Like the Siler Road neighborhood it inhabits, Santa Fe’s newest multimedia DIY/warehouse-based artspace Relay aims to build bridges between our city’s increasingly isolated creative enclaves.
“I want it to feel inclusive,” founder Aaron Geiser says, “to facilitate interaction between different communities of people.”
Eight months in, Relay is still finding its footing between the upscale and photogenic environs of, oh, say the Canyon Road realm and the city’s more DIY-style venues like Ghost, Cocoon and The DL from local artist/makers Jerome Morrison and Julian Addams-Wolf—which shares a wall with Relay. Geiser’s space hosts workshops and exhibitions (like October’s Santa Fe Lamp Show which SFR covered; Bright Ideas, Oct.15), concerts and intimate performances, and it’s all supported by a suggested-donation model that keeps the community open to everyone. And despite the high-profile Pictureplane show Relay hosted last weekend with hometown hero Travis Egedy, Geiser’s vision reaches further than simply offering another warehouse in which to dance. In its short life, the space has concentrated on building a steady rhythm while keeping the scale and frequency of its offerings accessible to everyday people, and the programming will evolve in response to community tastes and interests as much as Geiser’s own curatorial tastes.
Santa Fe is, of course, rich in art, yet sometimes thin on connection. Long-established locals, recent arrivals, Canyon Road galleries and DIY spaces co-exist here, but rarely in conversation with one another. Geiser sees Relay as a place where those circles can overlap.
“I do not want this to feel like a cool kids club,” he says, noting how difficult it was to find community after leaving a job at Meow Wolf some time ago.
His goal, then, is simple, but ambitious: Relay aims to be casual enough for someone to walk in without hesitation, experimental enough to stay surprising and open enough that no single aesthetic or demographic defines its mission or public perception.
“I want it to feel inclusive in the way that it can, just by nature, facilitate more interaction between different groups of people,” he says.
Workshops, Geiser explains, will hopefully draw learners, while exhibitions might draw observers and performances might draw anyone else. On the best nights, Geiser hypothesizes, those groups could blend until the categories blur. The early days have proved promising.
“I’ve been pleasantly surprised to see the mix across demographics, age and gender both,” Geiser says. “To me, that’s a sign of a healthy community environment.”
Geiser’s path to Relay started far from Santa Fe, in New Holstein, Wisconsin, a “cow town” near Sheboygan, he says, boasting about 2,000 people. The promise of tech pulled him in at a young age and never let go, shaping his trajectory more than place ever did. That curiosity for creativity through technology eventually became a career. Geiser studied printmaking and photography at Columbus College of Art and Design in Ohio, where light became a foundation rather than a tool. He moved into design and software after school, then consulting and new media. Santa Fe-born arts corp Meow Wolf followed, where he served as vice president of technology and worked directly with digital and experimental systems. Layoffs in 2018 ended that job, but he and his partner chose to stay in Santa Fe. And we’re lucky to have him. The need for spaces like Relay feels more vital than it did a decade ago, particularly post-COVID. Rents rise. Studios close. People can connect online, but struggle to create meaningful connections and collaborations in-person. Relay’s very existence is an insistence that building communities still matters.
Still, it’s not as simple as renting a warehouse and announcing events therein. Relay was born from Geiser’s sense that something was missing as he tried to find his own place in Santa Fe. Integration following his time with Meow Wolf took time, and that isolation shaped his approach to managing the space. He didn’t want velvet ropes or insider circles, just a room where people might meet by accident instead of affiliation. There has been some of that so far, though Relay is still young and sustainability is the next hurdle. Until now, Geiser has financed most of its operations himself, knowing early infrastructure rarely covers costs. The current iteration of the space is built and functioning (including a most excellent DJ loft from which decksmiths might perform while perched above the dancing throngs), but he is open about the daunting workload—and the cost of keeping it alive. The goal for next year is to shift from personal funding to a mix of grants, programming income and community support.
Workshops stand to become the main recurring revenue stream, Geiser believes. They have already drawn steady interest—like those offered during the Santa Fe Lamp Show in lamp repair—and he hopes they will eventually offset some costs. Some event programming will evolve based on demand, but classes, intimate performances and small exhibitions form the model for now. Potential grants through Relay’s fiscal sponsorship from the New Mexico Foundation supplement that effort, and Geiser says he plans to apply for grants in 2026.
For now, Relay runs on volunteers who show up, audiences who return and teachers who lead workshops—not for profit, but because they, too, believe in the mission. Grassroots energy shapes the room as much as Geiser’s planning, and it might be the clearest indicator of what Relay could become. Looking ahead, the first part of the new year will stay focused on consistency rather than expansion. Weekly drawing sessions have been and will remain a core offering, for example, every Tuesday at 9 am and also on the first and third Tuesday of the month in the evenings; participant numbers for those gatherings have grown steadily since the spring, according to Geiser. Listening parties are reportedly on the horizon as well, and will be crafted around a shared love of vinyl, books and hang-outs that don’t take place in the same old bars. Everything, Geiser adds, will hopefully feel accessible.
“I don’t want it to feel gatekept or elitist,” he says.
And though much is changing and will be decided upon internally, Geiser is also open to performance proposals from the broader community, particularly when it comes to immersive or interactive works that play with proximity and environment. Anyone interested can reach out through relaysantafe.org and pitch an idea.
As such, whether the space becomes a hub for new media, a casual venue or something altogether stranger remains to be seen. Santa Fe rarely rewards predictions, but it does reward persistence. Such spaces tend to grow in layers—one workshop, one show, one Tuesday drawing class at a time. The doors are open, the programming is taking shape and the work continues with a number of events this week.
“I definitely see it as a place to intersect,” Geiser tells SFR. “I’m not overtly doing anything to make that happen. I think, just by nature and in the way I’m running the space, it hopefully will.”
Folk Night w/Huxley Kuhlman, Zivi and Jake Trujillo: 7 pm Thursday, Dec. 11. $10 (no one turned away for lack of funds)
Sonic Shower: Let the Light In: 7 pm Friday, Dec. 12. $10-$20 (no one turned away for lack of funds)
Tuesday Morning Drawing Group w/Aaron Geiser: 9 am-noon Tuesday, Dec. 16. Free. Relay Santa Fe, 2873 All Trades Road Studio B, relaysantafe.org
