Laura Bond
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…
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…
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…
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…
Digital Placemaking Sparks Human Connections in Denver
Working in large-scale public art in Denver has changed the way Ivar Zeile experiences other cities. "Whenever I travel, I'm always looking for the LED screens," he says. "In places like Minneapolis,…
OG (Organic Gardener) DJ Cavem Raps about Kale
Hip-hop and healthy eating are twin inspirations for Denver's DJ Cavem, who deftly melds music and food justice with both rhymes and activism. If you've ever met Ietef Vita, it was probably no…
Lifting Off: Mike Wird Launching Earthship Movement in Denver
How to address the environmental cost of growth in a boom time, like the one Denver is experiencing? Mike Wird, a 33-year old Colorado-born writer, rapper, educator and environmental activist, has an…