Arts & Entertainment

Every now and then, something pops up that feels purely Denver, and in the theater scene, that’s Buntport, a company of six talented artists who create their productions — often hilarious, sometimes deeply moving — through a brainstorming process that miraculously always produces a coherent script. It’s experimental work, but not the arrogant, “you’re-too-stupid-to-get-this” kind or the trendy, expensive immersive stuff turning up everywhere these days. Based on whatever intriguing morsel of news, myth or fantasy has caught a company member’s attention at some point, Buntport’s work is homegrown, original, and entirely itself. Catch it if you can, and/or take any visitor who asks what’s special about Denver. After a pandemic-induced delay, Buntport’s fiftieth original show debuts this month.

The Vance Street Art Hub, anchored by coffeehouse/cafe Mint & Serif, isn’t so much an arty block as it is a little taste of old Lakewood’s mom-and-pop hospitality, though the cafe does host art exhibitions. It’s joined in the area by tattoo shop Solstice Ink, an outlet for anime fans called Otaku Attic, Purple Greens Vape & Glass and, inside Mint & Serif, All Its Own, a purveyor of succulents, air plants and gifts. Stop by on First Friday, when the gallery receptions down the street become packed.

Every First Friday of the month, the Art District on Santa Fe Art turns from a ghost town to a full-blown festival, with arts lovers walking the street to catch gallery openings and live painting, or just to see and be seen. You can drop some dough here, if you’re looking to start or expand your art collection, but just being able to experience the fruits of Colorado creatives’ labor — and be among others who appreciate the work — is enough to make for a fantastic Friday.

Junkyard Social isn’t just a playground for kids; it also serves as an organized date-night drop-off spot, a STEAM laboratory, a summer camp, a family disco and a hands-on art project workshop. But Junkyard Social is also a playground for adults, who are welcome to join their children on the jungle gym or just hang out with a coffee from the cafe. It offers yoga, live music and a grown-up storytelling group, and you can rent it for a party. Why go anywhere else?

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University of Colorado Boulder dance educator Helanius Wilkins likes to say that he’ll most likely keep tweaking his current project, Stitching the Geopolitical Quilt to Re-body Belonging, until he dies. It all began when the pandemic lockdown collided with the murder of George Floyd, when Wilkins would walk alone for up to sixteen miles a day, gathering his thoughts about being a Black man, a dancer and an artist seeking both his place and a realization of social justice in an unstable world. That led him to visualize a project akin to sewing a quilt, which has developed into a process that begins by hosting conversations with communities of marginalized people across the nation. Each group’s unique stories culminate in a movement performance choreographed by Wilkins. It’s a beautiful cycle, and it’s only just begun.

helaniusj.com/the-conversation-series

Fashion West rode onto Denver’s fashion scene in August 2021. The forward-thinking fashion show was founded by Charlie Price and inspired by the raw spirit of the American West and the fashion sense of the creatives who give it style — not to mention Price’s experiences at Milan Fashion Week and on the reality TV show Shear Genius. Working with talented models, stylists, makeup artists, photographers and more, they showcased the city’s fashion designers both on the runway and in partner publication Fashion West magazine. Cowboy boots were optional.

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It used to be the worst part of seeing a flick at the theater: sitting through the elevator music in the semi-darkness, trying not to finish your popcorn before the previews. Alamo Drafthouse has changed all that by producing pre-show entertainment that’s actually entertaining and directly related to the movie that you’ve paid to come watch. It’s so good that even though Alamo theaters have reserved seats, many patrons still show up early on purpose just to catch all the trailers. Reely.

The newest multiplex in Denver proper, the AMC 9+CO 10 debuted in 2021, during a time when it was unclear if movie-going was on the way to extinction. The venue has thrived since, which is good news for those who understand that watching a film in a communal setting is something that can’t be duplicated at home. The sightlines in the auditoriums are first-rate, the seats comfortable, the projection and sound systems state-of-the-art, and the location convenient for much of the city, with plenty of eating and drinking options nearby if you want to stretch out the evening.

amctheatres.com/movie-theatres/denver/amc-9-co-10

The look of most art-house theaters tends toward blandness and conformity. But the Mayan, which opened in 1930, during the golden age of motion-picture palaces, is a reminder that going to the movies used to be an event. The Art Deco stylings, originally created by architect Montana Fallis and displayed to particularly spectacular effect on the building’s towering facade and inside the main auditorium, make every screening feel a little more special. And the libations provided at the Mayan bar are capable of making even the most challenging cinematic fare go down a little more smoothly.

