It’s easy for children to feel lost and alone in a city that caters to outsiders, particularly wealthy tourists from out of state, said Alex Vic, co-founder and creative director at The Hive DGO.
He said The Hive’s mission is to empower youths and be a counter force to displacement by providing children and young adults a community where they can be themselves.
The nonprofit itself was displaced last year after its three-year lease at 1150 Main Ave. was not renewed. Kelsie Borland, The Hive executive director and co-founder, called the episode a “tragedy.”
But it has bounced back with a new location at 1175 Camino del Rio, which opened Sept. 10.
“I was pretty devastated,” eighth grader Hudson Hughes, 13, said about The Hive closing its doors last year. He’s been going to The Hive since he was in fourth grade.
He likes skateboarding, but he didn’t do much of it during The Hive’s hiatus, he said.
When Vick reached out to Hudson’s mother, Julie Hughes, to inform them of The Hive’s reopening, he also extended an invitation to Hudson to help rebuild the skatepark.
“He was really stoked,” Hughes said.
Hudson learned how to use tools during the rebuild, and now he’s teaching younger kids how to skateboard. He said it’s cool teaching others while he’s still learning too.
“All the coaches are great,” he said. “Everyone's super friendly. It's like a very zero-judgment area. It’s just a great place for anyone to come to.”
Hughes said she’s been close to the skateboard scene her whole life, and it admittedly hasn’t always attracted the most well-behaved crowds. The Hive offers a healthy, safe environment for kids to try it out.
Some summer and winter programs such as snowboarding continued during the nonprofit’s search for a new building, but having a headquarters once again will bolster programming and The Hive’s ability to support young people, Borland said.
The new building features The Hive’s signature indoor skatepark, pieces of which were moved from the old space on Main Avenue and built anew. The building also boasts a music and art venue dubbed The Swarm.
Inside, cabinets crammed with art supplies, skateboard decks and sound equipment line the walls. A wooden stage rests in one corner of the open floor room. Garage bay doors leading to a parking lot promise more space if needed for large events.
Avery Herrera, a member of The Hive’s Youth Board of Directors, said the new location along Camino del Rio is “way more accessible for more people.”
The Hive is a short distance from the city of Durango’s outdoor skate park across the Animas River.
Herrera has been occupied with organizing a food pantry for kids who don’t have ideal access to food. He said The Hive is working with Manna soup kitchen and Fort Lewis College to source snacks such as fresh fruits, vegetables and chips.
About The Hive
Activities at The Hive like skateboarding, music-making and other art forms allow children to work with adults who share the same passions.
When children see an adult mentor fall off a skateboard, get back up and try again, the idea that failure is a normal part of growth is reinforced, said Alex Vick, The Hive creative director and co-founder.
“We want people to connect where they want to, not to be told,” he said.
He said kids spend their days in school taking directions and being told what to do. At The Hive, kids choose to do what they want.
“We offer this same opportunity to our volunteers and facilitators,” he said. “What are you interested in? What are you passionate about? Because your passion will be contagious and get these kids passionate as well.”
The Hive hosts one to two live music shows per month, inviting musicians from as far as Canada to perform in a safe, sober space open to people of all ages.
Vick said the shows give kids a chance to connect directly with musicians and artists.
The Hive also features programs such as skateboarding lessons and mixed media arts classes. Kids even have the chance to build their own skateboards. The kids who are old enough may even get to wield a jigsaw to carve out their own decks.
Director and co-founder Kelsie Borland said it also has a Pay it Forward program in which donations fund free enrollment for youths.
“We at The Hive prioritize serving the underserved and ensuring that youth that can’t pay don’t have to worry about it,” she said. “We don’t have a scholarship application, we don’t have a process. We don’t even need them to say, ‘I’m too broke, I can’t do this.’”
Community members can donate online at The Hive’s website at thehivedgo.org/.
“Trying to build that pot of money is a priority right now, so that anybody that comes in here to go to a class or utilize our space is good to go,” Borland said.
Borland said it was a journey for The Hive to find the right building, secure funding and pass permitting requirements. The permitting was the longest part of the process, which started in June last year.
The Hive signed its lease in February, she said. Creative Director and co-founder Alex Vick began designing the new skatepark in March and started construction in April. The skatepark was completed about a month ago.
The Hive received grant funding from Visit Durango and the city of Durango’s lodgers tax arts and culture fund that helped make the skatepark and murals within the building possible, Borland said.
Vick said Borland led the way in fundraising. Alpine Lumber and local builders donated lumber to build the skatepark.
He said local builders Dan Connet and Kyle Wiley Nosek helped Vick ensure his designs would work in the approximately 2,500-square-feet of space available.
Borland said Gap to Gap Carpentry donated a lot of time to the build.
Volunteers pitched in to help complete surfacing and decking on the ramps and half-pipes.
The skatepark is what sets The Hive apart from other organizations focused on serving the Durango community, Vick said.
For one, Durango simply needs an indoor skatepark. The Hive provides that amenity to skaters of all ages and all forms – skateboarders, roller skaters, scooter riders and so on, he said.
Then, there’s the environment The Hive strives to create. One that is free from seediness.
“Every skate park I’ve ever been in, there’s been real positive things and some negative things, like drug use and fights,” Vick said.
When Vick and Borland envisioned an indoor skatepark, they wanted to capture all the positive experiences skateparks provide while avoiding negative ones.
Even though skating is an individual sport, it contains group elements through camaraderie. The skatepark represents the core of The Hive’s mission: to give kids a safe space to try, fail and grow.
Vick said skateboarding teaches discipline, humility and the learning process.
“It comes with an immediate gratification as you learn,” he said. “You learn through falling, and then the success that you get to experience is the group activity part, where everyone’s hyping you up and cheering you on.”
He said achieving success after falling over and over is “super empowering, super positive.”
Whether it’s the skatepark, the music venue or art space, kids have outlets to express themselves and meet adult mentors who share their passions, Borland said.
“Youth that are typically on the alternative side, that don’t always have a mentor at school or playing sports or in clubs, need those adult mentors to share the same passions,” she said.
That’s what The Hive is all about, she said. It stresses values such as courage, discipline and integrity.
Skyler Torrey, 17, an alumnus of The Hive’s winter snowboarding program, plans to become a mentor at The Hive. He wants to provide snowboarding and skateboarding lessons to offer the same kind of mentorship he received at The Hive when he was about 14 years old.
Torrey said he’s had “some really nasty falls” snowboarding – he broke his wrist once – but he learned from his mistakes and felt more confident for the next ride.
Mentorships at The Hive go further than sports practice, he said. He remembers being able to call his mentor for anything when he was having a hard time.
“I met a lot of great new people, and I was really struggling with my living situation and everything,” he said.
Connecting with people over snowboarding helped Torrey get through his last year of middle school, and that support continued through his high school years, he said.
“I’m still able to see friends and people I’ve met through the program, even though they might go to different schools or have different skill sets than I do,” he said. “We’re really connected through all of our differences.”
cburney@durangoherald.com
