Welcome back to this monthly meeting of the Parks, Arts and Culture Committee of Denver City Council.

Join us and the Parks, Arts and Culture Committee starting now.

Good morning, everyone. Thanks for being here and joining us at Parks, Arts and Culture this morning.

My name is Flora Alvidrez. I have the honor of chairing this committee.

And we'll go ahead and start with introductions with council members to my right.

Good morning. Chris Hines, Denver's Perfect 10.

Morning. Chantal Lewis, District 8.

Good morning. Daryl Watson, Fine, District 9.

Awesome. Thank you, everyone.

We're so excited to have people from the SCFD here to give us an update on the plan.

So I'll let Andrea introduce yourself and then everyone else and take it away.

Thank you, Councilwoman, and thank you, members of the committee for time today.

We're really excited to share some updates about what is happening in the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District.

otherwise known as SCFD.

I am Andrea Alvo, and I am the not-so-new anymore,

about five months in, Executive Director of SCFD,

and I'd love for my colleagues who will be co-presenting with me

to introduce themselves.

Greetings, everyone.

My name is Dana Mayo-Twani.

I'm an SCFD Program Officer.

I've been with SCFD for almost nine years.

And Tariana Navas-Nieves, Deputy Executive Director

for Denver Arts and Venues,

and a longtime partner of SCFD.

Happy to be here.

Yes.

Wonderful.

Thank you. Take it away.

All right. Wonderful.

So we thought we'd start with just grounding everyone with the context of the SCFD, how it started,

and just some of the beautiful impact that it's had on our regional community.

So back in the late 80s, the Denver metro area was facing a pretty significant economic downturn.

And so there was a need to think creatively, innovatively about what to do about that

in order to not only address the downturn but preserve the sustainability of arts, culture, and science.

And so some great minds got together and formed the special district.

So we are mandated by state statute and we reauthorize about every decade.

And we'll talk some more about that.

I think the important thing to also understand is when we get it more into the tier breakdown in a few slides from now,

The reason why some of this is anchored the way it was is because of the focus on the larger Denver-based institutions like the zoo, museum, nature and science, botanic gardens, etc.

So we fund a seven-county region through a special tax that is collected, and I'll share some more about that.

So you can see here the seven counties represented on the map.

I think it's also important to recognize just the special magic that happens with this model.

We are the only sales tax funded model that funds a seven county region in the country.

And we've been in existence for nearly 40 years.

And so that's pretty special.

We, in fact, have a lot of other cities that come to study the SCFD and try to understand how they can implement that in their respective home state.

So we're happy to always share and really proud of what that looks like in terms of our uniqueness.

So the structure of how we are governed, you can see here on our chart, you know, we ultimately are here to serve the public.

And so in that seven county special district, it's about the people.

And I will tell you over the years, while I'm newer to the organization,

I am so proud to see that the SCFD continues to keep EDIA as a focal point in the way that we lead our work.

We recognize that in that seven-county region, there are often folks that don't have accessibility for lots of reasons to be able to experience this.

And so it's really important to us that we help continue to keep those EDIA conversations alive and well and make sure we're living our values.

You can see here that we have a board of directors.

It's 11 members.

They are all political appointments, and so each of the seven counties receives an opportunity to appoint someone that represents their county.

And then there are four gubernatorial appointees.

We recognize that there's a lot of change in our midst, and so with the new governor and administration coming soon, we'll see how that transition has a ripple effect here.

but we have a great group of folks and they serve three-year terms and can serve two back-to-back

terms consecutively. And for Denver County, it is actually Councilwoman Torres as the Denver rep.

From there, I report to the board of directors and then we have a fabulous team. We have,

you've met Dana and a couple other of our staff in the audience. And so there are seven of us.

We have three program officers that help to govern the work that I'll talk about in a minute.

And they also help to guide the county cultural councils,

which are mandated in statute to help preserve

some of the local control when it comes to

our smaller tier three organizations.

And then from there, we have lots of oversight

for regional and local that has a lot of nuance.

Happy to answer questions about that

if there's an interest to go a little deeper there.

But that is how we are governed

and how the work moves through different roles.

In terms of the funding, it is one-tenth of one cent

that is collected in the tax.

Another way put, for every $10 spent,

one penny of that goes into the special district fund.

And we've seen a lot of growth over the years,

so you'll see some of that in a coming slide.

How that breaks down is also very prescriptive

in the formula that's laid out in the statute.

So we have three tiers that receive various funding amounts based on formula and criteria that is very specific.

And so tier ones, which are those large five Denver-based institutions, so this is your zoo, Museum of Nature and Science, Art Museum, Botanic Gardens, and the Denver Center for Performing Arts.

They receive 64% of the tax right off the top.

From there, tier twos and threes go through an eligibility process.

and we're looking at things like attendance, financials.

For tier threes, the nuance there is that the county cultural councils,

once SCFD determines eligibility, we actually pass that information on to the respective councils,

and then the councils are empowered through the funding that we've designated to make recommendations to our board

in terms of what's approved and the amounts for the eligible organizations.

So much like what you hear in nonprofit and philanthropy, we go through eligibility and grant making cycles every year to make sure that we are compliant with the statute and the requirements laid out here for the three tiers.

So earlier I talked about the growth.

Here this slide just compares where we started in the late 80s to 2024.

We should get 2025 data here coming in Q2.

But you can see, you know, the six to seven counties, the seventh that was added was Broomfield County in 2004 when they became a city and county.

And then you can just see their, you know, large jumps in population, the number of organizations that were funding and the dollars that are being collected.

So I think this is a really positive path and we want to continue to demonstrate that.

because while we all know arts, culture, and science to be very qualitative in terms of the impact and the people-centered focus,

this is also a huge economic development driver.

And so the value proposition of why would we want to keep this going, why has it survived as long as it has,

is really looking at the different points here on this slide.

We are very fortunate to have a strong partnership with the CBCA, who does a bi-annual economic impact study.

They just released their data last fall for 2024 and demonstrated here at the top and the middle $3.12 billion was generated in economic activity.

