What’s Happening: The next generation of public art makers ...Middle East

The city of Denver is abundant in public art, from massive sculptures that adorn buildings downtown, to murals, paintings and multimedia pieces hidden in plain sight. (The huge indoor garden in terminal C at DIA, for instance, is part of the public arts program. So is the audio segment that you hear on the DIA train).

On Friday night, check out an immersive exhibit by participants in the Latino Cultural Arts Center’s public art mentorship program, a group of 15-24 year olds learning how to be the next generation in large-scale and outdoor installations.

March 19-25

Entre Espacios. In 1988, Denver Mayor Federico Peña created the city’s first public art program by directing 1% of any capital improvement project over $1 million to be set aside for art.

If you’re familiar with “Mustang” (aka Blucifer), or the Big Blue Bear peering through the window at the Convention Center, or the 60-foot-tall steel “Dancers” to the west of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, or more than 400 other works commissioned or collected by the city since 1988, then you’re familiar with Peña’s public arts program.

But what few people know is how to land one of the city’s coveted 1% commissions.

What started as a program to help high schoolers develop their portfolios at the the Latino Cultural Arts Center has expanded into workforce training for folks ages 15-24, leading them through portfolio development, budgeting, project management and branding and identity, with the hope of sending them off ready to jump on RFPs, or requests-for-proposal, for public art funding.

On Friday, the current cohort will present a one-night-only installation, “Entre Espacios,” featuring work that they were given 10 weeks to design and execute. High school participants were provided a $150 budget, while early career artists received $300. The assignment challenged them to move off the walls and into the realm of 3D works, creating immersive environments that reflect their different art practices.

“When you take that to Federico Peña’s 1% for Public Art, that was for local artists to be able to talk about what’s happening in the town they live in. Instead of making art for collectors, how about we talk to the audience in a way that’s coherent, and exciting, and in a way that brings people in?” said Andrew Shepherd, the program’s mentoring coordinator. “Public art is for everybody. If these kids can learn to talk to everybody, then they can talk to anybody.”

Free; 6-8 p.m., March 20; 1420 N. Ogden St., Denver

Other events to consider

Note: This is a curated list by the reporter to give readers a sense of arts and culture events happening across Colorado that they may not have otherwise known about. This is not meant to be an exhaustive account of things to do.

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