Wednesday, March 13, 5:00-7:00 p.m.
     Epicentral Coworking
     409 N Tejon St, Suite 106
     RSVP by March 8 to angela@coppercolo.org

This year’s Fund will provide vital operating support for 18 arts nonprofits that make our community thrive. We all benefit from a region with diverse creative experiences that connect neighbors, attract visitors, inspire innovation and power our local economy. The arts belong to all of us. Learn more about Peak Arts Fund at www.peakartsfund.org.

This special event is for new and renewing donors to Peak Arts Fund. Please help us kick off this year’s campaign by making your 2013 contribution at the party. A gift of $60 or more qualifies you for a 2013 Peak Radar Pass with exciting arts benefits all year.

Peak Arts Fund is a program of COPPeR, the Cultural Office of the Pikes Peak Region.

Many thanks to our event sponsors:

RSVP to rsvp@coppercolo.org

Join COPPeR and the Downtown Development Authority for a discussion on Colorado Springs’ new state-designated Emerging Creative District. The hour-long conversation will highlight the national creative placemaking movement and its role in spurring economic development through targeted investments in arts and culture.

A series of four presentations will include details on the new statewide creative district program developed by Colorado Creative Industries (CCI); downtown Colorado Springs’ designation as an Emerging Creative District; specific goals and plans for our local district; and examples of tax incentives being used by other communities.

Featured panelists include:
Maryo Gard Ewell, CCI Creative District Program Manager
Susan Edmondson, Chair, Downtown Development Authority and Outgoing Executive Director, Bee Vradenburg Foundation
Lara Garritano, Manager, Creative District Program
John Hall, Economic Development Director, City of Parker

EXPERIENCE! Performances by local greats while supporting CREEP! post production and Peak Arts Fund • ADMISSION! Includes three drink tickets and a swanky spread of delicious fare • SEE! Mayhem in the Dancehall with local legends such as: The Modbo Collective • Douglas Rouse • Taiko Society Drummers • Ormao Dance Company • Inspiring opera singing performance and more! SEE! Sneak preview of the upcoming 100% locally produced film CREEP! • THRILL! To a sizzling performance by Colorado Springs’ own burlesque troop Peaks and Pasties! • ENJOY! Wine, fine food and general merry-making! • WEAR! Your best “Rat Pack” outfit for a chance to win a trip to Las Vegas!

And for Peak Arts Card holders you receive 2 for 1 tickets! Click here to purchase tickets.

Record attendance year marked by Galleries of Contemporary Art

The first exhibit, “Revival,” has been installed at 130 E. Pikes Peak Ave in the Colorado Square building.Laszlo Palos’s “Anything but Ordinary” serves as centerpiece for the exhibit, with an awesome collection of works from Amy Seltzer, Wendy and Chris Mike, Allen McMullen, and Resa Groff. Completing the storefront are 2D works from Nard Claar, David Gonzales and David Stenholm, and photography by Tom Kimmell.

COPPeR is currently seeking proposals, due November 1, from artists and creative-minded folks for additional Art in Storefronts venues. For more information or to request an application, contact Michael Dooley at Michael@coppercolo.org.

Additionally if you are a property owner, business, or store manager downtown and are interested in being a host for one of these innovative projects please call Michael Dooley at 719.634.2204.

A big congratulations to our Business and Arts Lunch award winners! This Wednesday, 280 business leaders, community advocates, and artists gathered at the Antlers Hotel to celebrate the 5th Annual Business and Arts Lunch, co-presented the by the Colorado Springs Regional Business Alliance and COPPeR.

U.S. Bank was presented the Philanthropy Award for the bank’s longtime support of the Art on the Streets program, which, since its inception in 1999, has brought more than 160 works of public art downtown. Learn more about their award here. Christian Keesee, chairman of Kirkpatrick Bank, was named Business Leader in the Arts (see his award video here). Keesee is founder of the Green Box Arts Festival, which each summer provides artists and visitors to Green Mountain Falls the opportunity to explore and nurture the creative process. Keesee also serves as president of the Kirkpatrick Family Fund which supports organizations such as the Colorado Springs Philharmonic, the Fine Arts Center and Chamber Orchestra of the Springs, as well as COPPeR’s Peak Arts Fund. Honored in the category of Creative Workspace was Epicentral Coworking. Founded last year by Lisa Tessarowicz and Hannah Parsons, Epicentral provides coworking space downtown for people who are independent creatives and entrepreneurs to office, meet clients, and bring innovative ideas to the Pikes Peak Region. Check out Epicentral here.

A special award this year for Creative Initiative was presented to Wild Fire Tees. Formed in the hours after the Waldo Canyon Fire devastated the Mountain Shadows neighborhood, Wild Fire Tees merged the art of high-quality design with social media skills to produce and sell more than $300,000 in T-shirts, with 100 percent of the proceeds benefitting wildfire relief nonprofits. Click here to view Wild Fire Tee’s award video.

Of course what really made the lunch come alive were our performers. Poetry, opera, dance, theatre, and music kept attendees on the edge of their seats. A huge thanks to all our performers: Mike Pope, Mark Wong, Colorado Springs Youth Symphony, Judeth Shay Burns, Celtic Steps, Crystal and the Curious, Millibo Art Theatre’s Jim Jackson, Colorado Poet Laureate David Mason, and the nVision Quartet of the Velvet Hills Chorus. Check out our photos (thanks to Bryan Oller/Studio80six) on Facebook!

Creatively Yours,
Christina McGrath

It’s hard not to love Fall in the Pikes Peak region. The weather still provides lots of opportunities to enjoy the great outdoors, but it’s also nice to spend a cool night in a dark theater as the performing arts season begins.  At COPPeR we’ve had fun celebrating. Last week we hosted the wrap party for the inaugural Peak Arts Fund campaign and distributed checks. In the 2012 campaign we raised $35,995 for 15 nonprofit arts organizations that bring a wide variety of music, theater, film, art exhibits, opera, dance, festivals, and arts education opportunities all year long to Colorado Springs and throughout El Paso County. Seventeen businesses and more than 500 individuals participated in the campaign. This is just the beginning, and we’re already renewing and securing new partners for 2013. Interested in getting involved? Learn more here.

We are also proud to announce that COPPeR will re-imagine our first empty storefront at The Colorado Square Building (130 E. Pikes Peak Ave.) starting this Friday, September 21.  As you may have heard, the Art in the Storefronts project will temporarily fill vacant store windows with art installations and creative businesses. Imagine if the vacancies in downtown were no longer dusty, empty spaces, but were instead oversized dioramas containing beautiful and engaging artwork. Amy Seltzer from Roll Exhibit has stepped up to be the first artist for our beta test of this project. You can see some great photos of the installation thanks to our friends at BUSSANICH~KJELDSEN, but of course we hope you’ll stop by and check it out for yourself.

Creatively Yours,
Christina McGrath

Better Block is a 24-hour demonstration that will take place on Pikes Peak Avenue between Nevada and Tejon. The mission of the project is to demonstrate what the block could look like if we were to take our 2 lanes of traffic and have more pedestrian friendly sidewalks and a larger median with vendors and a place to hang out. We saw this as the perfect opportunity to also launch Art in the Storefronts as part of our mission is to make our downtown area a more vibrant and engaging destination.

Want to learn more about Art in Storefronts? Please contact Michael at 719-634-2204.