Update 10/12: Article incorrectly stated that there was $80,000 in grants available through the Denver Music Advancement Fund. Following the submissions, Denver Arts and Venues increased the amount of money offered to $100,000. The article has been updated accordingly.
Denver Arts and Venues has announced the recipients of the 2018 Denver Music Advancement Fund Grant, as well as the IMAGINE 2020 Fund Grant. To reiterate, the Denver Music Advancement Fund and IMAGINE 2020 Grant were created to accompany Denver’s long-term initiative to build and maintain the city’s music scene as part of the city-sponsored Denver Music Strategy. 2018 is the pilot year of the Denver Advancement Fund Grant, which was initially set to provide $80,000 to spur local music growth but, has since increased to $100,000.
Each applicant of the Denver Advancement Fund can be awarded a maximum of $7,500 in support of Denver’s music scene. Likewise, the IMAGINE 2020 Fund, a grant now in its fourth year, also provides a maximum of $7,500, but for newly innovative and creative programs inspired by one or more of the seven attributes outlined in Denver’s IMAGINE 2020 Cultural Plan — integration, amplification, accessibility, lifelong learning, local talent, economic vitality and collective leadership.
Those awarded one or both of the grants span the gamut from professional organizations like Rocky Mountain PBS to individual artists pursuing their musical ambitions. The deadline for application was originally August 3 but was extended until August 10 to incorporate more ideas and applicants. For the Denver Advancement Fund, nearly 100 applied and 30 grantees were selected, whereas for the IMAGINE 2020 Fund Grant, 70 applications were submitted and 27 recipients were chosen. The recipients are as follows:
2018 Denver Music Advancement Fund Grantees as provided by Denver Arts and Venues
7th Circle Collective: AV Club
Adam Baumeister: Colorado Audio Archive
Adrian H. Molina: Rap as Literature
Amber Blais: Zabiti – An Immersive Circus Adventure
Andre Carbonell: Insomniacs Live
ArtHyve: Escaping Erasure: A Musician’s Guide to Archiving
Birdseed Collective: Globeville Center “Visionary Music Program”
Black in Bluhm Project: The Black in Bluhm Project (BiBP)
Bring Music to Life: Instruments to Support Denver Public Schools
Catherine Beeson: Sensory Friendly Family Concerts
Denver Bass Squad: Double Bass Doubling
Denver Children’s Choir: Neighborhood Choir Program
Denver Public Library: United by Music / Unidos Por La Musica
Denver Young Artists Orchestra Association: DYAO Cultural Exchange Central European Tour
DocuWest Film Festival: Film and Music Festival
El Sistema Colorado: Professional Development for Teaching Artists
Girls Rock Denver: Girls Rock After School Program
Lauren Kashuk: shesaid.so Denver
Levitt Denver: BandStart – Inspiring, Teaching, Engaging in Music (ITEM) Performance Series
Nathan Hall: Active Music
Patrick Riley: Mutually Detrimental – Denver ArtistsFund
Su Teatro: Inclusive or Derivative Workshops and Performances
The Black Box, LLC: Studio and Career Exploration
The HadaNou Collective: Vocal Coalition presents Universo Holografico con 2MX2
The Hollow, LLC: Mental Wellness Meetup
The Newman Center: Musical Explorers
Think 360 Arts for Learning: Colorado Song Laboratory: Where History Meets Tomorrow
Toluwanimi Obiwole: Rhyme and Rhythms
West Community Economic Development Corporation: Músicos de Westwood
Youth on Record: My Youth on Record Podcast: The Past, Present, Future of the Colorado Sound
IMAGINE 2020 Fund Grantees for 2018
Access Gallery: Art of Access Alliance Programming
Cherry Creek Arts Festival: CherryArts’ Mobile ArtCart – Ink the Neighborhood
Colorado Artists of Color: InterFest Colorado
Colorado Ballet Company: Tour De Force
Community Cypher: Place Matters
Curious Theatre Company: Staging Justice: Denver Faces its KKK History Through Theatre
Dencity Media, Inc.: Dencity Online Platform Launch
Edgar L. Page, Feel the Movement: The Feeling of an Emotion
Go Play Denver: From A to Zine
Kathryn Speer: Live Arts Festival
Latino Cultural Arts Center: Building Creativity Into the Future!
Lisa Engelken, LLC: Breaking Barriers
Lucha Martinez de Luna: Chicano Murals Website/Archive
Metropolitan State University of Denver Foundation, Inc.: Creative Industries Internship
Mirror Image Arts: It Starts With Us – Empathy through Collaborative Theatre Making
No Easy Props, Inc: Queenz of Hip-Hop 10th Anniversary Jam
Phamaly Theatre Company: 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration
PlatteForum: ArtLab Underground
Rocky Mountain PBS: Rocky Mountain Public Media Arts Bureau R&D – Phase I
Sarah Megyesy: Not in My Backyard
Su Teatro: The Westside Blowouts
The Art Garage: Re\Visioned
Theatre Artibus, LLC: Recipe
Toluwanimi Obiwole: Pan African Festival
United for a New Economy: Transformative Leadership for Change – Artists in Residence
Youth Employment Academy: Vibrant Denver – Inside and Out
Youth on Record: FEMpowered