Harwood

The history between 1976 and 1991 isn't entirely clear although a wonderful synopsis was provided to Harwood by Louis Head formerly of the Southwest Organizing Project. Mr. Head's write up is excerpted here:

From the late 1970s to the early 1980s, the Harwood main building housed the Albuquerque Urban Indian Center until the program was closed due to federal budget cuts.  In 1984, the Southwest Organizing Project (SWOP) began leasing space from the United Methodist Church in the main building for office, meeting and conference use.  It was a lively time in the building, with activities that often included hundreds of residents from the surrounding neighborhoods. The back building housed the Albuquerque Amritsar Academy (known to us at Harwood as the Asbury School), a private school. SWOP remained in the main building until it moved to its present home  on 10th Street SW in September 1990.  At that time, the main building was closed.

In 1984, Escuela del Sol began renting Hudd Hall and the WPA building from the Women's United Methodist Ministry as classrooms for their elementary school students (the pre-primary children attended school a few blocks west on Mountain Road at a campus rented from Brother Mathias).  In 1991, artist Kelly Stone approached the administration of Escuela del Sol Montessori about the abandoned brick building fronting the property. Ms Stone thought it had the potential to be a vibrant gathering place for artists and the community, and felt it was better to use the space than leave it boarded up. The rest, as they say, is history.  In 1991, EDS began a lease purchase option with the United Women's Methodist Ministry for the main Harwood building and started the process of connecting community and school through the arts.