WHEN ARTISTS IN COLORADO GIVE TO THE COMMUNITY, THE PEOPLE GIVE BACK

By Steve Graham

Take away Red Rocks Amphitheatre and Denver’s major theater complex. The downtown skyline and the foothills would look very different. More importantly, Colorado’s economy and quality of life would be very different.

“It wouldn’t be the same without the culture,” said Suzanne Yoe, director of communications and cultural affairs for the Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA). “It’s the spice of life. The arts give the flavor. When you take that away, you’re just missing something.”

Specifically, you’re missing nearly $2 billion, as well as immeasurable social and cultural benefits, if the Front Range has no performing arts venues and organizations. Also, the most active and supportive live arts patrons in the nation would be missing their opportunities to experience challenging dramas, stunning ballet, captivating symphonies and much more.

The DCPA is the second largest performing arts complex in the country by total number of seats. It has been a downtown fixture since the 1970s, and many fans don’t realize how unusual it is to have a Broadway show, symphony concerts, opera events and intimate plays all in the same complex.

“To have this real vibrant hub in the center of town really elevates all the performing arts,” said John Ekeberg, executive director for the Broadway and Cabaret divisions of
the DCPA.

He said theater and other performing arts bring us together.

“We are storytellers,” Ekeberg said. “Theater is a way that people can come together with their family and friends, and also with people they don’t know … and be entertained or challenged, or both.”

Dawn Fay is president of Wonderbound, a contemporary ballet company in Denver. She said Netflix and Spotify can never replace live events.

“The performing arts has that intangible experiential thing that you can’t replicate,” Fay said. Her company creates totally original productions with live accompaniment by local musicians.

“You’re coming to something that hasn’t been seen before,” she said. “Being able to experience the type of work that we do really resonates with people. It doesn’t feel unapproachable. There is a human authenticity to the way these stories are choreographed.”

Through Wonderbound, the DCPA and other organizations around the state, the performing arts often push our boundaries and make us think in new ways.

“Depending on the art form, it opens up new ideas and new conversations,” Yoe said. “It offers a healthy space for dialogue.”

Many Colorado artists also take an unusual level of responsibility for their work. Anthony Pierce, chief artistic officer at the Colorado Symphony, said the Symphony is unusual in having nine orchestra players as voting members on the board of trustees.

“Our musicians are willing to take risks,” he said. “And they have unique ownership of the institution. They have a say in how this place runs.”

‘THE ENVY OF MANY COMMUNITIES’

There are also more tangible benefits to the performing arts. The Colorado Business Committee for the Arts estimates the performing arts drove $1.9 billion in economic activity in the Denver area in 2017, the latest year the group released a study (a planned 2020 study was delayed due to COVID-19).

This includes $400 million in spending from cultural tourists. Yoe said the DCPA has subscribers who travel from as far as Washington for performances.

“We are fortunate that we are the only major venue within a 600 mile radius,” she said.

Yoe said the DCPA alone has a $175 million economic impact on the region, including direct employment and revenue, and indirect benefits to nearby bars, restaurants, stores and hotels. She added that regional chambers of commerce regularly ask her for attendance data and information to use in attracting new businesses to the region.

“The number of jobs created in the community is significant,” said Ekeberg. He noted that many patrons only think of the performers on stage, but there is also business staff, tech crew, ushers, choreographers, directors and more.

In turn, the performing arts organizations make money to pay their staffs through ticket sales, fundraising and, significantly, tax dollars. For more than 30 years, consumers in the seven-county metro area have paid an additional cent for every $10 in spending. That money goes to the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District, which annually distributes more than $60 million to nearly 300 arts and culture organizations.

The tax district was created during an economic recession, when cultural organizations were struggling. It has grown into the only regional cultural funding model of its kind in the nation, and a major supporter of performing artists.

“We’re really fortunate to have a population that supports the arts and culture,” Ekeberg said. “We are certainly the envy of many communities around the country.”

‘A PASSION FOR THE ARTS’

Arts patrons aren’t just providing tax dollars. They also fill seats.

The Denver metro area and Colorado as a whole both lead the nation in attendance at arts performances. A 2017 National Endowment for the Arts survey was recently released, and showed that 76.8 percent of residents in the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood area went to at least one concert, play or performance per year, compared to a national average of 48.5 percent for the top 35 metro areas in the nation.

Statewide, the same survey found 66.5 percent of Colorado residents attended a performance, compared to a national average of 48.5. The state’s number is only exceeded by the District of Columbia.

Fay said the sellout crowds are also less reserved and feel less bound by the unwritten rules of arts patronage.

“Audiences here are very authentic,” she said. “There’s an honesty to their reactions. They will not hesitate to laugh out loud and give a hoot and holler for something.”

Chris De'Sean Lee & HAMILTON Company - HAMILTON - © Joan Marcus 2016

Instead of competing with skiing, climbing and other beloved Centennial State pursuits, the performing arts complement outdoor activities.

