Durango’s new arts and culture program, which derives money from the lodgers tax, provided $500,000 across 36 projects and created at least four jobs in 2022, its first year in existence.
Tommy Crosby, business development coordinator for Durango, said the program exceeded his expectations. Across the two application periods this year, the Durango Creative Economy Commission received 62 applications that totaled just shy of $2 million in requested funding.
But the city had only $500,000 to allocate this year, which was split down the middle for use in the spring and late summer application periods, he said.
With total funding limited, the program was born into an “extremely competitive” environment, Crosby said, and it has “fantastic momentum” moving into its second year, 2023.
The Creative Economy Commission has been working in close partnership with the Durango Creative District to strengthen the collaborative approach applicants are taking in submitting applications.
In the second round, Durango’s Creative Economy Commission chose 17 recipients for project funding between $5,000 and $50,000 each, the limit for individual projects established at the start of the program, he said.
Accepted projects in the second round include the Durango Cowboy Poetry Gathering, which took place Sept. 29 through Oct. 2; “Native Blade,” a multimedia storytelling project highlighting Indigenous communities; an after school arts program about music and visual arts; and new equipment for several metal fabrication outlets; among other projects, Crosby said.
Including the first application round earlier this year, the lodgers tax arts and culture fund has contributed to murals, music festivals, youth art scholarships and education courses. It has also assisted art-related venues to purchase new equipment and upgrades for their venues and subsidized “a handful of storytelling projects,” he said.
The program has also created room for at least four new jobs, although the Creative Economy Commission is still running through the numbers of the program’s total impact, he said.
“When we talk about the creative economy in Durango, there’s a lot more to it than just the public art that we see walking around town,” Crosby said. “Some of these projects, when we’re talking about replacing a roof, they’re working with local contractors. When we’re talking about education classes, we’re bringing in multiple experts in the field of music or visual arts or performing arts.”
He said the “ripple effect” seen by inserting arts and culture funding into various projects is “far and wide.”
“It’s been a fantastic mix of projects that will create new, visible public art as well as projects that are going to be a little bit longer-term, more sustainable, such as creating more courses for youths, providing artists and creatives with new equipment to enhance the projects that they’re able to undertake, and really try to act as kind of a multiplier,” he said.
Part of the Creative Economy Commission’s evaluation of the project for 2022 includes consideration of how it can grow in the future. What is the possible impact of the program in one year? What about in 10 years?
“And how will we see that funding multiply into more jobs created, drawing in more visitors, strengthening the regional creative economy?” he said.
That’s what Crosby and the commission are looking into.
As far as what the program will look like in 2023, the budget is still being finalized by the city. But the commission has received feedback from both organizations that were awarded funding this year and ones that were not awarded.
Crosby said the city wants to create connections and emphasize the potential for collaboration between organizations when it comes to submitting funding applications. If two organizations are working on similar projects, they could partner up and request funding through one application.
Artists and venues looking for a boost for their projects will have another chance to apply with the commission for 2023 funding. But they’d better start thinking of how to pitch their requests because the first round of funding for 2023 opens on Nov. 15 and closes on Jan. 31, he said. The second round of funding for next year closes on May 31.
“There’s going to be a lot more outreach, training, Q&A sessions around the community to again really help enhance some of those applications that are submitted and try to make this process even more collaborative in 2023,” he said.
cburney@durangoherald.com
