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Distortions Unlimited is a creative industry business located in the Greeley, Colorado Creative District. The business designs and manufactures alien props for the motion picture industry. |
Colorado Creative Districts fact finding trip
In a recent fact-finding trip to Colorado, Roth and Hanan toured several of Colorado's certified creative districts. Hosted by ArtsWA's counterpart, Colorado Creative Industries, they toured several creative districts and talked to businesses and organizations about the certification process and its impact. Washington's program is modeled after Colorado's successful program.
"It gave us a chance to learn from our colleagues about the best practices and lessons learned of their startup process," said Roth. "With their expertise, we will begin our program at a much better place."
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At the Phillip J. Steele Gallery on the campus of Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design located in the 40 West Arts District in Lakewood, Colorado. Left to right: Annette Roth, ArtsWA Creative Districts Manager; Margaret Hunt, Executive Director of Colorado Creative Industries; Karen Hanan, ArtsWA Executive Director; and Liz Black, Program Manager of 40 West Arts District.
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Roth and Hanan visited three creative districts while in Colorado--one urban, one suburban, and one rural. Each district was different from the other, and designed to capitalize on the unique strengths and partnerships of the local community.
"Seeing these very different districts gave us a clear picture of what is possible in Washington," said Roth. "Communities will be able to retain their unique cultural identity and grow their economy at the same time."
"We also met with Artspace, a nonprofit real estate developer for the arts," said Hanan. "We're talking with them about how to include affordable housing as an aspect of our Creative Districts program."
Back home, Roth and Hanan have been in conversations with communities and organizations that have expressed interest in creative districts certification.
"We've developed a readiness toolkit to help communities assess what they'll need to do to apply," said Roth. "They should think about what their creative district would look like, identify who the
ir partners would be, list their cultural assets, and begin their visioning process."
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