That is huge and it's something that we want to celebrate and we want to make sure that we're continuing to foster that message in terms of why it's important to keep SCFD moving forward.

To put a little bit of that into perspective, that $3.12 billion that we've generated in economic activity is more than all the professional sports teams combined here in their economic activity.

So Broncos, Nuggets, Abs, right.

So while we love our sports teams.

Let them know.

Wait, we got to let them know.

Let them know.

There's a lot of weight here.

So it's just really.

We're the drama kids.

That's right.

That's right.

And we'll be willing to partner.

So let's do it.

You can see here 304 organizations funded in 2024,

$85 million in grants.

And then, of course, creating jobs.

So it's helping to really drive the workforce development aspect of this too.

So with that, I'm going to pass it to my colleague, Dana, to talk some more specifics about how does this look in Denver.

Great. Thank you, Andrea.

As you all know, SUD is very invested in the district.

And so we have our Denver County dashboard, which shows investment in arts, culture, and science, which is vital, fostering creativity, enhancing community and identity, driving economic growth.

In 2024, Denver County residents attended cultural organizations across all three tiers.

The county contributed $24.1 million in tax revenue to arts, culture, and science organizations.

As a result, residents engaged with SFD-funded partners 4.5 million times,

and all public schools over the county received cultural programming, which is amazing.

Next slide.

So these are Denver-based organizations, and these are according to their primary office, which are registered with the Colorado Secretary of State.

That is how we know which county organizations fall into.

This table shows the district, the Denver districts, and the number of organizations from all three tiers based in each district.

It does not indicate where programming happens.

So if you see that you may have one, that's just where their address is.

It's not the programming, but it's just...

Hold her hand right now.

So as you can see, at least one cultural organization exists in each district,

and you can refer to...

Only two?

You can refer to the Denver County organization handout in your folder

to see how many organizations fall within your district and which ones.

Thanks.

As of 2024, $64 million in SUD funding was distributed to Denver County-based organizations,

and there were 3.8 million touch points by five of the Tier 1 organizations to Denver County residents.

There were 103 Tier 1, 2, and 3 organizations based in Denver County in 2025.

Now, if you think about it, that's pretty amazing, 103 just in Denver County.

This slide shows the tier one and two organizations based in Denver.

As stated, tier one organizations are named in the statute, and that number is set.

That is, there's no organizations that can really drop or be added.

SFD's tier two currently has 15 Denver-based organizations.

Friends of Levitt Pavilion, which I believe is in, how is it?

Yeah, a district.

That's in District 7.

District 7, okay.

Insert foot.

They are the newest addition to the Tier 2 family, and they transitioned from Tier 3 in 2025.

So they just became Tier 2, which is amazing.

Allocations are based on a weighted formula, as Andrea said, outlined in the SCFD statute,

and organizations can enter Tier 2 either through the eligibility process,

meaning they come from outside of the SCFD family,

and they come directly into Tier 2 based on their qualifying annual income,

which currently is $2.1 million.

Next slide.

Tier 3 is the largest tier for funded organizations.

The next two slides that we'll show you list Denver County-based organizations

that are currently funding or have become SCFD eligible in the fall of 2025

and are eligible to apply for funding in the 2026 grant cycle, which is now.

Allocations are based on recommendations by the county cultural councils as outlined in the statute.

Each county in the district has a cultural council,

which is an all-volunteer grant panel appointed by their respective county or city council.

The county cultural councils devise guidelines,

and they review grant requests to determine what tier organizations can apply and are funded by their respective counties.

Denver County provides general operating support to organizations that can demonstrate the majority,

that is 51% of their activities are held in Denver County.

Denver County guidelines make it possible for some non-Denver-based organizations to apply to Denver County funding

by proving that they're serving the residents of Denver County,

which adds to the vibrancy of programming provided.

One example of this is the Colorado Dragon Boat Festival,

organizations based in Jefferson County.

However, right across the county line, they do an amazing festival at Sloan's Lake.

Next slide.

So as you can see, there's a lot of depth and richness to the Tier 3

that provides Denver County residents with amazing arts, culture, and science programming.

Tier 3 organizations are in every neighborhood,

and because of the cultural council that reads every grant and makes funding decisions

based on a competitive grant process,

ensures that Denver's roadmap for a thriving arts and culture ecosystem is honored.

And that concludes my presentation.

I'm going to turn it over to Teriana.

Thank you.

So as you know, Denver at St. Daniels works very closely with all of Denver or SCFD organizations from Tier 1 to Tier 3.

Having said that, we have a special longstanding relationship with SCFD with regards to Tier 3 as we administer, we manage the County Cultural Council.

And I want to give some examples of organizations we're really proud in Denver.

But before I do that, I just want to highlight the fact that the Cultural Council, as you know,

that's the body that comes to present to you and share the recommendations to the SCFT board every year.

I started with the agency in 2012, and the evolution of the council is something I'm incredibly proud of.

It's 11 members, as you know, of those three Denver Public Schools has an appointed position, Visit Denver and Arts and Venues.

And I would say that the Cultural Council has actually led a lot of the equity work when you think about, and I'm just going to name it, with regards to cultural councils and the CFD.

And that's not just something in terms of the values that they speak of, but it's reflected in how they evaluate organizations.

Because as Andrea said, we love organizations, but the cultural council is on behalf of our taxpaying residents, right?

It's about the people.

They partner with organizations.

But of like, for example, the 11 members, nine are people of color.

We have representatives from the LGBTQIA2S plus community, disability community.

And that's something that is very intentional in terms of recruitment, in terms of different areas of the city.

And that is reflected in their funding recommendations.

Last year, as you know, they made recommendations of $3.5 million.

And these are from $2,500, teeny tiny, all volunteer organizations, to $90,000.

The last thing I'll say in terms of that evolution is back in 2012, the biggest grant that they could actually recommend was $40,000.

Now it's $90,000, right?

Organizations grow, evolve, and it's very much what are the tools so that they can actually serve all residents.

So with that, I wanted to highlight a few of those organizations from, again, all the tiers.