The Colorado Dragon Boat Festival has grown from a summertime tradition to a year-round institution that includes a film festival. Academy Awards-anointed flicks such as Parasite and Drive My Car are evidence that filmmakers in Asia, as well as peers aligned with the region’s diaspora, are among the most innovative on the planet today — and the annual Colorado Dragon Boat Film Festival demonstrates that there’s plenty of fascinating material beyond the highest-profile productions. The 2022 edition, which ran in early March at the Sie FilmCenter, gave viewers the chance to see many of these films on the big screen, where they belong; programming ranged from Listen Before You Sing, inspired by the true story of the Vox Nativa Taiwanese Foundation Choir, to Free Chol Soo Lee, a documentary focused on a man wrongfully convicted of a gang murder in San Francisco in the early 1970s.

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Talented actor, playwright, director, filmmaker and activist donnie l. betts delves into Black history regularly for his Destination Freedom radio-play series on the Broadway Podcast Network. But betts is also an award-winning documentarian who’s struck gold with positive stories about Black life and Black heroes, including Colorado-centric films about the historic enclave of Dearfield and Denver physician Dr. Justina Ford. His latest is 2022: The Year of Lincoln Hills, the story of a Black-owned mountain resort community that opened in 1922, some of which still survives today. It’s just one more link in betts’s campaign to preserve the past and share it with today’s audiences.

historycolorado.org/lincoln-hills-100th-anniversary

The mission of Motus Theater is to “create original theater to facilitate dialogue on critical issues of our time,” and it’s definitely delivered during the pandemic. The company grew out of Rocks Karma Arrows, a multimedia work exploring Boulder history through the lens of class and race; over the past fifteen years, the focus has expanded to take in the entire country. Most recently, the JustUs and UndocuAmerica projects brought in speakers from all walks of life to share the words and experiences of immigrants and people who were formerly incarcerated, which were then shared online.

motustheater.org

Diving into the entrepreneurial market can be scary for a newbie, but Diana Sabreen has a coaching technique that’s so fun, clients don’t even notice how much they’re learning. Sabreen’s Boulder-based creative incubator, the Big Dream, not only offers one-on-one consultations to get you up to speed, but it also hosts group playshops and retreats that immerse people in activities that demand creative thinking and encourage team-building and interaction with fellow seekers. Coming up this summer in Boulder: the Imagination Collaboration creativity accelerator, with speakers, workshops, performances and more.

thebigdream.life

Denver was the epicenter of the Chicano civil rights movement, so it’s only fitting that as part of its fiftieth-anniversary celebration, Su Teatro reprised its original production War of the Flowers, the story of the Kitayama Carnation Strike in Weld County, which culminated with five women being tear-gassed when they chained themselves to the gates of the factory. For the past five decades, since it got its start in a University of Colorado Denver class, Su Teatro has been fighting the restrictions of traditional stories to push political truths and tell the real stories of the community. Now at home in the former Denver Civic Theatre, Su Teatro just keeps adding programs for that community, everything from the Chicano Music Festival to the XicanIndie FilmFest. But ultimately, the play’s still the thing.

This year, Denver has seen three exhibits devoted to La Malinche, a Nahua woman enslaved by Hernán Cortés and used as his interpreter during his conquest, who bore his son and is known as the mother of the European/Indigenous mixed race. The Denver Art Museum’s Traitor, Survivor, Icon: The Legacy of La Malinche came first, with works ranging from the sixteenth century to modern day; plans for that exhibit inspired Maruca Salazar, former director of the Museo de las Americas, to curate Malinalli on the Rocks, which uses the woman’s Indigenous name and showcases works by contemporary local Chicano and Latinx artists. The result is stunning, with pieces in myriad mediums that look at Malinche through a more sympathetic lens, after being seen as a traitor to her people for centuries. Rounding out the trio: Malintzin: Unraveled and Rewoven at the CU Denver Experience Gallery.

Neyla Pekarek, a cellist, singer and former member of the Lumineers, has long been fascinated by Kate Slaughterback, who gained fame in the 1920s for killing 140 rattlesnakes that were attempting to slither toward her, her son and her horse on their homestead in northern Colorado; she made a flapper dress of the snakes’ skins that is now a Greeley museum artifact. This year, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts presented a much larger memorial to this colorful pioneer: a full production of the musical Rattlesnake Kate, based on Pekarek’s concept, scored by Pekarek, and written by playwright Karen Hartman.