“People can go out in the golf course in the afternoon, and come down at night and see a nice show,” Ekeberg said. “Those who love to get out with their family and friends and go skiing also want to get out and see a show.”

Pierce argues the arts are as beneficial as those outdoor pursuits.

“It’s a healthy way to have entertainment,” Pierce said. “It also has the power to inspire people in a way that other activities don’t.”

He added that the performing arts are educational.

“We’ve got to raise young community members with a passion for the arts,” Pierce said. “We show that it’s ok and it’s actually good to pursue something that’s beautiful for its own sake. We feel the arts really set that example.”

Most local arts groups work in schools, and provide family-friendly options to draw all ages into seats, and to inspire future artists.

‘A COMMUNITY AND A CONNECTION’

Ekeberg has seen all aspects of the performing arts business in Denver, starting in 1992 in the DCPA box office “selling tickets for $5.50 per hour,” and moving up to managing the business and programming of touring shows such as “Hamilton” and “The Lion King.”

The latter was a major coup for Ekeberg and the DCPA. The touring show of Disney’s smash hit debuted in Denver in 2002. Disney also came to Colorado for test runs of “Frozen” and “Little Mermaid” musicals before they launched on Broadway. More recently, “Dear Evan Hansen” was another Broadway hit with its tour debut in Denver.

As anyone who has tried to buy “Hamilton” tickets can attest, Denver performances often sell out — and fast.

“When they bring a tour to Denver, they know they are going to reach their sales numbers,” Yoe said.

Ekeberg also said industry veterans know and appreciate the Buell Theater and its crew.

“They are really talented stagehands who really know the work and really love doing technical productions like that,” he said. “It takes a different level of skill to do that kind of production.”

Colorado’s performing arts organizations are also known for collaboration. All the artists and management teams that share space at the DCPA all must work together, but they also work regularly with other performers around the region.

“Theater at its core is a collaborative work,” Ekeberg said. “It takes so many people in so many areas to create what happens for that two hours on stage.”

Fay credits the individualism and creativity based in Colorado’s Wild West roots.

“It’s that spirit of anything’s possible,” she said. “It’s a very positive town in looking at possibilities, and that leads to a collaborative spirit.”

Ekeberg said the pandemic forced even greater collaboration when performing arts organizations kept their doors closed.

“If there are challenging times, if there are opportunities for organizations to pool their resources and knowledge together, it only makes sense,” he said.

Wonderbound and the Symphony both helped keep us entertained — and moving — during lockdown with videos, performances and whimsical dance tutorials.

The DCPA continued some of its education and enrichment programs through the lockdown, and continued working with high schools around the state, albeit largely virtually.

The SCFD encourages groups to work together, but Pierce said the Symphony would collaborate anyway. “Artists just naturally like to have partners with other thoughts,” he said. “That’s a natural thing.”

They also like to entertain, divert and soothe people, especially during difficult days.

“We’re there to perform and provide comfort to people in dark times,” Pierce said.

Colorado’s many performing arts fans look forward to being comforted in a theater together on the other side of the pandemic.

“There is a community and a connection and an energy that cannot be replaced unless you are together,” Yoe said.

Dillon Amphitheater. Photo: courtesy and copyright of Jenise Jensen

SMALL TOWNS WITH BIG PERFORMANCES

The Denver area certainly punches above its weight as a medium-sized city that both attracts world premieres and cultivates diverse homegrown talent, from Buntport’s quirky live sitcoms to Phamaly’s inclusive musical productions. But Colorado’s small towns also host major performing artists and events. Here is a selection from beyond the Front Range.

CENTRAL CITY OPERA HOUSE ensures the mountain town is known for more than casinos and mining legends. As the fifth oldest professional opera company in the nation, it stages a full season of world-class opera productions every summer while also maintaining 27 historic Victorian-era properties.

CREEDE REPERTORY THEATRE started in 1966, when a 19-year-old University of Kansas student replied to a letter from town boosters seeking help opening a theater. It now produces up to 10 plays every summer, hosts concerts and other events, and is appreciated far beyond the San Juan town’s 300 residents.

LAKE DILLON THEATRE COMPANY was created in 1993 to raise money for the Lake Dillon Amphitheater. It has since grown into a professional theater company, and the most popular year-round arts organization in Summit County.

NATIONAL REPERTORY ORCHESTRA in Breckenridge was slated to celebrate its 60th anniversary season this year before COVID-19 forced its cancellation. It is a summer performance orchestra and academy offering full fellowships to train young musicians for professional careers.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN REPERTORY THEATRE is just outside Rocky Mountain National Park in Grand Lake, where it brings at least $3.4 million in economic impacts to the region through a full summer of Broadway musicals.

VAIL DANCE FESTIVAL is a major summer dance event in the dance world. It launched in 1989 with a touring performance from the legendary Bolshoi Ballet Academy of Moscow. Vail became the only North American satellite of the Bolshoi.

Steve Graham is a freelance writer and former newspaper editor who likes taking his two young boys biking, hiking and brewery-hopping in northern Colorado.