And I think as we've seen, especially, I would say, during 2020, which we saw how arts and culture, and we see this in our data gathered by residents and the cultural sector, is the arts became a lifeline, right?

And it became something that allowed people to keep hope to actually, again, the pandemic

impacted groups of color much more deeply.

And the arts was the one thing that was common through all of these communities.

And Lighthouse, which is a tier two, I'm particularly fond of their work because you

don't have a lot of organizations that focus on the literary arts.

You see a lot of performing arts and visual arts, not a lot with literary arts.

So they actually play a significant role.

And as you know, Denver is known for spoken word.

And now I'm looking at a few people here that are great fans and performers themselves.

But that is something that is really tied to the cultural history of Denver.

And Lighthouse brings that together.

And in 2024, they actually had a workshop working with people that have been diagnosed with cancer and their caregivers.

And more than 60 people benefited from that space.

And as you can see, the direct connection, not just in terms of the literary arts, but health, mental health, quality of life.

So that's, I think, an example that illustrates the deep impact of the arts here in Denver.

The second, Museo de las Americas, is a tier three.

And speaking of not just arts for art's sake, but when we think about the next generation,

this particular project, which is Los Jovenes Leadership Lab,

they actually work with three different cohorts, I believe.

Yes, three different cohorts, 43 total youth that actually worked on a social impact project.

And they worked with artists, with community members.

And as part of that, they did not only develop their creativity, but they learned about financial literacy.

They learned about civic engagement, etc.

So, again, this is very much beyond arts for art's sake.

is how it's impacting community when we remember that this is all about the people.

And something that the museo has done really well is they have a youth advisory council.

So once you graduate from this program, you have the opportunity to serve on the advisory council.

And then moving to the Denver Center for the Performing Arts,

not to be confused with the Arts Complex, which is the site that Arts and Venues manages.

So the DCPA, who's a partner, is a Tier 1.

They actually held the Colorado New Playwrights Summit.

They actually sponsored 80 new plays, new readings.

And that's really special because you have playwrights being able to bring their playwrights to life through actors and working with directors.

And then out of that, they actually feature a special performance of four new works.

They distributed about 3,000 tickets.

Again, they do the workshop, then they get on stage,

which is especially when you think about where they are on stage.

And actually, two of those performances, those plays, are actually available now.

So Godspeed and Cowboys and East Indians.

So they go from the playwright, right, to be workshopping, to on stage, to actually be part of the arts complex in terms of their production.

So it's really special that they've come from beginning to on stage as well.

So I encourage you to go see one of these plays.

And I will pass it back to Ania.

Thank you so much, Dana and Tariana.

So as you can see, so much good work happening.

There's just a few spotlights of many, many successes

and really proud moments that we have for all of our funded orgs

in Denver and across the district.

And I think one of the beautiful things about not just the uniqueness

is the community and the sense of collaboration that exists.

And so as the new leader coming in, one of the focal points that I've had

based on a lot of feedback I've received in my onboarding listening tour is to make sure that we

are breaking down silos and continuing to strengthen that collaboration across the tiers,

across the counties, and really looking at how we can deepen those experiences for our public and

our community. And so as we now think ahead and look down the path at what's coming next,

we are up for reauthorization in 2028. This will be our fourth reauthorization. So you can see here

on this slide, we've successfully reauthorized three times.

In 2016, while we had a very successful passage of the vote,

there were a lot of lessons learned in terms of community engagement and collaboration.

And so we take that to heart and want to make sure that we're learning from that feedback

and strengthening the way that we approach this next round.

Because, again, we reauthorize about every decade.

The statute actually expires in 2030.

So going in 2028 gives us enough lead time to be able to be thoughtful and inclusive and transparent about what we're doing.

So as you can see here in our road to reauthorization, we have designed a five-phase process that will help us achieve that.

And it's built to have touch points along the way, lots of engagement, lots of conversation.

So I'll talk a little bit about that as we move through the next slides.

So phase one really looks at grounding us, think of it as kind of a discovery period,

right?

So it's looking at quantitative and qualitative data.

So ensuring that we have a clear understanding of what the data is telling us.

There's sometimes forest through the trees, right, when you're looking at the work.

And we thought it was really important to make sure that we brought an objective voice

into this process.

So we did bring on an outside consultant, GBSM, who has partnered with us and everyone

that is part of this great work to lead.

And so they're in the process now.

We're actively in phase one of doing all that data analysis.

They will also be doing informational interviews

with key stakeholders and community leaders

to ensure that we're shaping phase two in the right way

and we're not leaving anyone behind.

So they'll be doing all that stakeholder mapping

probably into Q2.

And then phase two really leads us

to a district-wide listening tour.

And this is where we will have grounding

in every county district-wide as well as some ad hoc things that we're doing to make sure that

if folks aren't able to meet those specific listening sessions in each of the seven counties

and district-wide, we have opportunity to still give voice to what we're hoping to gather. There

will be a questionnaire and we'll continue to get progress reports in between phases to make sure

that we're moving forward in the right direction. So then all of that great feedback will start

to shape a proposal because what the statute requires is that our 11 member board formally

compile review and approve what is referred to the General Assembly for bill drafting

process and that will probably go on the 27-28 session.

So phase three is going to be critical in the sense of GBSM in partnership with SCFD

and an advisory committee that will be part of this.

We'll be looking at a menu of options that we will learn from phases one and two and start to put together some proposals.

So what's working, what's not working, what do we want to preserve, what do we need to change?

And what beyond the needs of today do we need to think innovatively about?

Because right now we know that the formula and the way that some of the calculations are working doesn't always meet the needs of our organizations.

And so to me, that's a symptom of our growth that you saw in the past slides demonstrates that we have outgrown our model in terms of how the formula works in different areas.

And so we recognize that.

We want to make sure we get that right.

And that will be part of this conversation.

And then, again, making sure that we have our values as a lead there.

We want to make sure that we are building consensus.

So they'll develop proposal.

And then we'll come back again and say, okay, this is what we thought we heard.

Is this right?

What's missing?

