Downtown Denver Partnership encouraged business-hosted events downtown through the announcement of a $350,000 grant program Monday.

Starting next week, Denver businesses are able to apply for grants between $5,000 and $25,000 for doing their own downtown events — which Denver is calling the “Dynamic Downtown Denver Grant Program.”

The more than $350,000 dedicated for this grant program is to “invite community groups and organizations to help come and bring all the spirit of the city to downtown Denver,” Mayor Mike Johnston said during Monday’s press conference.

Events could include things like pickleball tournaments, parking lot performances, local artists doing murals, pop-up galleries, and “all the things that help the great innovators, creators, builders in Denver have a chance to come show those wares off in the city and also help activate our downtown in a way that we know makes everyone remember why they fell in love with downtown Denver in the first place.”

Downtown Denver Partnership CEO Kourtny Garrett joined the mayor and said: “There’s no better way to bring our community together to re-energize downtown and re-instill a collective love for downtown than through music, through art, culture and celebration.”

Denver businesses and the downtown area are at a critical juncture at this time due to pandemic recoveries, Garrett said.

“We are looking at areas that have been most impacted by the pandemic where we see declining foot traffic. We really want to bring that energy and life back,” Garrett said.

Johnston said during the Partnership’s recent annual meeting that Denver’s downtown redevelopment can’t be addressed without addressing homelessness first.

Downtown Denver's resurgence starts by addressing homelessness, Johnston tells business leaders

“Our belief is that these things are coordinated,” Johnston told The Denver Gazette on addressing homelessness before downtown developments. “We both want to get people into housing. We want to be able to help enforce and keep those streets safe and we want to be able to really revive people’s love for downtown Denver.

“This is connected to the same effort as a two-part process.”

Downtown developments, highlighted by the Partnership, range from building projects, park landscaping, Speer Boulevard developments, Skyline Park improvements, and the $150 million investment into the revitalized 16th Street Mall.

“The long-term benefit is the addition to the sense of community and culture, and activation in celebration of downtown Denver,” Johnston said on the grant. “These are all chances we think for those people to get stages to be able to have broader exposure to the city and to its residents.”