Opened in 1997, the Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College is home to performances from across our community, and Colorado is a place that encourages creativity. A recent study by the National Endowment for the Arts found that of all 50 states, Colorado has the highest percentage of residents who create or perform works of art. If you look around Durango, this is no surprise.
March’s Durango Celtic Festival featured six local bands that played on the Concert Hall stage alongside artists from Ireland, Scotland and England. Upcoming community events are 444 Dance, Bella Dance, Durango Dance, San Juan Symphony and both Animas and GOAL High School graduations. This spring, Fort Lewis College Music Department shows off the always important end-of-semester performances from the college’s orchestra, choir, jazz and percussion ensembles. Local dancers, musicians and students creating in our town shows us why “community” is in the Community Concert Hall’s name.
Community takes center stage this summer with the “Concert Hall @ The Park” free concerts in Buckley Park. The first concert takes place on June 20, followed each week, ending on Aug. 1. This year is our 13th, presented by the Community Concert Hall and by Alpine Bank. Also supported by KDUR Community Radio and the city of Durango, the free concerts are our way of bringing the Community Concert Hall into downtown Durango. Featured this summer are Leon Timbo and His Family Band, Vespüs Marimba Band, The Sweet Lizzy Project, Levi Platero, Beatlegras and Jessee Lee. Picnics, blankets, lawn chairs and non-alcoholic beverages are encouraged, and small food items are for sale by Fired Up Pizza and Grassburger. The city of Durango’s activities will take the stage on Thursday, the Fourth of July.
If this list isn’t enough, our community continues to show off with more summer offerings. Community favorite Michael Franti and Spearhead visit Memorial Day weekend; Colorado’s Big Head Todd and the Monsters perform two shows in June; Concert Hall Backstage Pass Concert Series, featuring Nashville songwriters Danny Myrick and Megan Linnville seat 100 guests on the Concert Hall stage; and Music in the Mountains Classical Music Festival returns in July and August. Summer at the Concert Hall wraps up in late August with “Nashville Songs and Stories: Writers in the Round.”
Whether you experience a performance in a park, in a concert hall, a theater, restaurant, club or on the street, I think you will see why Colorado is ranked as the No. 1 state for art creation. Durango and FLC make certain community is the first word on our name: Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College.
Want to know what’s happening at the Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College? Tickets are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week at durangoconcerts.com. While there, subscribe to our newsletter and like us on Facebook and Instagram.
Charles Leslie is director of the Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College.