Is there anything else we need to tighten up?

And then ultimately, that'll go forward into phase five with a final proposal in our board action,

where they will have to review and vote what moves forward to the legislative element of this.

So here's a timeline.

We are actively in phase one, so that's that third yellow circle there at the bottom.

This just gives an overview of similar information that I've covered.

But you can see we still have quite a bit of work to do.

We're at the beginning of this journey.

We will continue to refine as we go.

We've built a lot of flexibility into our process.

So if we need to pivot, as we peel back layers of things, if there's something that we need to incorporate, make sure we're really prioritizing, we have light and sight on those things.

The legislative process, once we move into the bill drafting, the SAFD is actually required to take a step back from any kind of campaign once the governor signs the bill.

And so there is an organization that is a separate entity called CATS, C-A-T-Z, Citizens from Arts to Zoo, and they actually lead and manage the campaign for the public vote.

So the reauthorization at the state level reauthorizes the statute, any changes in the bill, and also refers for ballot measure to each of the seven counties.

So at that point, it's really up to cats working together collectively with the counties to find success in passing that vote.

And that'll happen November of 2028.

And once that occurs and we're all successful and it passes, then we will be ready to start implementing whatever changes were authorized through the bill reauthorization language and start to implement that.

So we're ready by the year 2030, 2031 to start to transition.

So a few quick things before we break for discussion.

We are spreading this information wide and far.

So we would love for you all to join us at Day at the Capitol.

It's an annual event that the SEFD partners with legislative body and the General Assembly to host awareness, really,

and just building connection, a sense of community.

So that is February 24th.

It's a Tuesday.

It's in the morning.

So if you want to get a breakfast burrito, get there early, probably around, we said, 730.

We will have resolutions read through the House and Senate, and we are working very closely with our legislators to make sure that they are also grounded and understanding all the good information here to continue to share that.

So hope to see you there.

You can scan the QR code for more information, and we'll have exhibitors representing all of our seven counties there for you to engage with as well.

Our 2024 annual report is also available for some review if you'd like to dive a little deeper,

as well as the CBCA's economic activity study that I mentioned. So there's a two-pager in your

folder. There's also a white paper. So if you're a data nerd like me, you can drill into that and

get a lot of great information beyond what we've shared today. So that concludes our presentation.

We'd love to yield discussion.

Wonderful.

Well, before we get into questions, I'd like to welcome Councilwoman Damien, Hannah Romero-Campbell and Councilwoman Perry to the meeting.

And we'll start off with Councilman Hines.

Thank you, committee chair.

Thank you for the presentation.

Thank you also for what a gem the Denver metro area has.

We make the rest of the nation jealous with this funding mechanism.

And I've heard, as I represent the state that's in Denver, outside of our city's boundaries,

people say, well, how did you get that done?

And I'm not sure exactly how it was originally authorized, but it does seem to be,

it makes a lot of other metro areas jealous.

So thank you for stewarding it and thank you for leading it as this is a pivotal time as you know.

Last week I launched a pet deposit pilot program and I got a letter of support from the Denver Animal Protection

and I want to read a little bit of it and I'll explain why here in a second.

It might become obvious.

So Denver Animal Protection, a division of Denver's Department of Public Health and Environment,

supports the One Health Model.

The One Health Model is an integrated, unifying approach that recognizes the health of people,

animals, and ecosystems as closely linked and interdependent.

By moving away from siloed medical and environmental practices, it aims to sustainably balance

and optimize health for all living beings on a shared planet.

I think that I have an emotional connection with my dog that I have today,

and throughout my life I've had dogs in my family,

and I wasn't able really to describe scientifically what that is.

But when I think of my connection to the arts,

I think it is also part of that One Health model.

It is an opportunity for me to think beyond the stresses that I have in my everyday life.

It allows me to kind of distance from my day job.

It asks me to think in a different way, to engage a different motor in my head.

And it helps also for me to see the beauty in things.

sometimes I don't see the beauty in particular works of art, but getting to go to our zoo

or the world-class art museum or the world-class botanic gardens that people come from all over

the world to the Denver Botanic Gardens and Denver Botanic Gardens staff go all over the world to

consult on vegetation.

And it's just amazing that we have these world gems.

Pissarro right now in the art museum, but Monet,

it was the largest collection of Monet that North America had seen in decades.

And they didn't come to LA or New York or San Francisco.

It came here, Denver, and then left the United States.

It didn't go somewhere else.

It was here and only here.

So just the class, the world caliber class of the science and cultural facilities that we have,

particularly in Denver, including in District 10, but not limited to,

is just fabulous how much we punch the heart rate

in cities that are far more known

on the international level for arts.

We've got some really great stuff,

and it's apparent in SCFD.

When you look at the Tier 1 institutions,

when you look at the Tier 2 institutions,

you see world-class things happening there,

and then the Tier 3 institutions,

we're nurturing those that could become, as you said, the Levitt Pavilion in lucky district seven,

not perfect 10. Um, you know, we, uh, we have a way to, to incubate, uh, more local artists

and have them, uh, have a progression to get to more on the net, you know, the funding on the

national scale. So I'm just really excited about SCFD and, um, and its impact, not in the, not

just in the eight counties but really worldwide so thank you thank you councilman councilman

parity yeah I have questions and then I have a random thought but it's fun so I'm curious to go

back to the ballot process I know we're a ways out from it but do you do you have to separately get

on the ballot in each county that's part of the district is that what happens okay I was curious

about that because I I didn't know if I'm given that we've created this district if it was now

its own political entity that could, yeah, no, we have to do every county. We're not allowed to campaign for it. It's a conflict, so. Right, okay, and I won't ask anything else about that, but thank you for just telling us the process because I'm glad that we're all attuned to it. I think the value, pre-Tabor, this is how this passed originally, and we all know the value of it, so I'll just leave that at that, which means I get to say my fun story. So, it covers the East Indians. This play is by a woman who grew up in Casper, Wyoming. Her mom

Um, so Nina mcconogly is the playwright her mom neemee mcconogly served in the state legislature and was very close to my dad