Just in time for the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Denver Art Museum in October 1971, the renovation of the Gio Ponti-designed, tile-clad tower — now called the Martin Building — was revealed last fall. The makeover is a masterpiece both inside and out, with the new Sie Welcome Center not only creating a new entrance, but providing a visual and physical link between the original museum building and the Hamilton. The galleries were also refreshed, with the Western American Art collection finally given its due on the seventh floor — right by the rooftop decks that are once again accessible to the public. We can’t wait to see what the DAM does to top this anniversary celebration fifty years from now.

The Denver Performing Arts Complex isn’t so much a venue as it is an epicenter for the kind of arts activities that defines cities as cultural institutions. After staying closed through much of the pandemic, it’s the place where you can once again spot a secondary-school field trip, or a music student analyzing an orchestral piece. It’s where you can take a date to see Broadway plays such as Hamilton, or where a grandparent might take a grandchild to hear the Colorado Symphony score Harry Potter. The Colorado Ballet, Opera Colorado, the Colorado Symphony and the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, which pushed for the creation of the facility fifty years ago, all call the sprawling twelve-acre complex home. Welcome back.

While music festivals have become more accessible over the years, the overall level of inclusion for people with disabilities remains low. Shawn Satterfield, a lifelong music fan, set out to change that with the Shine Music Festival, which debuted on August 8, 2021, at Levitt Pavilion. To make the free festival work, she recruited volunteers and organizations involved with the disability community, bringing in inclusive technology to help people with all disabilities feel comfortable while also keeping costs down. “Seventy percent of people with disabilities are unemployed,” she notes, “and music is expensive.” So is putting on a festival, but this one was such a hit that it will be back in August, this time in Civic Center Park.

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Even outside of baseball season, McGregor Square is hopping. Now, with the Colorado Rockies back at Coors Field, the Rally Bar in the Rally Hotel is the perfect place to watch fans coming and going and deliver a play-by-play account of the action over a few beers. Just a few things we’ve seen out the big windows: a couple breaking up and immediately getting back together, a happily inebriated soul wearing a swimsuit but no shoes, and too many people wearing the colors of the opposing team.

If city life has you feeling overwhelmed but with no time for a real getaway, head to the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge. Once the site of a chemical weapons manufacturing center, the former federal facility is now an expansive nature reserve in the heart of metro Denver that’s open from sunrise to sunset. There are twenty miles of easy hiking trails, as well as trails for biking; along the way you’ll see bison, deer, prairie dogs and incredible birds of prey. For those who’d rather enjoy the great outdoors without getting out of the car, the refuge also has an eleven-mile wildlife drive.

Ah, Levitt Pavilion, how do we love thee? Let us count the ways. We love that you put on fifty free concerts a year, and that those shows take place on a lovely green hillside in Ruby Hill Park, where we can sit on our blankets and look out over the city as the sun sets behind us. We love that an amazing roster of local and national artists serenades us from a beautiful stage with a state-of-the-art sound system. It doesn’t get much better than this on a warm summer night…and it’s all gratis, thanks to the forward-thinking Levitt Foundation.

The Art Students League of Denver is an art school for people who don’t have the time, or the need, to go to art school. Instead, ASLD caters to anyone with an art jones, from hobbyists and talented youngsters to fine artists looking to brush up on or learn new techniques. The league employs up to 100 local artists as instructors in the beautiful, nineteenth-century brick-and-sandstone Sherman School building, using its spacious classrooms as studios equipped with specialized tools of the trade. ASLD also houses a gallery, throws a legendary Summer Art Market and supports a community filled by artists and the public alike.

The long-anticipated Meow Wolf launched in Denver last September, opening the doors to its lore-filled Convergence Station. The space is a psychedelic playground, with multiple “universes” to explore that are brimming with detailed, stunning, interactive works made by both local and national artists. Pair those with the hilarious walking characters that Meow Wolf has meandering throughout the rooms, such as Sid the Psychic (as at a Renaissance fair, they always stay in character), and you’ve got a full-on trippy experience awaiting you. Meow Wolf has also started offering adult-only nights, in case you’d like to avoid both energetic kids and crying toddlers.

In a small town like Walsenburg, if you come across a museum on the main drag, you expect it to display mining implements or painful reminders of Colorado labor history. Instead, the Museum of Friends is a nonprofit contemporary art space opened in 2006 by townies Brendt Berger and Maria Cocchiarelli, who envisioned an institution with a collection supplied by artist friends, with an egalitarian and inclusive policy. Does this mean Walsenburg could become the next Trinidad? With the town part of the newly designated La Veta Creative District, it’s a possibility.

