Durango City Council approved additional funding this week to support local artists applying to create public murals, sculptures, performances and other projects.

The council appropriated $60,393 on Tuesday, giving the Create Economy Commission a total of $250,000 to award in grants as part of a second round of funding. The commission had the same amount to award in its first round of funding.

The second application round is open until Aug. 31, after which the Creative Economy Commission will review applicants’ projects and decide which to fund. The first round of applications opened in May and closed June 30, and funding was awarded at the end of July.

“We really want to use this as a resource to enhance the quality of life for folks in Durango by coordinating, empowering and really celebrating the community’s cultural resources,” said Tommy Crosby, economic opportunity coordinator for the Creative Economy Commission.

He said the use of lodgers tax revenues helps the city support local arts and culture while simultaneously bolstering “cornerstone arts and culture organizations here in Durango.”

In its first round, the Creative Economy Commission purposely awarded projects that would support artists who are Black, Indigenous and other people of color, he said.

Out of 35 applicants, 19 artists, or creatives, were chosen for project funding in the first round, Crosby said. Four of the projects are public art pieces that have been or will be gifted to the city.

Projects funded during the first round included three murals, a sculpture, three construction efforts, two theater productions, artist housing, a Powerhouse Science Center exhibit, and a music festival and concert. Also funded were four education projects, including a multimedia journalism project, a youth-mentoring program, a map of local art in public spaces and museum exhibits, according to minutes from the Creative Economy Commission’s July 26 meeting.

One project was a sculpture by Jeff Wise called “Celestial Sailor,” which depicts a half-moon riding a kayak. The sculpture will be installed at the 32nd Street pedestrian bridge and is a fitting representation of Durango’s water and kayak culture, he said. It will be visible from the Animas River and the adjacent river trail, from the road and from trains along the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad.

Another sculpture funded in the first round of lodgers tax dole-outs is called “Our World” and is being created by Alexander Bond in a metal working after-school program he organized. Crosby said the sculpture will eventually replace a temporary sculpture at the Carnegie Building at 12th Street and East Second Avenue.

As part of the project, Bond created an eight-week after-school program in which youth participants will be paired with an adult mentor to practice metal working. The kids and mentors will receive stipends for their time spent on the sculpture, Crosby said.

A decorative “Serpent Motif” is being planned by Maddie Sanders who seeks to beautify a retaining wall where Main Avenue, 14th Street and Camino del Rio intersect.

“It’s at one of those central intersections within Durango that will receive many views and (will do) a fantastic job of activating otherwise unused spaces with public art,” Crosby said.

Stillwater Music, a music school on Main Avenue, received funding for a new multipurpose performing arts venue with a 120- to 150-person capacity, Crosby said.

The Merely Players received funding for its scheduled November performances of “The Half-Life of Marie Curie,” he said.

And “Love Letters,” a downtown Durango mural by Jenn Rawling on the south wall of the Crossroads Building on Main Avenue, also received funding. Crosby said Rawling and her team of artists spent more than 300 hours working on the piece. They entertained passersby and invited tourists to take photos of their work in progress.

A multimedia and archival storytelling project also received funding from the Creative Economy Commission. The project is spearheaded by freelance journalist Jamie Wanzek and Kirbie Bennett, who spoke at Tuesday’s City Council meeting to advocate for more lodgers tax funds to be allocated to arts and culture efforts in Durango.

Wanzek, who grew up in Durango, told City Council she and Bennett have been working for months on a project that tells untold stories of Durango’s history through the perspectives of Indigenous and Chicano residents.

“We have been gathering oral interviews from people who grew up in Durango and have watched Durango change through gentrification,” she said. “So we’ve been documenting these stories and we want to share these stories with the community. And this funding will help us do that.”

She hopes funding from the lodgers tax will help support other artists and projects.

“If our community wants to support culture, you have to support these sorts of projects and these sorts of intentions,” she said.

Applications for the second round of funding are being accepted through Aug. 31 and can be found online at https://bit.ly/3awVV4R.

cburney@durangoherald.com