They served together an indian woman in the wyoming state legislature

um in the 90s was um

Unheard. I mean she may be the only indian woman who i'm sure she's the only indian woman who's ever served in the wyoming state legislature

Um, that is a legislature that is not known for a lot of those firsts

Um, and it was her and a lot of white men

They had this thing on wednesdays where they would it was really dorky

They would all wear uh, we should adopt this you guys camel coats because it was hump day

so they'd be like

and it's all these men

and then Nina had like this beautiful fitted

camel coat that she would wear

and I just remember her

so vividly because

she was just different, she was a woman, she was

doing the thing and Nina, her daughter

who wrote this play, wrote it about

being an immigrant in

the rural west which is very different than

our urban west that we love in Denver

Denver was like the big city to us

and I remember

she's about 10 years older than me, and she would sometimes babysit my sisters and I in hotel rooms

in Cheyenne when their mom and my dad were doing legislative stuff. So I'm taking my daughter to

this play so that she can sort of see this little piece of my weird childhood in Wyoming, which I

think her childhood in Denver is fantastic, and she gets to do these kinds of things. I definitely

was not going to play this when I was a kid in Rock Springs. So just wanted to say that because

Because when I saw the, I was like gobsmacked.

I remembered when she wrote this book.

But when I saw the play coming to DCP,

I didn't know it had been made into a play.

And it's just like has this little piece of my family

and personal history in it.

So that's all.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you for sharing that story.

Yeah, I'm excited to see it.

Now I want to see it.

It's going to be really good.

I've heard it's great.

Title?

It's supposed to be so good.

Councilman Watson.

I thought Councilman Perry was going to say

that the lady worked in a mine with her.

I was going to say, lady, you and your story.

I was hammering right next to you.

So very curious.

I am a massive fan of Colorado Business Community for the Arts,

and their really great work on the economic activity study.

Curious from two perspectives.

First, how does that inform your council?

And I know the data is impressive.

It demonstrates economic impact to the city,

but how does the council, the individual leaders, leverage that study for kind of the work they do?

Are you asking about the county cultural council?

Yeah.

Okay.

Do you want to speak to that?

So I think those that serve on the cultural council are obviously community representatives

that are, I would say, they are not only supporters of arts but are advocates of the arts.

And I understand, right, that connection.

So I think that study, but also data that supports even the data that we just shared on the culture plan, which is connected to the cultural sector, connected to residents, all of that I think brings a wise cultural council that is always wanting to learn about the impact of organizations.

and going back to who are we doing this,

and you ask, like, how did this happen?

It happened because of the people, right?

It happened because people actually see that healthy communities,

that the arts are central to a healthy community.

So for them, it's very much part of their job

to understand not just the fact that we all support arts for health,

you know, for the healthy community,

but the actual data that informs also their decision-making.

Because they're not just looking at, are you doing a good job in terms of the art form?

They're looking at, what is your connection to community?

How are you serving all residents, right?

So I think it's part of their job of being educated about the impact of the arts beyond its beauty, right?

So I think I can speak to the Denver County Cultural Council.

They are very strong voices.

And I would say any time if you want to basically join and see that review process is enlightening

because they take their jobs so seriously and they speak to those values with every organization

in terms of how are you serving, because it's the law, right?

How are you serving all residents?

That's awesome.

And you know many of them, so I don't need to even, yeah, illustrate that.

That is helpful, Tariana.

I'm a former board member of CBCA.

I used to leverage this study with the former company I worked for,

so our executives would present the economic impact of Denver

and really the things that drives us.

And so I think the study is extremely helpful,

So it's good to see that you all are leveraging it as well.

I'm curious from a more macro level with the removal of funding, whether it's state, federal dollars to arts.

Can you share a little bit of how the SCFD kind of helped to stabilize arts organizations in these counties?

And obviously the multiplier effect for folks well outside of the counties.

If you want to opine a little bit, it's not specific.

Yes, absolutely.

Thank you for the question, Councilman.

And it's an important one.

So we all know what's happening in the environment.

Lots of uncertainty.

There's a lot of scarcity going around.

And so the balance that we try to strike with SCFD is while we are not able to add more funding because we are bound by the formula that the statute governs,

what we do try to do is refer people to resources or look at ways that we can creatively leverage.

So an example, we had a large Tier 2 organization lose funding as a result of language that they had in some of their documents that they sent in to the federal agencies related to EDIA.

And so the funding was cut off.

We reached out.

They were already actively, you know, thinking about the collaborative way that they can keep their programming going.

They do a lot of education programs for the community, and they're based in Adams County.

They reached out to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, who also has some similar education program.

And so through this partnership, they were able to sustain keeping staff employed without having to do layoffs, as well as enrich those experiences across county lines.

And so that's where we see ourselves more as a convener to help really think about that.

When there are other funding opportunities, you know, there are lots of philanthropic organizations here in the metro area that fund.

And so, you know, we try to make sure that we're building that connective tissue across different sectors and opportunities along those lines.

It's tricky because, you know, when you see a situation where somebody's funding is at risk or removed, and that could mean whether or not they keep their doors open, it's hard, right, to be able to offer something that's not monetary, knowing that that's really what the need is.

And so if you have feedback or other ideas for us on how we can continue to strike that balance, I'd love to hear.

I think we're all in a period of evolution in terms of how we're surviving some of these changes and really trying to respond effectively.

And in my mind, it's also about thinking beyond the tough times now, right?

How do we build the path to the future?

And when you think about the philanthropic ecosystem in terms of the arts, I think Colorado itself, we don't have a strong arts-focused philanthropic sector as opposed to other states and cities, right?

So knowing that, and I'll speak to especially Denver, right, that funding circle is not big, right?

So I think that's why the partnerships work so well, because we know we're coming to fill gaps.

You know, you have the state Colorado Creative Industries.

You have a CFD.

You have Arts and Venues.

You have Monfrey Stanton Foundation.

You have Colorado Health Foundation.

So how we come together to build that funding to support the sector as a whole and communities is hugely important.

