When a theater fills, a gallery opens its doors, or a crowd gathers for live music, the impact doesn’t end when the lights go down. 

It continues at the restaurant next door and the hotel down the street. You see it in the livelihoods of the artists, technicians, educators, suppliers, and small-business owners who make thousands of creative experiences possible each year. 

Our nonprofit arts and culture industry contributes $184.6 million in annual economic activity across the Pikes Peak region and supports 2,869 jobs. If we include for-profits, those numbers dramatically grow into a comprehensive portrait of our region’s creative industries: film and media, performing arts, design and architecture, visual arts and crafts, literary and publishing, and heritage and cultural assets. 

A new snapshot study of 11 local cultural attractions gives us an even clearer picture. Together, those attractions welcomed more than 1 million attendees in 2025, including an estimated 394,914 tourists, generating about 234,579 local hotel-room nights. Nearly half of the visitors to our region participate in an arts or cultural activity while they’re here, and cultural tourists stay longer and spend 17% more than average visitors. 

They may come for a performance, a museum, or a gallery, but that usually isn’t the whole day. They also have dinner. They browse nearby shops. They stay overnight and tell someone back home about the place they discovered. The economic impact moves through our community in ways that are easy to miss if we’re only looking at what happens inside the venues — and when those visitors leave, their stories build our reputation as a cultural destination in Colorado. 

Local residents are part of this impact. Every time we purchase a ticket, attend a festival, shop locally or invite a friend to something they haven’t tried before, we fuel the creative economy humming around us. 

This October, Arts Month offers more than 200 events across El Paso and Teller counties. Get curious and discover a local film, hear a musician who becomes a new favorite, attend a reading, explore a museum, sample the work of a culinary creator, or spend an afternoon in a neighborhood gallery.  

This year’s Arts Month theme, “Made for the Moment“, celebrates real art as it happens in real time. Artists begin those moments, but audiences co-create them through their attention, energy, and response. Anyone who has caught their breath during a live song, watched people take pictures with a sculpture downtown, or heard a crowd break out in laughter knows that the people who show up make the moment, too.

I’ve seen that happen again and again across our region. It’s part of why I’ve worked in arts management for 24 years. I’m not alone — most of us work in this industry because we get hooked on the magic that happens in the moment, in real time, as art works in communities. 

This year also marks the 20th anniversary of the Cultural Office of the Pikes Peak Region! For two decades, we’ve had the privilege of championing the artists, organizations and creative businesses that contribute so much to the region’s identity and economy. 

A great deal has changed during those 20 years. Our creative community has grown, new organizations and businesses have emerged and artists have found new ways to reach people. What hasn’t changed is how much this work depends on participation. Artists and cultural organizations need audiences, advocates, partners, and neighbors who understand that the arts are woven into the life of a healthy community. 

They’re part of why people choose to live here, why visitors return and why businesses want to invest here. They help us tell our story (including the complicated parts), and they give us places to gather, celebrate, question, remember and imagine what might come next — together. 

This Arts Month, begin with something you already love, then take a chance on something new. Bring someone who may not think of themselves as an “arts person.” Explore a neighborhood you haven’t visited before, stay for dinner and tell someone what you discovered.  

When we show up for local arts and culture, we support the artists, jobs, businesses and organizations that help define the Pikes Peak region. Explore more than 200 opportunities at ArtsOctober.com, grab a friend and be ready to make a moment!