14 DECEMBER 25-31, 2025 westword.com WESTWORD | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | LETTERS | CONTENTS | Artful Solutions IN 2025, LOCAL CULTURE CONTINUED TO EVOLVE IN THE FACE OF FEDERAL FUNDING CUTS. BY KRISTEN FIORE Like a dandelion growing in the cracked, gray cement of a sidewalk, the local creative community continued to fi nd new ways to fl ourish in 2025, despite funding setbacks and societal struggles. Over the past year, artists activated empty spaces, events grew, and creatives explored how to collaborate with and support each other, even as leadership at arts organizations changed. Funds and Games Cultural institutions around the country took a hit last spring when the National En- dowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts rescinded grants after the Trump administration ordered them to update their policy priorities to focus on funding projects such as efforts related to AI, the U.S.’s 250th anniversary and empower- ing houses of worship rather than projects rooted in DEI. As a result, Colorado arts and humanities organizations lost millions of fed- eral dollars, leading to calls for donations and a scramble for more grassroots-level funding efforts, like the Bonfi ls-Stanton Foundation’s Art and Culture Rapid Response Grants. But there were some bright spots. In 2024, Colorado ranked 46th in the nation for state arts agency legislative appro- priations per capita; the operating budget for Colo- rado Creative Industries, part of the state’s Office of Economic Develop- ment and International Trade, hadn’t increased in a decade. This year, though, CCI was able to secure an additional $1.25 million — a 62 percent increase that moved Colorado’s ranking up to 39th. Economic activity in the arts and attendance at Colo- rado’s cultural events are returning to pre-pandemic numbers, with the Colorado Business Committee for the Arts announcing that in 2024, the arts raked in $3.12 billion for Colorado’s economy. Meanwhile, the CBCA determined, cultural events accounted for three times the attendance of the combined numbers for Rockies, Broncos, Nuggets, Ava- lanche and Rapids games. While Denver’s Imagine 2020 never materialized — for obvious reasons — a cultural plan for the city emerged this year with Denver Creates, a commitment to broaden access to the arts, cultivate commu- nity and support the economic vitality of the city’s cultural sec- tor. Denver Arts & Venues sur- veys and interviews informed the well-intentioned but vague plan; the research indicated that residents value the city’s creative opportunities and fi nd them relatively easy to access. This is in part thanks to the Scientifi c and Cultural Facilities District, a regional tax approved by voters in 1988 that gives one penny from every $10 pur- chase back to cultural institu- tions across the seven counties of Denver, Boulder, Jefferson, Adams, Arapahoe, Douglas and Broomfi eld. SCFD continues to be the biggest monetary supporter of Colo- rado’s arts ecosystem, contributing $85 million in 2024 and this year welcoming new Execu- tive Director Andrea Albo. Reauthorization of the tax returns to the ballot in 2028. Filling Space The majority of the cultural institutions in SCFD’s top tier of funding (the Denver Art Museum, the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, the Denver Botanic Gardens, the Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance and the Denver Center for the Performing Arts) are changing leaders, too. Longtime Gardens CEO Brian Vogt died in March; after an extensive search Naples Botanical Garden CEO Donna McGinnis will take over the position next year. This month, the zoo announced that its president and CEO, Bert Vescolani, is departing after more than seven years on the job; the board will conduct a national search for Vescolani’s successor. And DMNS President George Sparks is retiring at the end of next year after serving in that role for more than 21 years; his successor has not been announced. In October, the DCPA announced that Off-Center co-founder Charlie Miller will be leaving in March, and that it will be ending de- velopment of new immersive projects — an ef- fort that had put Denver on the map for cutting-edge cultural projects. Mean- while, the Denver Immer- sive Repertory Theater, the city’s fi rst permanent immersive studio, won a $400,000 Downtown De- velopment Authority grant. And Exhibition Hub Den- ver continues to put on big immersive showcases, such as the Titanic: Immersive Voyage earlier this year and its current exhibition, Dinos Alive. Other major cultural organizations also saw changes at the top: An- thony Kiendl joined the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver as the Mark G. Falcone director; Platte Forum is looking for a new head. While institutions are fi lling empty offi ces, Denver artists spent the year fi lling empty urban spaces, from painting murals on the walls along the Cherry Creek Trail to activating vacant properties through a new RiNo pop- up program and the Leave Your Fingerprints Downtown initiative. “I think what really de- fi nes Denver as a cool place to be an artist is the collaborative nature,” Fingerprints project manager Brian Corrigan told Westword. Taking the Reins The past year saw a growing trend of creative collaboration and DIY efforts by local artists who are attempting to reclaim their power, from the rise in popularity of clothing upcycling and clothing swaps to artists purchasing their own buildings. Dairy Arts Center just reclaimed owner- ship of its building from the City of Boulder. “The Dairy was founded by artists who envi- sioned a space where creativity could fl our- ish across all disciplines,” Dairy Arts Center Executive Director Melissa Fathman says. “To once again own our building is to reclaim that founding vision in the fullest sense.” In October, company members of quirky Denver theater staple Buntport Theater announced that they would be expanding their facility and leasing to own the build- ing where they have been renting space for more than two decades. They also promised to provide room for other artistic efforts in the community. Denver dance institution Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, which marked its fi ftieth anniversary in 2020, is on the brink of opening an expanded facility after outgrowing its retro- fi tted church space and winning a $4 million Community Revitalization grant from CCI. Some efforts are less massive, but just as im- pressive. A Sunnyside couple signed a ten-year lease on the historic CULTURE continued on page 15 KEEP UP ON DENVER ARTS AND CULTURE AT WESTWORD.COM/ARTS Cultural events saw three times more attendance than the combined attendance at Rockies, Broncos, Nuggets, Avalanche and Rapids games in 2024. Colorado Poets Laureate Joe Hutchison, Bobby LeFebre and Mary Crow at the Begin Where You Are book launch. DANIELLE LIRETTE KRISTEN FIORE