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If you grew up in Denver, it’s likely you spent some time at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science (fka the Denver Museum of Natural History). A favorite destination for school field trips and family outings, it’s one museum that kids don’t forget: an immersive experience long before there was a name for that. Imaginative youngsters in awe of decades-old museum highlights — such as the dramatic polar bear diorama, monumental dinosaur bones and the constellations displayed on the planetarium ceiling — want to see their favorite displays here again and again, as do certain adults who grew up here.

Denver is a street-art city, but the Museum of Contemporary Art shows that this city also has a strong grip on the fine arts. With a passionate curatorial team who have an eye for compelling works that make a statement, the MCA had blockbuster exhibits last year focusing on Deborah Roberts and Jason Moran, and has kicked off 2022 with exhibits that question the roots of abstraction with stunners showcasing Eamon Ore-Giron and Dyani White Hawk. Watch for more creative programming at the Holiday Theatre annex.

The Denver Art Museum gift shop carries an array of unique knickknacks that you didn’t know you needed until you step inside — and realize you want to buy everything. There are books, puzzles, stationary, jewelry, handbags and shirts, art supplies and more. The finds include miniature sculptures of some of Denver’s famous public artworks, such as “Dancers”; ceramic mugs, vases and lanterns embellished with famous paintings; and beautiful sand hourglasses. There are plenty of options for all ages, and it’s as easy to get lost in the bounty of the museum’s store as it is in its array of excellent exhibitions.

Denver boasts plenty of public parks to be proud of, some with recreation centers, pools and pickleball courts, a few even with sculptures. But while its river access provides recreational assets, the new RiNo ArtPark stands alone in its emphasis on arts and culture. It truly took a village to turn the ArtPark into a public haven and creative hotbed with artist studios, a gallery, a food incubator for immigrant women and a public library unique to Denver, with flexible maker space for DIY productions. Explore them all — or just sit by the river and watch the water flow by.

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Bell Projects has actually been around for a while, languishing inside Walnut Workshop, an artist studio community in RiNo. But in January, gallery founder and curator Lindsey Bell relocated to the former home of ARTAOS Gallery on East 17th Avenue, across from City Park, and it’s a whole new ball game. As at Walnut Workshop, the building is shared by artist studios and other businesses, but the address also comes with street appeal, thanks to the 1907 red-brick building’s big picture windows and arched roofline. Bell Projects has come out into the light, bringing along challenging shows by young artists. See it shine.

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Art historian Lauren Hartog and artist Derrick Velasquez (who’s done this sort of thing before in his own basement) teamed up a year ago to start and curate their well-named Friend of a Friend Gallery, an art space hiding away in a room at the impressive 1904 Evans School building. Exhibitions can be hard to find and are only open by appointment following their receptions, but it’s well worth the effort to find work by these artists, who fly both under the radar and through the clouds above it.

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Michael Rieger takes multi-tasking to a whole new level as an artist, photographer, teacher, community arts activist and art director of the Denver Chalk Art Festival. Lapis Gallery, a staple in the Tennyson Street First Friday Art Walks, is home to Rieger’s many artistic mediums, including fine-art photography, etchings, drawings, pastels, prints, sculpture and beautifully handmade ceramic dishes and mugs. In addition to the gallery space, Lapis offers full interior design-and-build services, custom furniture and event photography services.

Entrepreneur Skye Barker Maa has been activating culture-expanding spaces in Stanley Marketplace since 2018, including Neighborhood Music, a kids’ music school that’s grown to serve a huge student body, and the newly opened Sky Bar. But it’s Factory Five Five, an intergenerational school teaching theater, film and photography at a nearby converted warehouse, and Factory Fashion, which teaches sewing, fashion and design at the Stanley, that have become impressive creative incubators that not only teach those who want to learn, but shares the students’ efforts through plays, fashion shows and other realizations.

In the age of TikTok and selfie museums, Selfie@Stanley aims for a better selfie experience. This one comes with more than 25 selfie stations, complete with backdrops and props to titillate imaginations, encourage family reunions and birthday parties, and simply get friends together for an afternoon of stupid, silly fun for $20 a head. And because it’s located at Stanley Marketplace, the fun doesn’t end when selfie-snappers emerge: There’s food and drink, shopping and people-watching waiting.

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A blending of worlds occurs inside Mirus: the engaging world of the white-wall gallery — clean, open and intentionally sparse — and the entrancing world of the nightclub, with color-changing lights, a live DJ and, of course, a full bar. Mirus Gallery & Art Bar is a concept originally executed in San Francisco by curator and art dealer Paul Hemming; Denver is its second location. Here, rotating exhibitions of both solo and group shows include contemporary artists from all over the world. Grab a cocktail while you check out current exhibition SUPER FUTURE, which explores the intersection of art and technology via NFTs, virtual reality and interactive digital art.

