Eleven years in, and KSJD radio, the community station serving Montezuma County, Southeast Utah and Northern Arizona, continues to spread its signal around the region.
In 2012, the station relocated to a historically registered building and former bank in downtown Cortez, and now it has taken on another role – venue. The Sunflower Theatre will open Sunday with a performance by folk rocker Dan Bern. Opening the show is the Carl Johnson Trio.
The idea for the theater dates back to 2006, when community members spoke up during Cortez’s comprehensive planning discussion, agreeing on the need for a stage and venue to support the arts.
“They wanted to support arts and culture, and they wanted to see a venue,” KSJD Executive Director Jeff Pope said last week in a phone interview. “There was also a non-profit effort that did some survey work, called The Montezuma Arts Council. They came to a similar conclusion. So we looked at what the options were, there was some demand, and people wanted a space that’s a real venue.”
Pope’s inspiration to include a community-supported stage within the radio station came two-fold: The space, which had been a bank, a second-hand store and other businesses, was ripe for a remodel, and it fits well with the KSJD mission. Nearby Crow Canyon recently lost its lecture space; this was a chance to offer a venue for education and entertainment.
“We think of this stage as a content generation space. The community radio project is in the business of content generation” Pope said. “We like to say that by having a stage it allows to convene important conversations on the air, online and on stage and out in the community. We envision a time when we’ll be able to broadcast live things that are happening on stage, or tape them and reproduce them, whether its music, a lecture or even theatre.”
Bern has played Montezuma County before. A favorite of music programmers at KSJD, the Los Angeles-based folksinger is a sharp satirist, a funny and quick-witted songwriter, who also moonlights as a novelist and painter. With 19 studio albums in his career and another on the way, he’s a quintessential folkie in the vain of Woody Guthrie, quick with the guitar and pen to write songs voicing political commentary, current events or paying homage to America’s national pastime.
After his most recent local performance, many thought he should be the artist to open the theater.
“He said he would love to open this space,” Pope said. “One of the symbols we wanted to send out for our first show was we wanted to bring in a pro, somebody who is renowned, quirky, and independent – a lot like the people in our audience ... He’s outspoken, super-talented and a great storyteller.”
Liggett_b@fortlewis.edu. Bryant Liggett is a freelance writer and KDUR station manager.
Bryant’s best
Friday: Bluegrass with The Badly Bent, 7 p.m., $12. Bayfield Performing Arts Center at Bayfield High School, 800 C.R. 501, Bayfield, www.thebadlybent.com.
Sunday: Dan Bern and the Carl Johnson Trio, 7 p.m., $15. The Sunflower Theatre, 8 East Main St., Cortez, 516-1818.
