The Polis administration announced that the Colorado Creative Industries (CCI) office of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) will distribute the latest eight recipients of the Community Revitalization Grant program, including projects ranging from San Miguel to Routt to Larimer counties. The Community Revitalization Grant program has awarded a total of $64.9 million to 34 projects.
“Support for Colorado’s inspirational creative arts is part of our administration’s commitment to ensure every Coloradan can thrive, and we are proud to support talented Colorado artists whose work contributes to the vibrant and unique character of our beautiful state,” said Governor Jared Polis.
“The arts have always been a catalyst for economic development, but Colorado’s creative arts industry was hit exceptionally hard by COVID-19,” said Colorado Creative Industries Director Margaret Hunt. “Fortunately, we have the opportunity to support arts organizations on their road to recovery and we’re glad to partner with them as they pursue new endeavors.”
Established by the bipartisan SB21-252 led by now Senate President Steve Fenberg, Senate Minority Leader Chris Holbert, Rep. Brianna Titone and Rep. Susan Lontine, the Colorado Community Revitalization Grant provides gap funding for projects in creative districts, historic districts, main streets or neighborhood commercial centers. These grants support creative projects that combine creative industry workforce housing, commercial spaces, performance space, community gathering spaces, child care centers, and retail partnerships for the purpose of economic recovery and diversification by supporting creative sector entrepreneurs, artisans, and community non-profit organizations.
The following are recipients of the latest round of grant funding:
- Carnegie Center for Creativity – $2,400,000
Fort Collins, Colorado
The historic 1904 Carnegie building is one of the oldest, continuously operating public buildings in Fort Collins. The building is now the Carnegie Center for Creativity (CCC) and offers an affordable community-focused cultural space for gallery exhibitions, performances, classes and special events. It also currently serves as the home and studio of Fort Collins Public Media and the Fort Collins Downtown Creative District. The CCC will be the location for many artists and arts and culture nonprofits in Fort Collins to have a place to meet, interact, and build community.
- Cleo Parker Robinson Dance School – $4,000,000
Denver, Colorado
Dancing into the Future, the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance (CPRD) will expand and create a new 25,000 square foot, four-level building that includes a theater, a healing arts center, three spacious movement studios, four medium-sized activity rooms to accommodate multidisciplinary arts classes, and a shared office space for resident partners. Through this project, CPRD will be able to serve more of the Five Points community by providing more scholarship opportunities to schools in the neighborhood and more jobs for both artists and non-arts that support the creative economy. Equity and inclusion are benchmarks for CPRD, and elevating artists of color is embedded in their mission. This project will directly add another 36 full-time, part-time and contracted jobs.
- Denver’s Home for the Literary Arts – $2,400,000
Denver, Colorado
Founded in 1997, Lighthouse has grown into a diverse, creative community and an iconic home for Colorado’s writers. Over 30,000 people of all ages and backgrounds participate in Lighthouse programs annually, a number that’s constantly growing. The community will truly thrive with a permanent home for the literary arts that can accommodate this demand.The 11,000 square foot building will be a mixed-use space and community resource. The large performance space with a capacity of 220, and classrooms will be made available to local arts organizations, non-profits, public schools, and community groups. The walls of the building will feature work from up-and-coming local artists, with two hallway art galleries, including one displaying young artists.
- Holiday Theater – $1,000,000
Denver, Colorado
The Holiday Theater project is an adaptive reuse of the historic Holiday Theater. Built in 1926, it was purchased by Denver Cultural Property Trust (DCPT) in August of 2021. The DCPT invests in strategically located residences and enterprise spaces throughout the city to ensure that stable, long term rent opportunities remain for the benefit of the city’s creative workforce and the organizations that support them. The Holiday Theater will provide cultural rental space for the Museum of Contemporary Art, artist studio spaces, and 15 rental housing units targeting 60% to 100% of AMI. They will perpetually rent affordable space for organizations and individuals working in the cultural enterprise of the community.
- Julie Harris Theater – $710,000
Steamboat Springs, Colorado
Perry-Mansfield Performing Arts School and Camp nestles into 74 acres within the mountains of Steamboat Springs and is the longest continually operating performing arts summer camp in the United States. The Julie Harris Theater at Perry-Mansfield was built in 1958 and is an iconic and significant component of the Perry-Mansfield National Historic District. The theater is the main classroom and performance space for Perry-Mansfield’s summer theater programs and hosts numerous community organizations in the non-camp season.The Theater adds important cultural value and heightens draw to the community, increasing the overall livability of Steamboat Springs as a vibrant economic and cultural hub. The theater provides a unique functioning space for not only performing arts, but educational engagements as well.
- Oliver House Purchase – $175,000
Norwood, Colorado
The Norwood Parks and Recreation District (NRPD) has a history of supporting recreational opportunities for all ages in the Norwood community including building new hiking/biking trails, supporting youth soccer programs, or building community baseball fields. In 2015, NRPD took control of operations of the “Livery Playhouse” and historic “Oliver House” under a 3-year lease to provide free use of the building and large yard to NRPD on behalf of the Norwood Community. This unique complex located in the center of Norwood is a special performing arts and recreation space dearly loved and used by the entire community for events such as community and children’s theater, art classes, dance classes, school dances and ceremonies, yoga, exercise classes, weddings, family events, indoor/outdoor live music, an annual harvest dinner, meetings, and community events.
- Telluride Transfer Warehouse $3,000,000
Telluride, Colorado
The Telluride Transfer Warehouse is a National Historic Landmark located in the heart of downtown Telluride, a vital place of exchange for over a century. Left vacant for forty years, the Warehouse has become a catalyst for social engagement, an economic driver, and a force for community cohesion. The Warehouse has adapted and changed to meet community needs such as classes, film, dance, poetry, lectures, music, and much more. Telluride has experienced more visitors on the main street than ever before and as real estate prices have skyrocketed, the Warehouse has become an oasis within the strained community.
- Westwood Redeemer – $2,000,000
Denver, Colorado
Owned by Lifespan Local, the Redeemer Lutheran Church building in Denver’s Westwood neighborhood will be converted to a community space. The site will directly reflect the wishes that emerged from robust community engagement, including a public library, early childhood learning center, community kitchen/culinary arts center, law clinic, mental health clinic, and artist makerspace. A large part of the building will be used as a community space where locals can receive community resources or rent the space for meetings, quinceañeras, food banks, pop-up events, and opportunities for artistic expression, including performance art.
Project descriptions may be submitted to the grant pipeline by emailing The Colorado Community Revitalization Grant at sarah.harrison@state.co.us.