And as we think as the future of the federal dollars, we're actually good when we think about the National Endowment for the Arts.

As you know, dollars go to the state art agency and then goes to organizations.

And they focus a lot on that outside of Denver, right?

We try to then say, you focus on that area, we focus here so that we can have a whole healthy arts state.

funding is secure for the NEA until the next fiscal session.

And actually the strategies were not very quietly, but it's safe.

And when you look at what's happening in other cities and states, we have been incredibly,

incredibly lucky.

We're in a bubble, frankly.

So I think for now, we feel very lucky that at a federal level, we have not lost funding,

even though that, of course, there was strong pressure for it to go away completely.

So now at least we have until the next session to look at that.

So in the meantime, we are all thinking about how do we prepare, how do we support, which at times they support.

we work very closely with state art agencies

and the National Association of State Art Agencies

in D.C.

How do we support, and at times

the best support is quiet support.

Well, bless y'all.

Thank you for the work you do, Dana.

Thank you, Andrea and Tariana.

As the outgoing chair for Metro Area

County Commissioners, I think we're

going to try to invite y'all, so maybe Andrea

will reach out to you and see what makes sense

for your team to do the presentation there.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Councilman.

Thank you for the thoughtful questions and thoughts and great questions.

It's deeply heartbreaking to hear about the lack of funding for these important programs from the federal level and the bullying that's happening.

So I can't express how much, how grateful that I am that you are staying loyal to our values and that the ability that having our own funding gives us to do that.

Councilwoman Diana Romero-Campbell.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

And thank you for the presentation.

It's always nice to get the update, but to see how much work is happening on the foundational side of supporting all the tiers.

And I think much to the credit, I think there was a sign and there was a slide in there of the number of funded organizations that have grown.

And I'm sure there's many more that are out there.

But when I see that, I interpret it as meeting people where they're at and finding all of our audiences in multiple places.

So thank you for that work.

I have a question a little bit more towards some of the outreach that you're going to be doing and kind of feeding up into reauthorization.

And I wonder, maybe related to your comments just a moment ago, around some of the back office support services.

So a lot of times you have artists that start organizations and they are really good at the art.

They're even not so good with the bookkeeping or finding those venues.

Is there any movement or talk about how you or how SCFD can play a role in helping maximize that back office?

I'm saying back office just for terms, but kind of.

Financial literacy.

Yeah.

Business acumen.

Kind of like that organizational back office and location support for our smaller organizations so that they can continue to thrive.

Such a great question.

Thank you for that, Councilman.

I will start, and then I'll invite my colleague, Dana, who's a program officer.

She works very closely with lots of our organizations along these lines.

And so we do provide technical support and assistance to our organizations.

Now, it's not like you're going to be an expert in financing when you walk away by any means.

But our team is so talented, and they also have great resources that they can refer folks to

to help sharpen those skills depending on the need.

We also have a close partnership with the collaborative of the SCFD, which is a separate entity that was designed to help really supplement and support and complement all of the tactical work that our team does.

And so they do trainings and webinars and lots of things through a membership-based process.

Beyond that, I would love, Dana, to just fill in maybe a little more.

Thank you, Andrea.

We, staff really tries with every part of our being to help organizations to the best of our ability.

So we have really great and very thorough directions.

Staff, we answer our phones.

We're able to answer phones.

We have resources on our website, and especially different organizations can actually post what kind of resources they have.

So it's like a sharing.

Organizations can go.

We also conduct an Engage Empower Connect, which does with capacity for organizations that we invite every organization that happens at different Rotatic Gardens in the fall.

And I've spent half an hour with the organization on how to use our grants management system.

So we have ways that we can kind of make up, and then also if we know of other organizations or people to refer organizations to for any kind of support, we do that.

Go ahead, Ms. Zepri.

I'm looking at them.

I'm listening from my crowd back there to make sure.

I was just going to mention that the Denver County Cultural Council, and I'll explain how the dollars were distributed this last time,

But they do have a discretionary grant in which actually the last time it was you have the general operating support, but this one was really open to what is it that you need the most, right?

And letting organizations say, well, I really need to learn how to accounting skills.

So it was very open.

Last time, though, because of the – there was a decrease in funding, there were more organizations.

The council, at the time of making decisions, decided to move those dollars so that organizations could then receive those dollars.

You know, more in general, pretty supportive.

Then they can make those choices, right?

But the idea is to give some discretionary dollars so that they can then look into what they need best,

rather than the council saying you should do this or you should do that,

but what are areas that you think you need the most support,

which often is that, right?

Thank you, because I think oftentimes we talk about the sustainability,

but it's oftentimes that back office kind of nuts and bolts

that make that opportunity for the art to be seen

so that they can sustain for long term,

and so that's always in consideration.

And I think that parallels so many other sectors and sector work.

So anyway, I appreciate you guys indulging in that conversation and that there is some additional help and support for that.

But thank you again for all that you do.

This is really fantastic.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Part-Time Romero-Campbell.

this is you know extremely important to me personally because I care deeply about

the organizations and like Councilman Heinz says these organizations are life-changing

these are organizations that expose you to things that a lot of our young Denver Public School

students might not otherwise and I think it has been on my mind how do we have free days how do

we have an affordable museum how did I get access to things like the Mexican modernism exhibit which

brought works from Frida Kahlo to the art museum. And so I just wanted to elevate this issue

so that people are aware. At the same time, I am concerned about the tier ones and their

ability, just looking at the vibrant bond. They were able to lobby to get on the bond. They were

able to donate money to help it pass. And our tier threes and tier twos are consistently left

behind. And so how are you going to intentionally bring them? They don't have the lobbyists. They

don't have the dollars. How are you going to bring them along in this process?

It's a great question. And it's something that we have as central to the way that we've designed

the road to reauthorization. And so that's why these feedback sessions are so important because

we want to make sure all voices are included as it relates to things that have happened in the past

and just what we've even seen recently with, you know, the weight of politics and how that can play a role.

What we are really trying to lead in the conversation, because at the end of the day,

we're responsible for being stewards of this work, is to make sure that there is unity.

