F.A.Q.
Cultural Assets or Cultural Treasures are people, groups, customs, places, the natural world and events that hold meaningful aesthetic, knowledge and/or historic value that establish shared individual and community identity. Cultural treasures can be tangible, intangible, emotional, and/or spiritual.
To submit a cultural treasure to the map, please complete a questionnaire now.
Taos County Economic Development is working to create economic opportunities that reflect and sustain the unique character of Taos County—its landscape, people, and communities. To do this effectively, we need to understand what local residents truly value: the places, traditions, and cultural lifeways that define this region. This knowledge must inform the decisions being made in government spaces around economic development, land use, and planning for our shared future.
The urgency of this work stems from increasing gentrification and economic pressures that threaten to displace communities and erase what makes this place home. The Cultural Treasures Project (CTP) was launched in response— a community-driven effort to identify, document, and uplift the people, places, and practices that matter most. This project is about naming what we love so we can protect it. It’s about ensuring that future growth strengthens our identity rather than replaces it.
Please learn more about the intended impacts and uses here.
We’re doing this project to build a community-informed dataset that captures what matters most to the people of Taos County. This information will help guide future decisions, projects, and initiatives—shaping planning, development, economic opportunities, and policy in ways that reflect local values and priorities.
The project is funded by the Taos County, LOR Foundation, The Town of Taos, The American Rescue Plan, New Mexico Tourism, and the Northern Rio Grande National Heritage Area.
Gentrification is the process of wealthier people moving into a historically lower-income area, leading to increased property values, changes in the neighborhood’s character, and often the displacement of existing residents.
Placekeeping is the active process of maintaining and caring for a place, focusing on preserving its culture, history, and social fabric, often involving community involvement and addressing potential displacement or gentrification.
Part of the impulse for this project comes from understanding that increasing gentrification and economic pressures threaten to displace communities and erase valuable cultural treasures and the communities who sustain them. The Cultural Treasures Project (CTP) was launched in response— a community-driven effort to identify, document, and uplift the people, places, and practices that matter most. This project is about naming what we love so we can protect it. It’s about ensuring that future growth strengthens our identity rather than replaces it, essentially placekeeping.
The community will be engaged through a series of events throughout the county where residents will have the opportunity to share their ideas about their cultural treasures, be in conversation with others, and submit questionnaires detailing these responses.
With tHe guidance of the project’s Advisory Committee, questionnaire responses from Taos County residents will be reviewed and compiled, and those deemed publicly accessible will be published by Taos County Economic Development. They will be represented in a public, interactive map to support planning, policy, education, and community pride.
Please learn more about the intended impacts and uses here.
The public engagement portion of the project launched in May 2025. Collection will be concentrated Summer of 2025, and continue through Fall and Winter months, as needed. Aggregation of questionnaires and data to happen through the end of 2025 and early 2026, and are slated to be shared publicly mid-2026.
Based on information indicated in the questionnaire responses and through guidance from the project’s advisory committee, we will not publish information that should remain private. Residents who fill out the questionnaire will note if they want their name attributed to their responses, but their personal identifying information will not be shared.
The Advisory Committee was selected from a diverse cross-section of peoples, communities and organizations throughout Taos County. Learn more.
The best way to get involved is to tell us about your cultural treasures! Fill out a questionnaire now, or get in touch with us if you have an idea for a gathering to collect cultural treasure information.
There are many more ways to get involved—whether as an individual, with your family or neighbors, or through a cultural or community organization you’re part of. We can share information about the project with your group/organization, convene with small gatherings or organizations to gather cultural treasure information, table at your upcoming events, or invite you to town hall-style gatherings we’ll be hosting throughout Taos County.
We also welcome volunteers! If you’re interested in lending a hand, reach out to us and we’ll connect you with opportunities that fit your interests and availability.
Unlike many one-time surveys or external assessments, this project is rooted in long-term relationship-building and community leadership. The Cultural Treasures Project is locally led, with an Advisory Group made up of a broad intersection of residents from across Taos County.
This isn’t just about collecting data — it’s about honoring lived experience, community knowledge, and cultural lifeways. We’re working collaboratively, with shared decision-making, to define what matters most to our communities.
We’re also prioritizing transparency and action: findings from this project will inform policy recommendations, resource-sharing, and community benefits agreements, not sit on a shelf. And we’re working across sectors — arts, culture, ecology, economic development, and planning — to ensure this work leads to real impact for the people and places of Taos County.
Finally, we’re building tools for the community, like an interactive public-facing ArcGIS map and StoryMaps, so the results are accessible, usable, and remain a living resource for years to come.
The results of this study will live on a publicly accessible map that can be found at www.culturaltreasuresproject.org.