taos.

Board Member
Executive Director, Bridges Project for Education
Hannah is a Bridges Project for Education alumna and graduate of Taos High. She holds a B.A. with High Honors in Sociology and a minor in Political Science from Colgate University. Her college thesis, titled “Divergent Approaches to Access: How Selective College Admissions Offices Recruit Lower-Income Students” was published in the Journal of Working Class Studies. Most recently Hannah served as a Senior College Access & Preparedness Counselor at Success Academy Charter Schools in Brooklyn, New York.
She earned her AA in Pre-Business Administration, a multidisciplinary Bachelor’s of Liberal Arts Degree in Communication & Journalism, Management, and Organizational Learning & Instruction Science, before completing her master’s degree in Public Administration with a focus in Non-Profit Management.
Bringas is committed to serving the greatest good of the community is involved with several community organizations. In addition to Taos MainStreet, she serves on the boards of the Taos Entrepreneurial Network (TEN), Taos Feeds Taos, the Taos Community Foundations Women Give collaborative, and the Enchanted Circle Community Organizations Active in Disaster (EC COAD). Previously, Anita served on the Taos Fiesta Council, the national Alliance of HSI Educators (AHSIE) Council, and was deployed with the American Red Cross Hurricane Katrina Disaster Relief Team to Hattiesburg, MS in 2005.
She feels fortunate to live in Taos, New Mexico for the last fifteen years, where she stays with mother in the house that her grandparents built in the 1930’s.

President
With over twenty years of experience spanning arts, community development, and nonprofit sectors, Contessa's eclectic skillset is a result of specializations in program management, communications, public relations, development, and community engagement. Her expertise also includes marketing, branding, and web and graphic design, and she excels in grassroots efforts and organizational strategy. Currently, as an Economic Recovery Corps Fellow, Contessa will serve as the project manager for the Taos County Cultural and Outdoor Asset Mapping Project. She recently managed the creation of the Taos Destination Stewardship Plan in collaboration with the Town of Taos, CREST, and George Washington University. Additionally, her multifaceted involvement with The Paseo Project has enriched Taos' vibrant arts scene, bringing joy and creativity to its diverse community while lending to the economic impact of the arts and enriching Taos' creative economy.
Passionate about the arts, community investment, cultural preservation, and serving marginalized and underrepresented communities, Contessa is dedicated to weaving and strengthening community fabric through her work, blending tradition with innovation, fostering connections and driving community-led development.

Board Member
Director of Research and Evaluation, LANL Foundation
Kersti Tyson joined the LANL Foundation in 2019. Kersti’s primary focus is utilizing research and evaluation to support the Foundation’s mission, vision, values and strategies across the spectrum of public education. Kersti will help both internal and external stakeholders to develop evaluation methods that demonstrate program impact, reflect on results and drive ongoing program improvement. Her research will assess community needs in order to develop new programs and refine existing ones.
Kersti’s early career as a math teacher in Santa Fe and Taos sparked her interest in how children learn. That prompted her to pursue a master’s in intercultural communication through the University of New Mexico’s Communication & Journalism department, convinced that culture plays an important role in how we learn.
After completing her master’s, Kersti spent four years working for the New Mexico Public Education Department (PED) on Teacher Quality Policies, joining the first PED unit to focus on building quality teachers in New Mexico. The position provided useful experience for understanding how leadership and policy decisions impact teachers, students and communities, but her heart was really devoted to improving children’s opportunities to learn in NM, so she entered the Learning Sciences Program at the University of Washington in Seattle, Wash., to earn her PhD. As a learning scientist, Kersti learns about learning in order to support the complex work teachers accomplish with children every day.
Kersti returned to New Mexico, joining the faculty of the University of New Mexico’s College of Education, where she taught elementary mathematics methods and graduate courses in education for educators and researchers. She earned tenure and the rank of Associate Professor in 2018.
As a native New Mexican whose family goes back several generations, Kersti values the cultural diversity of the state and is looking forward to helping Northern New Mexico communities build on the strengths they already possess and providing opportunities for children to express their natural brilliance.

Board Member
Executive Director, Harwood Museum of Art
Juniper is a non-profit management professional with 26 years of experience in arts and environmental organizations. Focusing on fundraising and executive management, she has helped organizations raise millions of dollars and implemented large-scale mission drive programs that take these institutions to a new level.
Juniper has dedicated her professional life to the non-profit world and has worked in almost all aspects of non-profit operations. She has held professional positions in fundraising and management science 2004, with experience at Carnegie Museum, Henry Art Gallery in Seattle, the first Development Director of the Santa Fe International Folk Art market, helping to complete the Harwood Musuem’s $6.3M capital campaign, leading community-driven master planning for the Taos Land Trusts’ Rio Fernando Park, and most recently as the Executive Director at the Harwood Museum of Art. Juniper holds a Masters in Arts Management from the Carnegie Mellon Heinz School of Public Policy and Management, and a BA in Anthropology from Reed College. She serves on the Board of the New MExico Humanities Council, STEMarts Lab, and the MAE Foundation.
“Growing up in Penasco and Taos has given me a unique perspective on the challenges of our multi-cultural and rural communities. I returned to my home town two decades ago interested in learning how to build a better future for the people in this amazing place.”

Downtown Historic District

~22 Sq Blocks | ~240 Businesses

Taos’s historic downtown is a designated Arts & Cultural District and the heart of our local economy, home to more than 200 locally owned businesses, galleries, and restaurants. From the iconic Plaza to walkable adobe-lined streets, it blends tradition and innovation, creating a vibrant place to live, work, and explore.

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