And that starts with understanding that all ideas are welcomed,

and we need to make sure that they're all on the table together.

So this, you know, separate siloed approach that I think has happened in the past

that has led to some of this concern and anticipation of maybe things not being fair or equitable,

that has to change.

And that's why we've been so intentional in the way that we've designed this work.

And so being very transparent, being very direct and clear about where those bright lines are

in terms of holding our values central to that is really important.

I think the other part of this is unifying voices so that we're all standing shoulder to shoulder.

So while, yes, one organization might get more than another, all of that input is valued just the same.

Now, it doesn't mean that we're going to be able to meet every single need and suffice every single challenge area.

But what we can do is bring awareness to it and then collectively make sure that we're prioritizing for the deeper impact for the public that we're aiming for.

And so that might be bumpy as we peel back layers and, again, hold true to those values and keep guiding to our true north path.

But there are things that I think we have to just call out and bring attention to.

And that is actively part of these conversations, including some of the lessons from the past as it relates to just some of the power dynamics within the politics.

And it's not just Denver.

We see it across all of the seven counties.

And so we're mindful of that, and we're really trying to, again, break down those silos and lead with a collaborative voice.

The how of that is buried in each of these very thoughtful steps and making sure that we are also exercising the courage to address and respond to some of the things that don't align with the direction we're trying to build.

I don't need to say this to this audience, but I'm going to say it.

I think the beauty and the magic of what has kept SCFD alive for nearly 40 years is just that, the unison that comes together, the collective impact.

We could all just do this separately, but we're not going to see the impact, the deep, life-changing experiences that people have when we come together across the regional area.

I mean, that's really the secret sauce, I think.

And so doing that collectively is going to look different.

We were looking at everything from even sectors within our funded organizations, you know, all of the theater organizations, all the art organizations.

It's not about just one county, and I know everyone's advocating for their needs, and we want that to also be present and relevant in these conversations.

It's also about the greater good in the way that we're looking at this.

So it's lots of different pieces, lots of different efforts that we are creating a call to action because we also can't do it on our own.

We need everyone to impact and build that effectiveness that we're looking for because in that space, all boats rise.

I appreciate that.

And I think that I'm grateful that you came today and I hope that will be part of our future discussion.

I would also ask back to the stakeholder in question, is every single council member included in getting interviewed as a stakeholder?

So what we've done right now is our contract is limited to 25 interviews for phase one is looking at different touch points.

So it might be me reaching out to you to say, hey, let's sit down and get some feedback or it could be a member of our staff.

So we're trying to leverage some of the budget that we have for that.

But if you're interested in all being interviewed, we're happy to include you as part of that process.

I appreciate that.

I think we all represent different parts of the city, except for some of us that represent at large.

And we all see different needs and have different perspectives and see the impact that especially these Tier 3s bring that don't get the attention of the Tier 1s that have been longstanding.

I think even next week, my staff will be going over to the Capitol as well.

Modus Theater is doing Youth Behind Bars, where they're going to talk about really important issues about youth incarceration.

And how do we—it's something that DCPA can do.

They're connected to community.

They have these relationships that they've worked at, and they're elevating these voices and affecting policy.

And I think that's where the power of SCFD really lies, because the dam has a bunch of millionaire donors.

You know, the local theater, LCAC, Artístico, these other organizations don't have access to those people.

And money and power are not going to automatically fund things that don't support money and power already.

And so I just want to share that that is a concern that I would love to continue to hear about.

One of my questions is what questions will the research be asking?

So in terms of, do you have a specific phase you're looking at?

Right now, the phase that you're in right now.

So they're looking at other models in the country.

So again, we're the only one that funds a seven-county region,

but there are other cities that have implemented similar type of tax-funded initiatives.

So we're looking at what we might be able to learn from that.

They're also looking at some of the history.

So we have a lot of information from all the prior reauthorizations, whether it's qualitative data, quantitative data.

They're also looking at all of our financials and the distribution summaries that go out across all the tiers and what we've explained.

So there's a lot of dense information in there.

And then from that, they're going to have questions, right?

Help us understand this or what's going on with this area and how do we continue to build a strong foundation of understanding?

because that's going to be our baseline as we then move toward not only designing the stakeholder sessions,

but also continuing to drive the changes that we potentially want to see in the statute.

Are they going to be asking, is one cent per every $10 the right amount?

That question has been asked, yeah.

Are they going to be asking, do we need to unlock the number of Tier 1s that we have?

Or is the distribution between Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3 is correct?

What they're looking at is, like, is a tiered structure still something that is relevant in the world and the need that we have right now as an SCFD?

I mentioned looking beyond the time now and as best we can projecting into the future.

What does modernizing look like?

So when I say all ideas are welcome, let's put it on the table, that is part of the scope that we've asked them to look at objectively.

Great.

That's all my questions on the reauthorization directly.

I have a couple more questions.

Dariana, thank you for bringing up the DCPA versus the DCAP.

Can you talk to me about where SCFD is related and where it is and how the arts complex is

funded?

So as you know, the arts complex is just one of the venues that we manage and operate,

right?

And we happen to be...

We use in the city.

The city.

Oh, sorry.

Yes.

Thank you.

Talking about the city.

And SCFD, with regards to Denver Arts and Venues specifically, is the touch base is obviously we are partners as part of the arts and cultural ecosystem, as funders, right?

We all play a part in that.

And then more directly, we happen to oversee the granting process of the Tier 3, which is led by the Cultural Council.

So that is an actual direct connection.

Now, we as a local arts agency, we support all communities.

We support the cultural sector as a whole, which then is Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3s, creative enterprises, individual artists.

And obviously, some of the Tier 1s and Tier 2s are what we call our resident companies, which actually perform in the venues that we own and operate.

But it's not right.

So those are the distinction.

with regards to the specific distinction between DCPA, which is the Tier 1,

the Arts Complex, which is the actual venue that we own.

And how is the venue financed as far as maintenance and other things?

