The debut of Denver Arts Week last year proved such a hit that the Denver Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau decided to make it an annual event.
This year’s edition, which kicks off today and runs through Nov. 22, incorporates more than 150 events and dozens of participating museums and other organizations.
The centerpiece will be a celebration of the city’s museums based on “La Nuit des Musees,” an annual event in France involving about 1,000 museums.
During Denver’s “Night at the Museums,” more than a dozen area institutions, including the Black American West Museum, Denver Art Museum and Forney Museum of Transportation will remain open from 5 to 10 p.m. today, with free admission.
“It’s not only the fun of going out to a museum at night, which families never get to do, and it’s not only that it’s free, which in this economy is a great thing, but each of the museums, in addition to their regular exhibits, will have some type of special entertainment,” said the tourism bureau’s Rich Grant.
Inspired by Denver Restaurant Week, the idea of an arts week emerged because of the huge growth in the area’s arts scene, such as the 2007 opening of a permanent home for the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver.
Indeed, the changes have come so quickly, Grant said, that many residents, especially newcomers, aren’t aware of the full scope of what is available.
“We wanted to put everything together into one big promotion that would get water-cooler discussions going and get people thinking about the arts and seeing all the things that have happened in the city,” Grant said.
Other notable events include Saturday’s “Night on the Red Carpet,” in cooperation with the Starz Denver Film Festival, and festivities Nov. 22 as part of the city’s sesquicentennial celebration.
For a complete schedule, visit .
