The Snowdown Follies are in full swing here at the Durango Arts Center. This year’s theme of “peace and love” has yielded some charming hippies hanging out on our sidewalk in advance of each of the seven productions of this wonderful variety show.

As was the case with art and expression back in the 1960s, the Snowdown week of events is being stretched and forged as new ideas take shape. What was designed just as many years ago to be a celebration of a break between tourist peak times has resulted in more tourists coming to enjoy the festivities, and we are delighted to welcome everyone. That’s precisely what art is supposed to do. The best part about the Snowdown week in Durango is that it couples the creative spirit of our fair town with a decent amount of debauchery and we view many of the more serious events of the past year through the lens of humor. Life is short, and arguably, getting shorter. We may as well have some fun.

If you missed the Kids Follies, arguably the most amazing talent show on planet Earth, please be sure to get on over here next year as the youths of our community will entertain you with a host of performances, each one more spectacular than the last. I personally feel a great sense of pride for these kids, as well as a tremendous amount of hope for the future because the talent is nothing short of incredible. Looks like the Snowdown Follies are set for a long time!

We have all the things you need right here downtown at the DAC – from youth and adult art classes to community theater performances, film festivals and special events, to summer camps and a gallery with local art exhibits all year long and a very special Artisan’s Market.

It seems there’s something going on in here just about every evening, and the energy in the building just keeps building as people bring their respective talents and interests to share. When I think about art within the framework of life, it seems as though it is said best in a profound piece of filmmaking from 1989:

The film “Dead Poet’s Society” starring Robin Williams was set in 1959, just shy of the ’60s that gave rise to the anti-war sentiments and the ideals of peace and free love. In it, WIlliams plays a thoughtful and sensitive boarding school instructor who is ostracized by the administration for his thoughts about love and antiquated social constructs. His sentiment was a prelude to the resistance and the breakdown of the conventional paradigms of the times, and I love it: Medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.

Ain’t it the truth? Happy hippie Snowdown, friends. Peace and love to you from all of us at the DAC. If you or a friend would benefit from engaging with the DAC or learning more, please email me to set a coffee date: brenda@durangoarts.org.

Email info@durangoarts.org. Buy tickets, donate, become a member, register for classes and keep in touch at DurangoArts.org.

Brenda Macon has been executive director of Durango Arts Center since 2018.