The Cultural Office of the Pikes Peak Region (COPPeR) is pleased to announce the 2014 Art in Storefronts program. Now in its third year, Art in Storefronts is designed to help re-animate Downtown Colorado Springs by inserting non-commercial art installations, art works, and interactive art displays into vacant storefront windows.
This year’s program is generously sponsored by Kirkpatrick Bank. “Kirkpatrick Bank pursues many opportunities to invest in the ideas and dreams of business people in the community we serve. We think of ourselves as champions of opportunity, so this project was appealing to us as a visionary idea of how the arts and economics combine to grow a more vibrant community,” says Trent Stafford, Colorado Market President.
The 2014 Art in Storefronts program will feature five “donated” storefront locations on Bijou Street between Nevada and Cascade, and five participating arts organizations from the Downtown Colorado Springs area: UCCS’s Galleries of Contemporary Art, The Modbo, Pikes Peak Arts Council, Pikes Peak Community College, and Cottonwood Center for the Arts. Each participating organization is responsible for identifying one or more exhibiting artists and installing the actual window displays. All five installation projects will open for public viewing during the First Friday event from 5-8PM on May 2, and will remain on display through the end of the calendar year. A special thanks to property owners Sam Eppley and Kathleen Venezia of Vintage Company for sharing their storefront spaces!
The goals of the Art in Storefronts program are to brighten the Downtown area, increase Downtown foot traffic, highlight local artistic talent, and raise the general visibility of the arts in our community. For local property owners, it’s also a creative way to showcase their empty storefronts to potential renters. “The Art in Storefronts program is a great example of how the arts and business communities can work together to support the vitality of our Downtown,” says Andy Vick, executive director of COPPeR. Printed walking maps with information about the displays in each of the Art in Storefronts locations will be available throughout the Downtown at various locations, and similar information will be available on the COPPeR website at www.culturaloffice.org.
