Denver

Immersive Theatre in the Time of Coronavirus

By its very nature, immersive theatre doesn't lend itself well to social distancing. Immersive theatre has become increasingly popular in recent years, thanks to any number of factors—big production…


Creative Community Development Trainings

Do you believe that artists generate creative people power, and that communities thrive when they are connected to their artists? Have you downloaded the Irrigate: Artist-led Creative Placemaking…


Jaime Carrejo's sculpture installations force viewers to see "the border" differently

Jaime Carrejo has been making art since before he even knew what “art” was. He just knew he liked to make things, experiment with different materials and surfaces, maybe do some painting, maybe burn…


Write Denver Toolkit

"Write Denver ushered in a deeper level of community engagement for Lighthouse Writers Workshop. We wish the same for you! Whether you're an individual or part of a larger organization, we hope the…


New toolkits from the 2018 Toolkit Cohort

Creative Exchange is based on the idea that artists are everywhere, that artists are shaping their communities in all sorts of ways, and by sharing stories and tools from those artists, we can build…


Write Denver publishes the stories of a city’s people

What if, when you walked through your city, you saw words other than “No Parking” and billboard slogans? What if you could look around your neighborhood and read the words of your fellow citizens?…


Toolkit Cohort Announced!

New toolkits are coming! We're excited to announce a new round of artists and organizations selected from our open call for toolkits, and we'll be working with these artists over the summer to create…


Announcing IdeaLab:Westwood in Denver on April 17!

IdeaLab is rooted in the notion that everyone is capable of being part of a movement, based around events that cross-pollinate local and national experts, create new opportunities for community…


Creative Exchange Call for Toolkits!

As the national program of Springboard for the Arts, Creative Exchange hosts free, practical toolkits created by artists and arts organizations along with our editorial work sharing the stories and…


5 Questions with Creative Exchange: What we have learned from our artists

Since August 2016, Creative Exchange has been asking each of our Artists With Impact a series of five questions, which appear at the end of every profile. We did this to create a thread of continuity…


Six takeaways from IdeaLab

Need a little inspiration? There was plenty of it at IdeaLab 2017, which brought together creative minds from across the U.S. Here are a half-dozen useful pieces of advice that came out of the day's…


The Center for Media Justice addresses inequality in our media-saturated digital world

At a time when legitimate news sources are decried as "fake news" by our country's political leadership and fear-mongering partisan websites that specialize is sensational stories with no basis in…


Free Music for Free People builds a community for youth musicians in Denver

When Mona Magno – aka "Monalicious" – first had the idea to form Free Music for Free People in Denver, it was because, as a musician with many musician friends, she wanted to be involved in the music…


Breaking Boundaries: Interactive, Immersive, Pop-Up Theater

Please do not remain seated. Unbuckle with tickets to a new breed of shows in Denver that meld theatrical elements with experiences that keep theatergoers on their feet. A lanky, graying,…


Join us in Denver for IdeaLab 2017!

Are you an artist, social entrepreneur or organizer? Do you want to connect to others to organize around racial equity and social justice? Do you believe in the power of creative storytelling? Join…


Beyond Blucifer and the Blue Bear: Advancing Public Art in Denver

Denver's "One Percent for Art" law has helped foster a collection of public art that's the envy of other cities. Where has the policy exceeded expectations -- and where has it fallen short? Denver…


Storefront art programs reflect cities’ changes & challenges

During the Great Recession, as the U.S. retail economy suffered the effects of the market collapse and rising unemployment, public officials and arts administrators in cities around the country…


A City's Challenge: Preserving Artists' Spaces in Denver

The story behind the Lawrence Street Artists illuminates how creatives struggled for affordable space in Denver long before the recent nationwide clampdown on converted warehouses. It was nearly 30…


Street Art Making Mark on New Denver

Denver's street art is attracting national recognition. How is the city's booming mural scene helping soften the impact of rapid development and gentrification? A carbon monoxide donut once hung low…


Little Fyodor and Babushka

Little Fyodor Leads Charge to Keep Denver Weird

For three decades running, weirdo DJ and musician Little Fyodor and his bandmate and partner-in-abnormality, Babushka, have fought to keep Denver strange. There are few who are keeping Denver weirder…


Theo Wilson, a.k.a. Lucifury

The Artist's Way: Making Denver a Better Place for Creatives

At 11 o'clock on a Sunday morning, the Mercury Cafe is filled with the sounds of Denver in decompression mode. The steam of the espresso maker, orders called to the kitchen, clinks of champagne…


There's a citywide gallery of public art along Denver's bus routes and rail lines.

Transit-Oriented Art: Expanding Access in Motion

For a toolkit on how to engage artists as leaders around major disruptions like light rail construction, get the Irrigate toolkit on artist-led creative placemaking. Routine riders of public transit…


Three human services organizations are within a few blocks of each other.

Arts with Purpose: Catalyzing Civic Engagement in Denver

Pay no mind to the woman in tattered layers with dirt caked onto the hands with which she holds a cardboard sign. Disregard the worn-out sleeping bags strewn across the sidewalks and trash-bag…


2 Years of Creative Exchange!

It’s hard to believe, but Creative Exchange just turned 2! The platform was launched in 2014 in response to the question, “How do we support a movement around the power of local art and artists on a…


Dorothy Tanner says she's something of a rebel

The Lumonics Light Brigade

Sculptor Dorothy Tanner, 93, admits she's something of a rebel, a revolutionary. A petite woman, Tanner declares in a soft, slightly husky voice, "There's a certain 'straightness' that I can't help…


In 2007, BuCu West Development Association organized a public art initiative that has aimed to replace graffiti with colorful artwork.

Denver's Next Great Art Districts

Just north of downtown Denver, a petite but peppy Georgia Amar owns and operates her fine art gallery and studio in Denver's Art District on Santa Fe. Her husband, Jack D. Pappalardo, is an attorney…


Adrian Molina (a.k.a. Molina Speaks) is a Denver-based poet, emcee and educator.

Emerging Leaders of Color Connecting Communities with the Arts

Adrian Molina didn't get into the arts to work in politics. The Denver-based poet, emcee and educator, who raps and records prolifically as Molina Speaks, is motivated by a creative forces -- an…


Ivar Zeile

Ivar Zeile has seen the future of public art, and it's on 25' x 60' screens

Before launching Denver Digerati and becoming a national leader in digital placemaking, Ivar Zeile founded the contemporary arts gallery Plus Gallery in Denver in 2001. He had previously worked in…


Tony Garcia, executive artistic director of Su Teatro.

Building Equity in the Arts in Denver

Suzi Q. Smith was excited to bring her daughter to her first opera. A prominent Denver poet and teaching artist, Smith grew up listening to classical opera; she trained as an opera singer for two…


Denver Voice vendors connected with others who share the writing impulse at Write Denver.

Deepening Literary Lives: Homeless Writers Share Their Stories

Every Monday morning around 9 a.m., Denver VOICE vendors visit the nonprofit's Capitol Hill office to collect some of the 8,000 copies of the street paper that move across the city each month. From…