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DOWNTOWN ARTS & CULTURE VENUES AND GROUPS
Visual & Educational Arts
Art on the Streets — Presented by Community Ventures, Inc., an affiliate of the Downtown Partnership, this annual outdoor exhibit featuring artists from around the country runs all year, with new pieces rotated in each summer. Some pieces are purchased for permanent collection, helping to grow downtown’s artistic aesthetic! Locations vary and a map of the exhibit is published each July.
Colorado College and Coburn Gallery at Colorado College, 14 E. Cache La Poudre and Worner Student Center, northeast corner of Cascade & Cache La Poudre Streets, 719-389-6000 for switchboard and 719-389-6797 for gallery. www.coloradocollege.edu and www.coloradocollege.edu/coburn — The Colorado College offers a wide array of visual arts and educational programs available to the community at large. The Coburn Gallery serves to bring national and international artists and exhibits to Colorado College in conjunction with a broad range of academic programs to integrate the visual arts into campus life. All exhibits, lectures, performances, and receptions at the gallery are FREE and open to the public. Look for the college’s 76,000 square-feet Cornerstone Arts Center, opening in May 2008 — there will be lots of new gallery space and public offerings.
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Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, 30 West Dale St, 634-5581, www.csfineartscenter.org — Home to the Taylor Museum of Art, Bemis School of Art and Fine Arts Center Theatre Company, the CSFAC is dedicated to inspiring through a variety of visual, performance and educational arts. The Fine Arts Center underwent a major expansion and renovations early 2007 and reopened in August of 2007. The reincarnated museum features a traveling exhibition wing, permanent collections wing (including Dale Chihuly glass), unique tactile gallery, new museum shop, stunning courtyard, spacious new art education studios, Deco Lounge and the extraordinary SaGaJi Theatre.
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Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum, 215 S. Tejon St., 385-5990, www.cspm.org — The municipal museum of Colorado Springs, located in the former El Paso County Courthouse (1903), portrays the history and culture of the Pikes Peak Region in permanent and changing exhibits emphasizing the unique character of this uncommon Front Range community. Changing exhibits have featured subjects such as Western art, antique quilts, Plains and Pueblo Indian culture, and space exploration. Popular culture exhibits have included such topics as jukeboxes, motorcycles, and baseball memorabilia. A major attraction is the murals, by local artist Eric Bransby, which depict the story of the Pikes Peak Region from early human occupancy to the building of the Air Force Academy.
Cottonwood Artists School, 25 Cimino Drive, 719-520-1899, www.cottonwoodartistsschool.com — Cottonwood offers more than 30,000 square feet of studio space for 40 artists. Classes are available in oil painting, drawing, watercolor, collage, and sculpture for adults and teens with an emphasis on traditional methods. Each month, the work of local and regional artists, including students and instructors, is featured in the school’s Gallery, launched during the First Friday Art Walks. Over 35 studios in the Cottonwood building are open to the public during these events.
FAC Modern, 121 S. Tejon St., 634-5581, www.csfineartscenter.org — A satellite venue of the CSFAC, the MODERN presents contemporary museum exhibitions and a museum shop. 2007/2008 Exhibitions include: Faces in the Crowd: Modern Portraiture from the Permanent Collection (October 12 to January 13, 2008), Altered Space 21st Century Installation Art (February 2- April 27, 2008), Styling the Modern: Fine Art Meets Fashion (May 10-July 6, 2008).
- Galleries and Districts — Downtown is home to many independent art galleries, some peppered among various downtown blocks, others clustered in emerging districts. The Depot Arts District sits west of the Antlers Hilton Hotel and is comprised of several galleries in the old warehouses (now slated for major renovations as well as new housing and studios) under the Colorado Ave. bridge — and hosts First Friday art walks each month. For more gallery information, see our Downtown Guide and look for events in our Events Calendar.
Pikes Peak Community College, The Downtown Studio, 100 W. Pikes Peak Ave., 527-6000,www.ppcc.edu/OurCampuses/TheDowntownStudio. Art and dance studios, an art gallery and performance area are part of PPCC’s Downtown Studio. The Gallery is a free, public art gallery that features work in all media created primarily by artists in the Pikes Peak Region. The Gallery places a strong emphasis on presenting multicultural and multimedia exhibits. Opening receptions are held for each exhibit during which music, dance, or poetry readings frequently enhance the themes of the exhibits. Other events are open to the public at a nominal admission charge.
Rocky Mountain Women’s Film Festival, 719-226-0450, www.rmwfilmfest.org. Presented over three days each November, this festival brings a variety of fabulous documentary, feature, short and animated films created and produced by women from around the world.
