Press

The Denver Post

Denver production “Gospel at Colonus” signals a joyous collaboration

Tracing circles — that may be one way to describe the goings on at Su Teatro Arts and Culture Center right now. After all, Lee Breuer and Bob Telson’s legendary experimental work “The Gospel at Colonus,” running through June 30, seems to be circling back to its roots. The duo’s remarkable blending of Sophocles’ tragedy “Oedipus at Colonus” with African American religious ritual found its inspiration in community: black Pentecostal churches, to be exact. In 1983 “Gospel” was performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival with Morgan Freeman in the role of Preacher Oedipus. In 1988 it had a Broadway run and was nominated for a Tony.

Now, thanks to the tag-team efforts of Su Teatro and the Source Theatre Company, the musical returns to a theater bent on engaging community in a most participatory way.

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Visit Denver

First Fridays in Denver’s Art Districts

ART DISTRICT ON SANTA FE:
Within this thriving creative community, enjoy more than 60 participating galleries, artist studios and restaurants on the First Friday Art Walk (6 to 9 p.m.) every first Friday of the month. Free, guided shuttle coaches pick you up at the light rail station at 10th Avenue and Osage Street and ferry you around the Art District between 5:30 and 9:30 p.m.
Good to know: Every third Friday, the Art District offers Collector Preview Events, a more intimate version of First Friday with an opportunity for patrons to see the art and meet the artists and owners without the large First Friday crowds.

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Westword

Four abstract shows consider Mind Over Matter at Space Gallery

Space Gallery owner Michael Burnett is an established abstract painter, so it’s no surprise that he’d be good at picking others of that ilk to present at his venue. Currently, there are four eponymous solos brought together under the umbrella title of Mind Over Matter that make the point. The whole is very elegant, with the distinct parts authored by each member of the quartet working seamlessly with the others.

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New York Travel

The Five-Point Weekend Escape Plan   See Urban Reinvention in Denver

Hit the streets with more than 5,000 people during the Santa Fe First Friday Art Walk (held on the first Friday of each month, 6 to 9 p.m.), when more than 60 galleries and studios open up to the public, and you can hear live music coming from every window. For first-timers, a good starting point is the complex at 910 Santa Fe Drive, a former 7 Up factory that contains approximately 30 studio spaces, including the popular Canto do Galo capoeria school and Lalé Floral Designs, a boutique florist who sells exquisite hand-sculpted terrariums made from African violets, succulents, and locally grown moss ($80 to $300).

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The Denver Post

Margaret Hunt expected to certify more creative districts in Colorado Read more: Margaret Hunt expe

Margaret Hunt, who started as executive director of Colorado Creative Industries last month, has the task of improving the state’s “quality of place.”

Demographer Richard Florida, in his book “The Rise of the Cultural Class,” makes the argument that communities with a vibrant cultural scene draw a higher concentration of creative workers and perform better economically.

Colorado ranks sixth among U.S. states for its concentration of creative workers, Florida said. And the new Colorado Creative Districts Program is tasked with improving the corollary quality of place by fostering creative activities that define a community and engage the public.

Read more: Margaret Hunt expected to certify more creative districts in Colorado - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_23243284/hunt-expected-certify-more-creative-districts-state#ixzz2U32uXKRt
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Fox 31 Denver

Denver’s Su Teatro helps keep Chicano culture alive

For 41 years, Su Teatro in Denver has been showcasing works of art about Mexican-American culture.

Over the years they have grown, but their traditions and knowledge of the arts are being passed down from generation to generation.

FOX 31 Denver photojournalist Michael Abeyta takes us to their cultural center to show us how a father and daughter are keeping Chicano culture alive in the Mile High city.

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The Westword

100 Colorado Creatives: Terri Bell, artist/gallerist at tbellphotographic

Terri Bell has been busy in 2013, changing hats constantly as an artist, photographer, curator and gallerist. But that’s all part of being Terri Bell, whose middle name could easily be “Industry.” This month alone, she’s participated in Month of Photography 2013 in just about every way possible, curating one show at CORE New Art Space; presenting her own work in another, Sensual Fiction, at Bardo Coffee House through April 1; and hosting yet another, the guest-juried it’s all here in black and white: 20x13, which opens with a reception on Friday, March 29 in her own tbellphotographic studio | gallery.

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Colorado Homes & Lifestyles

A Gallery With Heart

If you’ve ever strolled through Denver’s art district on Santa Fe the first Friday of the month, you’ve probably wandered into Access Gallery. You might have admired its captivating contemporary art, hung simply on white walls under perfectly placed lights, and assumed that it’s just another gallery in this cultural paradise.

Not quite. The nonprofit gallery has a distinctive mission: to give people with disabilities the opportunity to learn about, create and display art—good art. How do they do it? We asked executive director Damon McLeese for the details on what makes Access so valuable.

