One thing the 2023 Denver mayoral election was not was a referendum on the arts. Of all the contentious issues that came up during the campaign ranging from encampments to armed officers in schools, support for the arts came up, well … never. Denver is lucky that way. Outgoing Mayor Michael Hancock will be remembered as a champion of the arts, and incoming Mayor Mike Johnston made it perfectly plain in his platform that’s not going to change.

“To encourage the growth of our arts scene, we need to make deliberate and purposeful decisions to make Denver one of the art centers of America,” Johnston said.

Johnston inherits a city with a vibrant creative industry that supports nearly 100,000 jobs, mostly concentrated in the music, theater, dance and visual-arts space. But Johnston would be the first to point out that while creative jobs in Denver have jumped nearly 29% over the past decade, the average price of rent in the metro area nearly doubled. And that’s discouraging artists from moving into – or staying in – the city. 

To combat that, Johnston’s platform included a promise to create a physical campus to house a permanent Artists-in-Residence program. Up to 10 artists would receive a two-year fellowship that includes housing, stipends, materials and studio space with the charge, Johnston said, “to create beautiful art that inspires the city.”

It’s an ambitious, $10 million program Johnston thinks can be paid for from philanthropic sources or as an in-kind land contribution from community leaders.

The fellowship idea would essentially be an expansion of the groundbreaking artist residency program at the RedLine Contemporary Arts Center partly funded by the city. This one would expand the kinds of eligible artists to include more disciplines.

Each artist’s fellowship would culminate in a public showing of some kind. For a visual artist, that might mean the unveiling of a large-scale mural. For a playwright, that might mean the mounting of a world-premiere production. For a filmmaker, that might mean resources and a debut screening. Along the way, all selected artists would be expected to engage with students at local public schools to help communicate the importance of the arts from an early age.

“The City of Denver will serve as these artists’ gallery; making the city a more vibrant, colorful locale,” Johnston said.

If it happens, this fellowship program would fall under the direction of Denver Arts & Venues, which acts both as a marketing agency to promote the economic vitality of the arts, while also managing big-time city-owned venues including Red Rocks, the Denver Coliseum, the Colorado Convention Center, the Denver Performing Arts Complex, the McNichols Civic Center Building, the Studio Loft above the Ellie Caulkins Opera House and, once it is refurbished and reopened in 2026, the May Bonfils Stanton Theater and Library on the former Loretto Heights College campus. Arts & Venues also oversees the city’s public-art program, runs selected events like the Five Points Jazz Festival, and updates and implements the city’s overall cultural strategy plan.

It is, by most any account, one of the most accomplished and well-run departments in Denver city government. So why are those responsible for making Denver such a friendly arts city over these past 12 years nervous?

Because, as part of Johnston’s announced commitment to transparency, equity and transformation, he’s appointed a massive transition committee called “Vibrant Denver” that is tasked with reconsidering not only the direction every major city department should go, but the people currently running them.

In all, Johnston has appointed a whopping 28 different transition committees overseeing all of the city’s existing departments and agencies. Which means, a lot of livelihoods are at stake.

All of which puts Denver Arts & Venues Executive Director Ginger White Brunetti in the awkward but potentially constructive position of having to reapply for a job she was promoted into back in 2018, after joining the department in 2005. And at a time when there has been no significant call for a major change from the policies of the outgoing mayor – at least when it comes to the arts. 

Nevertheless, an entire committee has been formed, in part to vet the field of candidates to be the next Arts & Venues Executive Director. White Brunetti is keeping understandably quiet about the whole process, except to say that she has applied. Anyone is free to do so through Monday. With a published salary range of $125,000-$213,000, the opening is sure to attract a quality field of national candidates. And to be clear: No one is picking on Arts & Venues here. In all, 35 big-time city jobs are up for grabs, from Chief Operating Officer to City Attorney to Neighborhood Outreach Liaison.    

The overall transition committee is being led by some seriously heavy hitters, including former Mayor Federico Peña, former Denver Post editor Gregory Moore, state Sen. Julie Gonzales and state Rep. Leslie Herod.

The Arts & Venues committee is being co-chaired by Nora Abrams, Director of the  Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, and Stephen Brackett, co-founder of Youth on Record, member of the band Flobots and former Music Ambassador for the State of Colorado. Public input will be welcomed at a committee meeting from 5:30-7 p.m. Friday, July 14, at the McNichols Building in Civic Center Park.

Arts & Venues has compiled an impressive list of accomplishments over the past 12 years, including opening the McNichols Building as an affordable cultural hub. Also:

• Voter approval of the $30 million restoration of Loretto Heights, which will make it the first real cultural center for southwest Denver when it opens in 2025.

• During the pandemic shutdown, Arts & Venues transformed into a major relief agency, distributing $3.2 million in city, state and federal funding to support the devastated artist community.

• Red Rocks attracted an estimated 1.54 million to ticketed events in 2022, an increase of 31.8 percent from 2021.

Given all that, the re-upping of White Brunetti as Executive Director might seem to be nothing more than an obvious and unnecessary formality on the new mayor’s part. But Jordan Fuja, Johnston’s communication manager and the spokesperson for Vibrant Denver, said the transition committees are doing much more than just sourcing names. “All of the committees are giving a list of attributes of a leader that they think would be good for their positions,” Fuja said. “They are also talking about policy priorities and giving the mayor-elect some potential policy priorities that he should consider, and what he should be focused on when it comes to the arts.”

Abrams made it clear that her work is not in any way a specific referendum on White Brunetti and her staff, but rather an opportunity to partner with the department as a whole to clarify primary objectives as the new term begins.

“Across the board, and for every transition committee, there is an expectation for us to talk about what the department’s priorities should be,” Abrams said. That might take the form of a list of goals for the first 100 days, she said – ”things that can help kick things off on a really exciting and collaborative note.”

At the end of this exhaustive process, White Brunetti might or might not still be leading the department. But Fuja believes the committee’s input will be invaluable to whoever does – including White Brunetti.

“I think of this as a re-set,” Fuja said. “It’s a good table-setter for the incoming administration – if things are going well, then to continue what’s going well. And if some things need to be re-evaluated, then to re-evaluate what needs to be changed.”

This all might seem a little squishy, given the necessarily positive and symbiotic relationships Arts & Venues appropriately develops with Denver cultural institutions of all sizes, including Abrams’. But the MCA Denver director is thrilled just to be included.

“I was honored to be invited to do this, especially with Stephen Brackett, who is a brilliant musician, educator and just all-around amazing human being,” Abrams said. “And to do it for the Mayor-elect, whose platform I really believe in. This is a great opportunity for me to galvanize a group of arts-and-culture representatives to help to set the priorities and the values that will drive both this department and this aspect of the mayor’s agenda over the next few years.”