NORTHGLENN —The Recreation and Cultural Services Center is offering more arts events and classes this year to try to get Northglenn arts and entertainment on the map during a .
A new, monthly a cappella concert series debuted this month and will repeat once a month through May.
The city is also bringing back its summer movie series after more than 600 residents came to the viewings at E.B. Rains Jr. Memorial Park last year, and the arts education division plans to pack this summer with new workshops on photography and interactive art-making.
“It would be so great to see an arts district come out of Northglenn,” said Kimberly Jongejan, Northglenn cultural program coordinator.
She said: “We’re hoping our audiences will grab an early dinner at one of the new restaurants at the and then head over to the theatre for some amazing music.”
Northglenn is in the middle of an image marketing study now, and the arts and cultural component is one of the main areas of focus. The city plans to unveil the new branding concept this spring.
In it, all of the theater and concert programs as well as the classes and workshops run out of the city’s recreation center will be unified under the name Northglenn Arts, which city officials hope will bolster funding options.
“There’s so much that we do now that falls under that arts category,” said Michael Stricker, cultural programs supervisor and director of the Northglenn Arts & Humanities Foundation. “Between the children’s theatre, , concerts, summer movies, public art and such, there is (a need) for this unified brand.”
The spring a cappella series was created to launch the city’s first indoor concert series at the 300-seat D.L. Parsons Theatre inside the recreation center at 11801 Community Center Drive.
The approximately $10,000 series is funded primarily through grants and the nonprofit Northglenn Arts & Humanities Foundation.
“We’ve tried over the years to do an indoor series,” Jongejan said. “We tried a classic series — like dueling pianos and four-piece classic ensemble — but it was kind of a hit or miss. We feel the timing is right to do it again now.”
Jongejan said that increased interested in a cappella music in the last several years, combined with the large presence of those bands in the Denver metro area made the series simple to book, simple to sell and appealing to the masses.
The first local band to perform was , a five-member ensemble of singers who have been around in one form or another for nearly 20 years. The group has performed in Northglenn before and mainly sings classic rock songs.
“We have noticed the gains in popularity lately, but there have been ebbs and flows over the years,” said Dutch Miller, the band’s business manager and bass vocalist. “The human voice has never gone out of style though. Regardless of what’s going on in music culture, a cappella is always a thrilling sound.”
His group performed to a packed theatre Jan. 16 at the series premier, which was sweetened with the addition of a wine bar this year.
“There are more really great a cappella bands on the Front Range, so I know a continued series will be supported,” Jongejan said. “We alter the theme every year with our summer concert series, so I think having something that’s a constant would probably compliment that.”
Northglenn a cappella concert series
Feb. 20: Motive
March 20: Dakaboom
April 17: Mile High Vocal Jam Winners
May 15: FACE
When: 7:30 p.m.
Where: D.L. Parsons Theatre
Tickets: $10 adults
Info: 303-450-8800