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Beanstalk

Getting to the Art of the Matter

Luckily, Stella Yu founded Arts Street to engage that [insert disappointed expletive here] growing societal problem. Arts Street is about the arts first, and the expression and freedom that come with them. They provide the lost opportunity to youth whose school life or home life doesn’t afford them an easel, a box of colored pencils, and the space to get out of their heads and into their hearts. Arts Street is also about job-training and practical experience. Art doesn’t just make for lazy, starving bohemian types. It also teaches perseverance, effort, planning, creativity and critical thinking. Students work together to see large art projects and installations through from conception to completion. They call them Team Jobs, and each is designed like a professional contract, allowing the participants to experience working as a team to meet a client’s goals. It’s real work too.

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The Denver Post

Free Governor’s Mansion tour lends artful air to Colorado holidays

Cheryl Opperman, the recently-elected vice president of Denver’s Art District on Santa Fe, said its tree in the Governor’s Residence first-floor hallway reflects nearly two dozen artists whose ornaments are literal miniatures of larger works.


Provided by Denver’s Art District on Santa Fe.
Nearly two dozen artists converted full-size works into miniature ornaments for the tree created by Denver’s Art District on Santa Fe now on display at the Governor’s Mansion.
“We just have such diversity of art, from photography to abstracts” represented on the tree, Opperman said. “We really allowed the artists to do whatever image felt right to them.”

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Westword

2012 Mayor’s Awards for Excellence in the Arts: Denver’s Art District on Santa Fe

A couple of decades ago, there were just a few galleries along Santa Fe Drive. But then many artists were priced out of their studios in LoDo and nearby NoDough, where a new stadium dedicated to beers, bratwursts and baseballs was being built. Rent was still cheap on Santa Fe, though, and many of these artists moved there, setting up studios and, soon, establishing more galleries.

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Westword

Mile High Vienna Stand steps up on on Santa Fe

The original Mile High Vienna Stand has moved from 258 Santa Fe Drive to a larger space half a block away at 300 Santa Fe, in the heart of Denver’s Art District on Santa Fe.
“People kept telling me we were too busy—something I didn’t think was possible,” says owner Sonny Jarock. “But this new space is great and things couldn’t be going better. It’s a dream come true.”

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Westword

2012 Mayor’s Awards for Excellence in the Arts announced

Mayor Michael Hancock, Arts & Venues Denver and the Denver Commission on Cultural Affairs just announced the 2012 recipients of the Mayor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts: Denver’s Art District on Santa Fe, Denver Ballet Guild and Emmanuel Gallery.
The awards will be presented at a free, public celebration on Thursday, November 15 at the Studio Loft in the Ellie Caulkins Opera House, with performances by Colorado Children’s Chorale, an excerpt from Ballet Nouveau and Paper Bird’s “Carry On,” and a theatrical performance from Su Teatro.

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The Denver Post

Denver’s 16th Street Arts Fest blurs the strict lines of arts districts

Denver’s downtown is only a five-minute drive from its major arts district, but the two areas can seem worlds apart. Downtown, centered on 16th Street, is modern, sleek and tall. The arts district, along Santa Fe Drive, is low-rise, historic and rugged in a way that people kindly describe as funky.

Both places are integral to the city’s overall charms, but “people don’t necessarily make that connection,” according to David Ehrlich, who oversees the Denver Theatre District downtown. Folks tend to frequent one zone or the other.

So this weekend, the theater district has invited the arts district to take up residency on several of its busiest blocks. The first 16th Street Mall Festival of Arts runs Friday and Saturday along the popular pedestrian walkway, spilling over to Arapahoe and Stout streets.

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The Denver Post

Shepard Fairey mural on Santa Fe Drive takes shape as his gallery show opens Friday

Artist Shepard Fairey is in Denver this week prepping for a big opening reception on Friday at Blackbook Gallery, but he’s also leaving his mark on the city in a much more significant way.

Fairey’s latest mural now graces the side of the Center for Visual Art’s building at 965 Santa Fe Drive. The art building is the off-campus gallery of the Metropolitan State College of Denver, situated comfortably in the Santa Fe Arts District, and Fairey’s mural features two classic cars, one on fire, under the words, “Bright Future.”

The cars’ license plates, “Empire” and “Nowhere,” are separated by a logo that is familiar to fans of Fairey’s graphics-intensive pop art — the eyes of deceased WWF wrestler Andre the Giant peering out from an iconic star.

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Colorado Innovation Network

Colorado is the New Home to Creative Arts Districts

The First Friday phenomenon has highlighted Santa Fe as a premier place for the arts in Denver, and now it’s become official. On March 9, 2012, Governor John Hickenlooper announced the formal certification of two new Colorado Creative Districts: Downtown Salida, and Denver’s Art District on Santa Fe part of a greater initiative that inspires innovation in Colorado.

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