By now, you probably have heard that Vice President Kamala Harris visited the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities on Monday to participate in a conversation with U.S. Rep. Brittany Pettersen and world-class rock climber Sasha DiGiulian about the Biden Administration’s actions to combat climate change. Here’s how it all went down:

Last Wednesday (five days out), Arvada Center CEO Philip Sneed got a call from Denver Mayor Hancock’s office looking for a venue. They were asked to send all the venue specs and floor plans. By the next afternoon, a team from the U.S. Secret Service was on site doing a walkthrough that took several hours. By Friday morning, the event was on.

“It was just a wonderful, happy circumstance that they needed a space, and ours was available,” said Sneed, whose team wrapped up a long run of the children’s play “Charlotte’s Web” on Friday. Otherwise, there would have been a conflict.

The event was invite-only, and the White House more than filled the main auditorium of 525 – another 150 or so watched on a monitor from a nearby ballroom.

For its part, the Arvada Center was allotted all of 12 seats, and Sneed had the impossible task of doling those out. Those there rubbed elbows with a who’s-who of the Colorado Democratic machine, including Gov. Jared Polis and Attorney General Phil Weiser, as well as a variety of officials from leading nonprofit causes. By Tuesday morning, pool photos showing Harris on the Arvada Center stage were in newspapers across the country.

“It was really great exposure for us, and everyone involved had high praise for our staff,” Sneed said.

David Byrne brings ‘60 Minutes’ to Denver

The Denver Center for the Performing Arts got a big national profile boost of its own on CBS’ ‘60 Minutes’ when Anderson Cooper profiled red-hot, 70-year-old Talking Heads frontman David Byrne, who is about to perform on Sunday’s Oscar telecast and will soon open his Imelda Marcus musical “Here Lies Love,” with music by Fatboy Slim, on Broadway starting June 17.

Five months ago, Cooper visited the York Street Yards to take in Byrne’s recent immersive-theater experiment “Theater of the Mind,” which was attended by 42,000, just 16 at a time. Cooper was given an exclusive performance of Byrne’s mobile play, along with a small group of DCPA employees. The CBS segment aired a small bit from the concluding scene, with Denver native Kristina Fountaine playing the role of “David” (Byrne). Cooper commented that he was particularly moved by the theme of the show, as expressed by Fountaine, that it is never too late to change your identity and tell a new story. You can watch the entire segment at cbsnews.com.

Menzel and Mentzel at Erie school

The students at Meadowlark School in Erie probably don’t know a Broadway legend when she walks into the room, but I’m guessing they recognized the voice of Elsa from Disney’s animated mega-blockbuster “Frozen.” Idina Menzel, the Tony-Award winning star of “Wicked,” dropped in on the school Monday with her sister, Cara Mentzel (yes, spelled differently) to share their new children’s book, “Loud Mouse,” with students. Cara is a former Boulder Valley School District teacher. Their story is about a mouse who loves to sing but her voice gets so loud that she becomes afraid to open her mouth until her little sister restores her confidence. “Loud Mouse” is available on Amazon.com.

Briefly …

Saturday is a big day for Boulder’s not-so-little Local Theatre Company, which completes the full circle from conception to world-premiere staging of its own creation, “Undone: The Lady M Project,” written by Hadley Kamminga-Peck, Anne Penner and Mare Trevathan. The timely story imagines Lady Macbeth in the afterlife on trial in the court of public opinion. The overriding question it asks: Why is society so afraid of decisive, powerful women? “Undone” plays through March 26 at the Savoy Denver, 2700 Arapahoe St. Information at localtheaterco.org …

You’re likely hearing of many ways to celebrate March as Women’s History Month (thank goodness). Legendary Denver jazz club Dazzle is touting what it is calling a “women-centric lineup,” with 14 female bandleaders, instrumentalists and vocalists performing throughout March. “Women have always been a part of the jazz tradition, but historically, female instrumentalists haven’t had equal visibility,” said Dazzle’s Kelley Dawkins. “It excites us to see more equal representation.” One example: Ritmo Jazz, a  seven-piece Latin group fronted by vocalist Cristine Barbosa, performs at 7 p.m. March 16 at Dazzle, 1512 Curtis St. Info at dazzledenver.com.

And finally, from Basalt …

Last weekend, I had my first opportunity to visit TACAW (The Arts Campus at Willits), a spiffy, year-old events venue in Basalt, 110 miles west of Denver. TACAW is a 400-ish seat arts center suitable for concerts, theater, lectures and more – and is hailed as the nation’s first sustainable, all-electric performing-arts facility that functions at or near net-zero energy usage throughout the year. An intriguing upcoming event is an evening with comedian-turned-documentarian Bobcat Goldthwait on March 18 (970-510-5365).