Author: John Moore Special to The Denver Gazette
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Colorado Symphony announces 90 concerts starting on Sept. 17
The Colorado Symphony has announced its long-awaited return to normal concert operations with a 2021-22 season featuring 49 titles across 90 concerts beginning Sept. 17 at downtown’s Boettcher Concert Hall. Among the highlights will be an April 2 concert appearance by Leslie Odom, Jr., who was nominated for a 2021 Academy Award for his performance…
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Meow Wolf brings big boost to Denver arts employment
No one knows exactly what Meow Wolf Denver will turn out to be just yet — that’s part of the intrigue that will reveal itself when the hipster arts and entertainment installation opens Sept. 17 at the juncture of I-25 and the Colfax Avenue viaduct. But one thing that’s already as clear as the eyeballs…
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Pandemic brings new wave of arts leaders
It became clear early on that the pandemic was going to bring a major shakeup to Colorado’s arts leadership ranks – it just wasn’t clear how that shuffle was going to play out. But with at least seven major positions having been filled since February, we now better know the new look of the local…
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Creating safe spaces for creative artists
“The show must go on” has been a popular, almost nostalgic phrase among show people for decades. It means that no matter what adversity an artist encounters on the road to opening night and beyond, any promised performance simply must be carried out at all cost. We say it like it’s a badge of honor…
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Denver’s garage band kings
The Duke Street Kings might just be Denver’s longest-running garage band, having knocked around the badlands of Denver’s Front Range for 40 years. And they might be the only garage band that is also a bona fide registered charity, having raised $350,000 over the years for Habitat for Humanity and its affordable housing mission. “That’s…
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UMS music festival to return this August
The Underground Music Showcase, the largest continuously held annual music festival in Denver, will return for its 21st year from Aug. 27-29, it was announced Monday. After a hybrid COVID year, the 2021 UMS is being billed as “Back to Broadway,” and back to in-person performances. Pre-sale will start on Wednesday, May 12, at undergroundmusicshowcase.com.…
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Raanan named as Phamaly’s new director
As a kid, Ben Raanan says, “All I wanted to be when I grew up was the artistic director of a disability-centric theatre company.” On Saturday, he got his wish. Denver’s disability-affirmative Phamaly Theatre Company today named Raanan its incoming artistic director. Raanan, from Chicago, will work alongside the departing Regan Linton before officially taking…
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2020 gave Jamiylah Nelson a second chance
Many people will remember 2020 as the worst year of their lives. Jamiylah Nelson will remember 2020 as the year she went from life In prison … to a second chance at life. It’s a tale straight out of Dickens – who actually plays his own small role in this redemption story. Of all that…
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A new hire faces new, challenging times
Idris Goodwin was hired to be a leader for these times. He just could not have known at the time that these times are, well … these times. On Feb. 5, 2020, Goodwin was named the first person of color to lead the century-old Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College, which includes world-class…
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In a twist, COVID-19 creates a few arts jobs
COVID wiped out as many as 60,000 Colorado arts jobs in the first four months of the pandemic, according to research by the University of Colorado. But now that theater companies are finally getting back to performing before live audiences, it turns out the virus is creating a few arts jobs as well. There is…