15 DECEMBER 25-31, 2025 westword.com WESTWORD | CONTENTS | LETTERS | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | CAFE | MUSIC | Call Elaine Lustig, PhD .......................................................... at 303-369-7770 Needing Your Emotional ....... Animal W/ You? For eligible people who need their emotional support animal to accompany them at/or away from home, I am available to provide the documentation and counseling. CREDIT CARDS ACCEPTED Yates Theater, which has been vacant for forty years. They plan to turn it into a bar, community space and cinema. Local artist Lee Lee transformed her family home at 420 Downing Street into an art gal- lery, community space and temporary pop-up library for Habitat Library, a nonprofi t orga- nization started earlier this year by Jeff Lee (no relation), who was also the founder of the Rocky Mountain Land Library. The space, Galleries on Downing, has been activated as a meeting space for events, book clubs and art shows, with commission proceeds benefi ting local partners and other nonprofi ts. And in the ultimate collaboration, Colo- rado’s fi rst anthology of poetry from all of the state’s poets laureate, Begin Where You Are, was released this month. A joint proj- ect between social entrepreneur Turner Wyatt and Colorado poets laureate Mary Crow, David Mason, Joe Hutchison, Bobby LeFebre and Andrea Gibson, proceeds from the book’s sales will support the state’s next poet laureate (who will likely be announced in January) in travels to more rural and un- derserved areas around Colorado. Festival Growing Pains and Gains This year also saw huge attendance at festivals, from PrideFest and the Denver Cherry Blossom Festival to the Denver Chalk Art Festival, as well as other events like the Cheesman Park Art Festival and the Cherry Creek Arts Festival, which was named one of the world’s best festivals by the International Festivals and Events Association for the sec- ond year in a row. Meanwhile, as First Friday continued to increase in popularity, the Art District on Santa Fe’s monthly First Friday art walk instituted some changes after attendance grew beyond the district’s capacity, leading to issues with inaccessible sidewalks and illegal vending practices. Last spring, ADSF stepped in to permit First Friday as a special event, requiring artists to pay for a $50 vending spot not along Santa Fe Drive, but on specifi ed side streets that would be closed to traffi c. And in August, Santa Fe Drive was closed altogether to vehicular traffi c on First Friday...but don’t expect that to become a regular occurance. Other spaces became more problematic. With Civic Center Park now under construc- tion, many annual events have had to move. When the Outside Festival returned to Civic Center last May for a second year, it saw twice the attendance of 2024. Now dubbed Outside Days, the festival will relocate to the Auraria Campus, at least temporarily, in 2026. No word yet on where 4/20, Cinco de Mayo and other fests will be next year. Despite uncertainty, there’s a lot to look forward to in 2026...as well as a lot to watch for. While the form that local immersive ex- periences will take, what will happen with federal arts funding, and how Denver Creates will shake out have yet to be seen, one thing is clear: In times of turmoil and hardship, arts and culture are what bring communities together, transcending societal barriers and serving as a reminder of what humans have always done. Create. Email the author at kristen.fi [email protected]. Culture continued from page 14 ALWAYS IN YOUR FEED. FOLLOW US
