FoCo Creates: Arts and Culture Master Plan

showcase on public access tv

Did you know FC has a public access TV station in the Carnegie building? - use it to showcase your art -have your non-profit partner for informative videos

On the Carnegie Center: Great opportunity to have a black box performance space within a building that can serve the local makers and Foco.

It can serve as: performance space, education center for grants etc, research and collaboration within the science and artistic community, a place for ideas to percolate and grow, ability to house residencies and so many other things.

Love the focus on equity and inclusion not only as a goal, throughout document.

Neighborhood Art Hubs

Each neighborhood area utilizes a local park/space for pop-up art festivities: performance: street theatre, music, open mic, craft fair, poetry slam, etc.

Provide support for attending arts and culture conferences

Our artists and cultural entrepreneurs need to have access to the latest ideas and developments in order to play their full part in contributing to a thriving arts and culture scene in Fort Collins. Yet few can afford to cover the necessary travel, accommodation and fees. Fort Collins should launch a travel fund that can expand city-wide access to the trends and business practices that are equal to improving the health and fuel the growth of our sector.

Nothing controversial!

Nothing controversial! Because it divides! Do something that EVERYONE will enjoy!

Tagline Ideas

To help jump-start our brainstorming for taglines, here are some rough ideas: One Town, Many Voices. / Living Together, Working Together, Creating Together. / Where Culture Has Lease. / Collectively Creating The Future. / Creating The Future Together. / A Tapestry Of Possibilities. / A Tapestry Of Purpose. / Living Art. / The United States Of Creativity. / The United States Of Artistry. / The United States Of Possibility. / Evolve. Emerge. Expand. / Becoming. /

Transcend "World Class"

Certainly to some, the term "world class" can refer to professionalism, polish, perfection. To others, the 20th century notion of "world class" could carry with it a sense of elitism or exclusivity. What if we try to transcend the term and just shoot for something with a sense of being seasoned, intentional, collaborative and relevant? Fort Collins creative culture is in a state of becoming. Its 21st century identity as a town of multiple cultures has yet to coalesce. We're just at the beginning. We need to address and nurture that. Who are we? What do we stand for? What do we believe? What boundaries are we exceeding? Let's leave room for exploration and discovery of our collective identity. Make allowances for 21st century change. When Fort Collins finds itself, we can then begin to have an impact upon the world at large. We can take our place as relevant citizens of the world. That would be a great discussion to have. If we try to define ourselves right now, we run the risk of becoming an anachronism. If we pat ourselves on the back for simply having people of different cultures perform in a production of "The Magic Flute," we've missed the mark.

Global Village Museum

This Museum adds a dimension to the educational foundation in our community by bringing exhibits of arts and cultures around the world. The opportunities to expand and enhance our knowledge of our global existence by seeing real artifacts loaned for the exhibits by our friends and fellow citizens is unique in our state. We should do whatever we can to preserve this local asset.

Start a "design week" type of event (only different) utilizing the Richardson Design Center at CSU, bringing together STEAM components

Design has been getting a lot of international attention lately. Many cities across the world are hosting design weeks, including Denver. How can we tap into that ethos, while using Fort Collins' identity as a creative start up hub to focus on how the arts contribute to business, good design, and all aspects of life?

Black Box Theater

A multi-use black box theater space for exploration and performance of next-generation performance that encourages creative collisions of music, dance, theater and technology. The space could host experiences as diverse as alternative electronic music, Native American dance, 21st century performance art, tech-enhanced dance (e.g. wearable LED costuming), etc. Cultural collisions would also be interesting to explore, such as Latin dance meets R&B with Nam June Paik-inspired video projection mapping. The space would be open to all creatives who seek to develop a new artistic voice through collaboration and experimentation. Cost of the space's use could be supplemented by corporate and private sponsorships. The pitch could be that participating and investing in helping FoCo to define itself artistically and culturally. This would make use of the space free or affordable. So, whaddya say? Shall we do this? 👍🏿

Studio Tours of Author Workspaces

Like the artists studio tours, we could do a similar one for authors. There are many in our community, some of who are also artists. This would be one way to connect to creatives and get a chance to talk to authors who typically aren't visible workers. This could be combined with readings or some kind of poetry creation project with the public.

Large-Scale Convention Center

Fort Collins has no large-scale accessible meeting and convention space. Almost all existing cultural works must be hosted at The Lincoln Center (which maxes out below 5K attendees) or a local hotel, almost all of which max out below 5K attendees. As a result, Fort Collins misses out on many cultural, artistic, and economic event opportunities that typically land at The Ranch, BEC, or Embassy Suites in Loveland.