That is, we're a special revenue fund,

and as you know, our dollars come from a variety of sources,

from obviously ticket sales, from parking, sponsorships, right?

all of those dollars. We talk about ourselves as a social cultural enterprise because obviously

the way we reinvest those dollars is mission driven, which is both to support the maintenance

of those venues, which as you know, well, it takes a lot of money to maintain those venues,

but then also we invest in community, right? Our brand is Good Times for Good. So the good

times that you have in our venues, that snack or that, you know, drink that you buy goes right back

into maintaining our venues, keep them competitive, and also reinvest in our community and the cultural

sector. And that's a model, again, it's kind of a social cultural, that's why we call social

cultural enterprise, because it's mission driven and the dollars go directly into supporting

city venues as well as the cultural center and the community.

Great. Thank you for that explanation. And then one more question for SCFD. I know

you're great with branding and there's branding everywhere. Do the organizations themselves pay

for that branding or do you cover the cost for the SCFD signs? So anything SCFD we provide

for the big pop-up.

I forget what they're called.

Banners.

Banners that you see.

I think we give them one where we pay for that.

And then if they need additional,

there's a fee that they can pay to gather those.

But we provide all of those SCFD branded materials.

Great.

Thank you so much for answering my questions.

We did have one council member hop back in.

Councilman Hines.

Thank you, committee chair.

It was actually one of the questions that you had

that made me think of this.

Denver Art Museum made a strategic decision a few years ago that when they brought in national or international artists,

they had before you could visit those international artists, they put local artists in the entryway to the national or international artists.

And so it started me thinking, as our chair had said, you know, are you even considering even the tiering structure or who might be in tier one?

Assuming there is the concept of a tiering structure, maybe in your listening process, you could ask if someone's willing to be tier one or whatever you want to call it.

They have to pay it forward and introduce and promote.

some of the tier two or tier three venues too just to to help make that ecosystem be

you know a bit more interconnected and so i know that's something that the denver art museum has

has proactively taken on but that could be a requirement moving forward for you know however

that tiering system yeah yeah no it's a great point councilman and one of the things that

that we do see a lot of that cross collaboration

across tiers, across counties happening.

So that's part of some of our efforts too

is to do more storytelling and make sure

that we're spotlighting those great opportunities

for partnership as well as encourage them.

But I hear your point on the mandate will strengthen

or increase those frequencies.

Well, it's, I think in some ways it's rewarding.

The venues have already taken that on

and are actively doing it.

And they've got, in my opinion, such a good idea.

Let's have everyone do it.

Exactly, yes.

And that's part of the challenge I mentioned

that I'm giving across the district.

It's almost like a mentor-protege kind of model, right?

Because when you invest and help bring along,

and that includes some of the questions you asked,

Councilman, around just building that knowledge base

of running and growing a straw business,

because that's effectively what these organizations are.

And it's important we don't forget that.

Well, and I think what brings us together is we all want a healthy cultural ecosystem.

And it's not about which or sometimes organizations better or bigger is not about size, right?

It's they all play a part.

And they all must come together so that we can have a healthy ecosystem in which it's not about me versus you, but it's really about coming together and understanding that we all play a role, right?

And while big organizations are able to bring maybe the money, a small culture organization has its trust and proximity to, you know, the neighborhood.

So I think it's really hopefully having that buy-in from all in the cultural sector of the fact that it takes all of those that are now in different tiers, right?

All of them play a key part.

One is not more important than the other, which I think for when I think about SCFD leading this process,

I'm really confident that equity will be at the center,

which means that the right questions will be asked, right?

And hopefully we all at least come together

knowing that we all play a part.

My second and similar thought also,

because the council member of Idris' questions,

I don't know how much control we have over board membership,

but I wonder if some of the tier one culturals, maybe they are required to, you know,

attorneys have pro bono kinds of things, and I don't mean that this would be a handout or whatever,

but perhaps there could be a strong encouragement, a requirement.

Again, I don't know how much control that if you are part of a board in a tier one organization,

then part of the, to receive the funding,

some element of that board should participate

in a tier two or tier three organization.

Just so that the tier two and tier three

also get some institutional support

and really help with their board matrix.

Great suggestion.

Thank you for that.

Go ahead, Councilman.

Actually, I just comment to that

And I'm wondering, and I see where you're saying, like, building the capacity as a Tier 1 for Tier 2 and 3.

I think there could also be things that are reciprocal that take board members who are in Tier 2 and 3 to be able to lift up different perspectives, ideas, and pathways into those other organizations.

I would say before I joined council, I was on some volunteer boards.

and now that I've joined council, I'm on volunteer boards.

But the boards I'm on now, because I'm an elected member of Denver,

are well-run, well-oiled machine.

I did not know what a well-run board looked like until I saw one.

And so having that cross-pollination will help our Tier 2s and Tier 3s

to know how to create a functioning board,

and maybe that would help them get from three to two or two to one.

Wonderful.

I really appreciate the thoughtfulness and care of my colleagues

and how serious that we're all taking this

because I think something that you mentioned at the beginning

that was really meaningful is that this was started during an economic downturn,

and this is an economic downturn.

And how can we uplift and provide an economy that is thriving here in Denver, especially for our cultural, which helps us in so many ways, mental health-wise, with many other issues around the city.

And just to your point, Tariana, about we all need to come together.

Everyone plays a part.

And some people have more access to power and wealth than others.

And so I do believe that we're going to be about it, not talk about it, when it comes to equity.

But it's hard.

hard. And I know because I have to do it every day with the constituents I talk to, with the

organizations I talk to. It's a constant effort of bringing up the voices that don't have time

to come to the meetings, that don't have the money to donate to the 501c4. And I'm here to

be your partner in that. And how can we make this successful and make this successful for the long

term? Because I do think this economic mobility for young artists, yeah, bring Monet. Great. What

about the Monet that's alive right now in our city that's broke and can't afford rent? How do we also

bring the future Monet to the table? And so I think that's something we can all hold as we move this

forward, and I'm really grateful for you all. Thank you. Thank you so much. And there's one item on

consent. It hasn't been called off, so with that, this meeting is adjourned. All righty. Thank you.

Thank you.