Fifteen recipients will be awarded a total of $256,252 in the city of Durango’s second round of 2024 arts and culture funding, the city announced last week.
The funding comes from the city’s lodgers tax arts and culture fund.
Four organizations will receive funding for facility upgrades, and others will receive funding for education opportunities, murals and other public art, an art exhibition, and other creative endeavors.
Durango Economic Opportunity Manager Tommy Crosby said in an email to The Durango Herald that notable organizations awarded funding by the Durango Creative Economy Commission for funding include The Hive DGO, a community youths organization; Unsought Theatre; and Stotz Enviro-Metal.
Funding for The Hive will allow the organization, which announced in April it is losing the building it leases at 1150 Main Ave., “to move into a new space tailored to their needs, continuing to host concerts, maintain an indoor skate park, and provide a creative, sober outlet for Durango's youths,” Crosby said.
Unsought Theatre, he said, has a vision for a traveling theater for youths performers “with plays that address modern topics and themes, performed in spaces popular with youths and the creative community.”
He said the theater aims to place lesser-known local actors into the limelight.
Stotz Enviro-Metal will be able to complete a three-year project to turn Durango’s banal trolley stops into functional art pieces with Durango-centric themes.
“This final year of funding brings their original vision of artistically enhancing all trolley stops to fruition,” Crosby said.
Since 2022, the city’s lodgers tax arts and culture fund has provided more than $1.5 million to 109 projects, he said.
He said the funding is awarded through a “rigorous and comprehensive review process” involving a panel of experts consisting of two Creative Economy Commission and Durango Creative District board members; a former San Juan Symphony director; a prominent photographer and videographer; and a two-time recipient of previous arts and culture funding.
The panel holds a series of meetings lasting three days to determine which project applications they recommend the city accept. The Creative Economy Commission gives final approval on the panel’s recommendations.
The Durango Art Center received the largest share of arts and culture funding, $47,726, for the complete repair of its roof and for the replacement of theater curtains, according to city data.
The next biggest pieces of funding were awarded to the Powerhouse at $30,000 and The Hive at $29,242 for planning indoor and outdoor spaces and for completing an indoor skate park and murals, respectively.
In related news, the Creative Economy Commission is scheduled to sunset sometime in late July or early August, Crosby said. The city originally planned to sunset the commission this month.
Durango City Council will formally vote on a resolution to repeal the resolution that established the Creative Economy Commission.
From there, the city will create a Lodgers’ Tax: Arts and Culture Fund Working Group, Crosby said. The group will review applications for arts and culture funding and issue recommendations similarly to how the expert panel and Creative Economy Commission function currently.
He said he’s frequently asked what will happen to public art collections and maintenance, the Durango Creates Grant and the city’s public art master plan.
The city’s public art collection will remain under city ownership and responsibility, he said. Durango Creates grants will be funded by the city’s general fund and administered by the Durango Creative District. And the city has also worked with the district to update the city’s public art master plan.
cburney@durangoherald.com