Smokebrush Foundation, 218 W. Colorado Ave., 719-444-1012, www.smokebrush.org. Founded in 1992 by Kat Tudor, Smokebrush fosters a spirit of creativity and fun with unique gallery exhibits and public art installations — including the widely popular Uncle Wilber fountain in Acacia Park and the organization’s wild and crazy Giant Toaster, which shows up in the most unlikely places. Smokebrush also supports a variety of theater, music and film. Visit the Chapel of Art each month during First Friday Art Walks to see the works of Kat and her husband, Bob Tudor, among other artists.
VAS (Visually Aesthetic Space) Program
 This program’s purpose is purely to improve the visual appeal of our downtown streetscape. With the turnover of downtown retail space, vacancies (at times) present an unattractive visual to passers-by on the sidewalk. With increased numbers they can start to effect the perception of economic vibrancy and leave a negative impression. This program was developed in order to fill those windows with a temporary display of art. We will contact the property owner, gain access, get power to the “window” area, and promote the venue. The added exposure to their properties is a benefit to their leasing endeavor. We hope you contact us at the Downtown Partnership at (719)886-0088 x13, or you may also contact the new "chair" of this program Kim Griffis at (719)635-7506 x127, if you are interested in doing an installation.
Some parameters to consider of this wonderful program:
- Downtown Partnership contacts the property owners and schedules duration of display(property owner’s call), access, and power to “window” area.
- Artist must sign a contract that protects the property owner, Downtown Partnership and the Artist when it comes to various liabilities.
- Piece must be free standing with no need for support from any walls or ceilings (damage control).
- No marketing is allowed for private gain within the components of the art piece.
- No profanities or offensive imagery is to be submitted due to the lack of “audience” control.
- VAS organizers maintain all final decision making on location of chosen art, duration of display, and content acceptability.
- Sale of actual piece is completely the artist’s responsibility and will be handled privately after piece has been displayed for the agreed upon duration. VAS will not expect any monetary compensation.
- Actual light fixtures are the artist’s responsibility and need to be approved by the VAS organizers. Minimal Clamp lights are available from VAS. Property owners will supply the power.
Check out these following locations:
110 N. Tejon 28 N. Tejon 118 N. Nevada
101 N Tejon, Unit 108(This is actually on East Kiowa, just north of the Metropolitan entrance, long story)
To be installed this week: Art removed due to successful leasing:
Spaces available: 130 N. Nevada, 125 (B) E. Bijou, 125 (A) E. Bijou
Performing Arts
- City Auditorium, 21 E. Kiowa, 385-5969, www.springsgov.com/Page.asp?NavID=5569 —The City Auditorium, designed by a local architect in the "Classic Revival" style, was completed in 1923. The building was primarily used for concerts, theatre performances and graduations. The plaque above the stage is inscribed, "USUI CIVIUM DECORI URBUS", or "For the use of the people and the glory of the city." The original structure was designed with room for a large theatre pipe organ (popular as accompaniment for silent movies) and the Mighty Wurlitzer Theatre Pipe Organ was shipped from Tonawanda, New York, to Colorado Springs, November 1927. Today, the facility is used for concerts and theatrical performances as well as for trade shows, meetings, auctions, sporting and social events. Its Lon Chaney Theatre is home to the Star Bar Players, a local non-profit, amateur theatrical group.
- Colorado College, 14 E. Cache La Poudre, 389-6000, www.coloradocollege.edu — The College’s theatrical, dance and music departments offer numerous performances available to the public. In May 2008, the new Cornerstone Arts Complex will open. Included in this dramatic 76,000 square-feet structure will be a main auditorium, a film screening room, two black box performance studios, galleries, media labs, classrooms and more.
- Fine Arts Center Theatre Company, 30 West Dale St, 719-634-5581, www.csfineartscenter.org/theatre.asp. Enjoy spectacular productions by renowned actors throughout the year in the splendor of the FAC’s SaGaJi Theatre. Check online for the latest news and upcoming productions and the people, events and facilities behind it.
Pikes Peak Center for the Performing Arts, 190 S. Cascade, 477-2100 offices; 520-7469 tickets, www.pikespeakcenter.org — Since its opening in 1982, the Pikes Peak Center has achieved international acclaim for its design and acoustical qualities. The Center hosts more than 200 performances annually. The Colorado Springs Philharmonic, Broadway shows, dance troupes, comedy and a variety of vocal and instrumental concerts comprise some of the diverse entertainment. The Center also hosts numerous performances for the city’s renowned Kennedy Center Imagination Celebration.
Arts & Cultural Organizations
Chamber Orchestra of the Springs — www.chamberorchestraofthesprings.org
City Parks, Recreation & Cultural Services —
www.springsgov.com/SectionIndex.asp?SectionID=6
Colorado Springs Children’s Chorale — www.kidssing.org
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