For the second year in a row, the Denver Office of Cultural Affairs has awarded grants to local artists and organizations to fight graffiti and enhance community ties in urban areas.
DOCA on Thursday announced the 12 recipients of the 2010 Denver Urban Arts Fund from a pool of 19 applicants, doling out grants between $500 and $7,500 to reclaim graffiti “hot spots,” provide safe social alternatives for youth and otherwise spiff up area parks and buildings.
Recipients include Cleo Parker Robinson Dance (for its Green Technology Summer Institute of Service program in the Northeast Park Hill neighborhood), the Gang Rescue and Support Project (for a mural in La Alma/Lincoln Park) and individuals such as Barth Quenzer and Jeremy Ulibarri (for an after-school mural club at Brown Elementary).
The Denver Urban Arts Fund grant program began in 2009 as an outgrowth of the city’s Graffiti Task Force recommendations.
To find out more about the program, call 720-865-4302 or visit . John Wenzel
MUSIC
Aspen fest narrows search for director
The Aspen Music Festival plans to name a new music director by the start of the 2011 season, but the announcement could come significantly sooner, said Alan Fletcher, president and chief executive.
“It’s important, and we’re aware that everyone who cares about Aspen really wants to know the answer to this question,” he said.
A search committee was formed in April after David Zinman abruptly departed as music director after 13 years, backing out of his scheduled concerts this summer and his direction of Aspen’s academy of conducting.
Based on a just-completed survey of the festival’s faculty, board, staff and donors, the committee has put together a profile of the kind of person it is seeking to fill the position.
“Now we’ll be looking at a bunch of people whose names have come up, and matching them into the profile,” Fletcher said.
Previously, he said the music director needs to be a high-caliber artist who also understands and is able to carry out the festival’s core educational mission.
Even if a replacement is named within the next year, it is likely he or she will not be able to take over the position until 2012 or later, because most potential candidates are already booked two to three years out. Kyle MacMillan
DANCE
Benefit rescues Ballet Nouveau’s program
Ballet Nouveau Colorado’s last-ditch effort to raise nearly $200,000 before July 31 paid off, the company said recently.
The Broomfield dance company, the metro area’s second- largest, was facing a programming shutdown because of a crippling lack of funds. To rally supporters, it organized the July 26 benefit “Moving Together — A Cause for Dance,” which united national dance figures on stage at Pinnacle Charter School.
“We have finished the year with a deficit smaller than that of the 2008-09 year by at least $10,000 at this date,” communications director Ashley Burns said.
Burns cautioned that numbers are still being finalized, books will not officially close until September and a professional outside audit will not be done until October.
The company also said it has made numerous adjustments to its programming and dance school, which serves more than 300 students, to account for its smaller 2010-11 budget. John Wenzel
