Our story is a passion project turned into something greater.

The Keshi Foundation’s roots go back to 1981 when Zuni teachers and artists in Zuni Pueblo created a co-op in Santa Fe to offer Zuni artwork directly to the public. The Keshi co-op enabled Zuni artists to realize a fair price and make a living income from their work. To provide for a stable future, the co-op became a for-profit store, Keshi: the Zuni Connection, which now represents more than 500 Zuni artists. Fair trade has always been its business practice, and education has always been at the core of its mission. Keshi: the Zuni Connection has maintained positive relations with generations of artists and has sought to be a model of inclusivity for 45 years.

In 2016, the chronic challenges facing Zuni artists’ access to fair markets inspired us to create The Keshi Foundation (TKF), a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation. The for-profit Keshi, the Zuni Connection provided the seed money to start the non-profit Foundation, and continues to support TKF and TKF’s projects through direct funds, advisement, and market access.

In 2016 and 2017, the Keshi Foundation produced The Zuni Shows in downtown Santa Fe. The shows allowed over 250 Zuni artists to show and sell their work directly to the public at retail prices, generating more than $650,000 directly to the artists and their families. You can find more information at The Zuni Shows.

Widening our focus, we asked what TKF might accomplish to help 11,000 Zunis living in the Pueblo and started directly supporting the Zuni artist community with MoZA and Z-ART. At the request of the Zuni Tribal Council and concerned Zuni artists, The Keshi Foundation sponsored a series of meetings in 2018 to learn what the Zuni Community considered effective ways to expand economic opportunity in the Zuni Pueblo and to explore community priorities. The highly constructive discussions led to the formation of The Museum of Zuni Art (MoZA) in Gallup, a permanent storefront museum, and the museum shop and web portal Zuni Artist Resource Team (Z-ART) to help grow Zuni art sales.