Erie-based fine-art intaglio photogravure printer Jon Lybrook isn’t so famous, but because of the quality of his work and his safer and more sustainable techniques, he sometimes assists people who are in creating high-quality photo portfolios. Most recently, Tony Levin — the in-demand session bassist and on-and-off member of King Crimson since 1981, who is also a photographer — sought help from Lybrook to turn some of his favorite King Crimson tour shots into a limited-edition fine-art print portfolio. The completed prints, available as a boxed collection or individually, were released in March. Rock on.

The nonprofit Denver Art Society, located in the Art District on Santa Fe, has one of the most active Instagram accounts of any art space in the city. While it posts almost daily, each First Friday the account comes alive with story videos showcasing the crowded gallery, as well as the concerts and theater events it hosts there. The self-described “art community co-op built by artists” provides a look at Denver art through the eyes of local artists, so anyone who follows knows what’s coming next.

The Galaktic Gang, founded by Cory Ponz, Kyle Morton, Jason Turnquist, Travis Delly and Chris Dyer, is riding the promising wave of NFTs. If you were at the ETHDenver cryptocurrency conference, you might have seen Dyer live-painting, or perhaps you attended the art collective’s party held in tandem with that event. Galaktic Gang plans to hold more parties, including virtual ones, which have already encouraged thousands of visitors to enter the Galaktic metaverse and virtually experience live painting and even contribute to the collective’s art. Inventive and ahead of the curve, the Gang employs NFTs to fund its collective, whose goal is to use cryptocurrency, NFTs and the metaverse to embolden those who buy in to embark on a path of spiritual awakening. Psychedelic!

galakticgang.com

Ally Grimm, also known as A.L. Grime, has been painting up Denver for years, and hers are some of the most recognizable murals in the city. With abstraction, intricate line work and graffiti influences, these murals are where fine art and street art converge. Grime also does paintings, illustrations and digital work, and has delved into the innovative realm of virtual reality and NFTs. Follow her: You won’t be disappointed.

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For Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month last year, the RiNo Art District commissioned a mural from local muralist Casey Kawaguchi and Nepali artist Imagine876. Using their signature styles – Kawaguchi typically paints greyscale images of Asian women while Imagine applies graffiti techniques and mixes in Sanskrit references – the two artists painted a mysterious woman in black and white, with a bright-orange-and-cobalt veil over her head and spread across the lower half of her face. As she gazes at you over that veil, her hands are pressed together in prayer. Don’t miss it.

While RiNo may be known for its splashy murals, the most compelling alley gallery is in the Golden Triangle. Right behind Stoney’s in the 1100 block between Lincoln and Broadway, you can still find work produced for the 2018 Colorcon by some of Denver’s finest muralists, including A.L. Grime, who used her signature abstraction to paint the black-and-white face of a girl emerging from meticulous line work. Head down the alley and you’ll see an icy blue cave by Kendall Rose, stylized and colorful portraits by the Worst Crew, a bright iguana climbing a wall covered in painted leaves by the Designosaur, and a detailed mandala by Damon Soule.

Sure, it’s nice to stroll the streets of Denver, whether you’re on an urban hike or just a mindless meander, and see all the wonderful street art and murals that grace this city’s walls. But it’s also nice to know what you’re looking at, the background of the artist who created the piece, and the history of the neighborhood in which you’re walking. And that’s what the Denver Graffiti Tour delivers, at 10 a.m. every Saturday and Sunday, along with an acknowledgement of the gentrification issues that many associate with the murals. As co-owner Erin Spradlin told us last year, “We noticed it and were really bothered by that, so we started to speak about it in the tour and noticed people really responded to that.”

denvergraffititour.com

If you’re driving along East 39th Avenue heading to Steele Street, you’ll see a curling ribbon of steel swirling in an arc overhead. No, it’s not an errant part of the Interstate 70 project; it’s a great piece of public art installed in 2021. Denver Public Art commissioned the work from acclaimed sculptor DeWitt Godfrey, who took a stark departure from the stacked, conical works he’s known for to create this cascading sculpture. But what makes the work so compelling is its metaphorical acknowledgment of its surroundings: The metal materials point to the industrial history of its environment, while the structure serves as a portal to discovering the potential of your surroundings.

denverpublicart.org/public-arts/eastgate

When you enter the icy, cavernous world of Eemia, you’ll see two throne-like structures in the shape of robots. Not only can you pose for pics there, but you’ll be given access to an array of controls, knobs and handles that if maneuvered a certain way create a wormhole vortex in the normally star-filled sky above. At Convergence Station, the sky is never the limit.