Eva Gabriella Flynn is the education and outreach coordinator at New Mexico State University’s Art Museum. She graduated from NMSU in 2017 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in studio arts and a Bachelor of Arts in foreign languages and received a Master of Fine arts from the University of Wisconsin in Madison. She returned to Las Cruces in 2021, teaching classes in drawing, studio foundations and design before joining the UAM team.
“I wanted to come back to NMSU because I enjoy working in an environment that supports students as they are beginning their own careers in the arts,” Flynn said. “My own arts practice is rooted in this region, so it was important to me to be here while making that artwork.”
At the University Art Museum, Flynn oversees everything related to education or communication in the museum. Day-to-day, she writes press releases and newsletters from the museum; translates these into Spanish, manages social media accounts for the museum and oversees the UAM website alongside our web developer. Flynn also develops lesson plans for projects that incorporate the NMSU Permanent Art Collection, sometimes this means collaborating with faculty members on campus or working with pre-K through12th grade teachers who visit the museum for field trips. She also gives tours for classes and community groups (in 2025, she had 68 tours and visits for regional K-12 schools).
Flynn develops educational programming for the museum like artist talks, workshops on weekends and provides portfolio reviews for students. She is always looking to make events different and engaging for audiences. For example, last fall she developed an "Artist Talk at the Nail Salon" event with artists Jennifer Ling Datchuk and Marlene Tafoya where participants received manicures from local manicurist. She also represents the UAM on internal committees as well as on committees outside the university. In addition, she has administrative duties that go with coordinating these programs such as tracking budgets and payments, overseeing work-study student staff and training student staff in art education and marketing roles.
“I've successfully increased attendance each year since I started as the UAM education and outreach coordinator in 2023,” Flynn said. “In 2025, 85% of our attendance came from tours and events that my position generated. I've expanded accessibility in the museum with English/Spanish translation and interpretation, and I’ve increased the museum's outreach efforts by 100% in the last year by visiting classrooms in Las Cruces and surrounding areas.”
She is most proud of her role in expanding English/Spanish translation and interpretation in the museum. The majority the UAM’s longer exhibits now have text that is available in Spanish in addition to English. Flynn also offers bilingual workshops and tours in Spanish.
“There is still more we can do to increase accessibility, but it's a process I'm excited to continue working on,” she said. “I enjoy supporting artists whose work reflects our region and making the arts accessible for our community. Our community deserves access to innovating, engaging, and unique art experiences that reimagine the power of our place.”
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