On Monday, February 7, on the grounds of the Lake Chapala Society, the Ajijic Society of the Arts (ASA) held a special election to nominate an entire new board of directors.

Every position was open, something unprecedented. Emerging victorious as the new president of this longstanding community arts organization, founded in the early 1980s, was Bethany Anne Putnam.

Putnam hails from New England and most recently from Santa Fe, New Mexico. She attended Johnson and Wales University, in Providence, Rhode Island, studying Hotel and Restaurant Management. She has been involved in hospitality, arts management, campaign management and disaster relief. The common thread in Putnam’s pursuits and involvements has always been hospitality and logistics or organization. In fact, these are the pillars she plans to bring to ASA.

“Hospitality is not something you learn, it comes naturally, from within”, says Putnam. “And, my work in campaign management, arts management and national disaster relief, coordinating on a national level, has helped hone my organizational skills.”

More recently, she has been focused specifically on photography.

Asked about this, she said, “I came to Ajijic four years ago to visit my college friend, Kate Gubelman, a prominent architect and installation artist. Upon arrival Kate asked me to manage her art installation focusing on promotion, marketing, social media, branding, event management and media coverage. When Covid hit, this project was put on the back burner. With this began my more serious foray into my own photography. I have carried a camera since I was a kid, documenting summer camp and slumber parties. I had a Kodak 110 and it went with me everywhere. Living in Santa Fe, New Mexico for three years, I took a workshop at the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops and I began to take photography more seriously.

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