Community is Culture
The Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD) is a unique seven-county regional funding program that supports arts, cultural and scientific organizations across the Denver metro area. Funded by a dedicated sales and use tax of one penny for every $10 spent, SCFD distributes more than $80 million annually to nearly 300 organizations, from major institutions to community-based nonprofits. The program provides essential operating support, expands access to cultural experiences, and helps bring world-class exhibits and events to Colorado. SCFD serves Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas and Jefferson counties, with local County Cultural Councils helping guide funding decisions to reflect each community’s priorities. For more information, visit https://scfd.org/who-we-are/about-us/
By Emma Mantooth
On Santa Fe Drive, an arts hub hums with light and color. Prints and artwork adorn the interiors of nearly every building. Nestled amongst museums and coffee shops, you’ll find the seemingly unassuming Access Gallery, a quiet, sunny space filled with original art. It’s much more than meets the eye. A nonprofit organization, its open doors welcome people with disabilities to access, experience and benefit from the arts by providing unique creative, educational, and economic outlets.
Access Gallery’s Executive Director Damon McLeese shares, “for more than 40 years, Access Gallery has worked to increase access to the arts for people with disabilities. As both a studio and a gallery, we create opportunities for artists to develop their practice, exhibit and sell their work, teach, mentor, and earn income while helping address the 70–90% unemployment rate among people with disabilities. Our studio, digital, gallery, and community programs ensure that the perspectives of artists with disabilities are part of Colorado’s cultural conversation. SCFD funding helps make those opportunities possible while giving the public the chance to experience the talent, ideas, and perspectives of artists who have too often been left out of traditional arts spaces. When more artists are included, the entire community benefits.”
I first visited Access Gallery last summer for a presentation from a cohort of interns who came together to create, curate, and manage a gallery exhibition. Each summer, the gallery hires 10-15 high school students who have an interest in the arts, and happen to have disabilities, to provide them with hands-on experience in the arts industry. I was unprepared for the vulnerability and pure joy woven through each intern’s story and the artwork they shared. From a huge recycled-cardboard octopus to colorful paintings and drawings, each program participant shared their favorite works of art from the summer and the story behind them. Many expressed that the space to create art helped them reflect on challenges they experienced or sources of happiness that they wanted to share, build friendships with fellow interns, and allowed them to explore new mediums and potential career paths. Each presentation was met with riotous applause and thoughtful questions from fellow interns and family members. If it wasn’t clear before, it became clear to me then that Access Gallery is more than just a gallery, it’s a source of community.
Now more than ever, community is key. And culture is a cornerstone of that. It’s so easy to get sucked into scrolling on your phone with the ever-present draw of what your personalized algorithm could serve you next, or to turn inwards when things can feel divided in your own family or friend group. Being alone can feel safe, and your for-you-page can feel like the embrace of a loved one sometimes. But that can only take you so far.
There’s something in all of us that itches for more – I hear it at happy hours with friends or in conversations at lunch with coworkers: people are taking up pottery and collaging and reading. It’s why the recent pro-shot of “Hadestown” just took the crown as the highest-grossing live stage-capture film in recent history according to Playbill. Arts and culture give us something to connect with, and by extension, a way to connect with each other.
One afternoon, a woman walking past Access Gallery noticed a brightly colored, bejeweled painting by one of Access’ artists, Blossom. Blossom had been worried that people wouldn’t like her artwork and that no one would ever buy it – but she didn’t need to be. After entering the gallery and reading the story displayed along the piece, the woman purchased it. Weeks later, Blossom received a photo of her painting hanging in the collector’s home in Florida. That’s the power of culture for all! Sometimes all it takes is one workshop or internship for a spark to ignite, for relationships to form, and for an artist to be born.
That’s why third spaces are so important. And why SCFD is proud to support Access Gallery and more than 300 other nonprofits across the Denver metro area who provide that key ingredient for district residents – connection. We see it within all our funded partners, between dancers in 3rd Law Dance/Theater, musicians in the Broomfield Symphony, visitors at Foothills Arts Center, and beyond.
“Culture and community are synonymous to me. Art, theatre, dance, music, science, history…all of these things bring people together in their own way. It’s wonderful that residents in the district know this and have supported SCFD’s vision to provide culture for all for nearly 40 years now,” said SCFD’s Executive Director, Andrea Albo.
Find community and other SCFD funded partners near you through a free cultural experience this month:
- Museum of Outdoor Arts’ Marjorie Park Free Day – September 9
- Friendship Powwow and Free Day at Denver Art Museum – September 12
- Brighton Art in the Park – September 12
- Clyfford Still Museum 15th Anniversary Community Celebration – September 15
- Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum – September 20
- Highlands Ranch Cultural Affairs Association’s Oktoberfest Celebration – September 26
- Dinosaur Ridge Paleo Art Fest and Free Day – September 27
- Historic Elitch Gardens Theatre’s Concert in the Carousel – September 27