Over $750,000 awarded to 23 arts & culture organizations focused on historically marginalized communities.
 
Denver, Colo.— Community Arts, Culture, Transformation, and Science (ACTS) Fund, through its partner Mile High United Way, has announced over $750,000 in emergency relief grants to arts and culture organizations across the seven-county metro Denver region. The general operating grants were awarded equitably across the organizations as a percentage of their annual budgets.
 
“We recognize that marginalized communities are in a vulnerable position during this crisis. The sustainability of our cultural organizations is threatened. The devastation being caused in marginalized and under-resourced communities has only begun to be understood. It is for that reason that we felt the need to act quickly to provide emergency support. These organizations have continued to extend themselves, most especially as they face even greater economic uncertainty due to historic patterns of underfunding and lack of access to wealthy donors,” said Su Teatro Executive Artistic Director and Community ACTS Fund co-chair Tony Garcia. Emily Griffith Foundation President and Community ACTS Fund co-chair Tatiana Hernandez added, “Thanks to the generosity of Denver’s anchor arts and culture institutions, we are able to offer meaningful support to these organizations when they needed it most.”
 
The Community ACTS Fund was established by Tier I organizations of the Science and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD). These organizations (Denver Art Museum, Denver Botanic Gardens, The Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Denver Museum of Nature & Science, and Denver Zoo) each contribute $150,000 annually to the Fund to support an ecosystem of smaller, culturally diverse organizations.
 
Denver Museum of Nature & Science President and CEO George Sparks added, “Nature has shown us that every ecosystem must always be diversifying, growing new elements to retain its vibrancy, and indeed to survive. The Community ACTS Fund helps the Denver arts and culture ecosystem adapt and thrive to serve the changing populace of our region.”
 
See list of grantees below:
Access Gallery
Art as Action
Art from Ashes
Black American West Museum & Heritage Center
Chicano Humanities and Arts Council
Colorado Celebration of African American Arts and Culture
Colorado Fine Arts Association
Colorado Folk Arts Council
Denver March Powwow
Downtown Aurora Visual Arts
Dragon 5280
Fiesta Colorado Inc.
Grand Design, Inc.,
Mexican Cultural Center
Motus
Museo de las Americas
New Dance Theater (Cleo Parker Robinson)
Phamaly Theatre Company
Philippine American Society of Colorado
PlatteForum
RedLine
Rocky Mountain Arts Association
Su Teatro
 
 
About Community ACTS Fund: Established in 2018, the Community Acts Fund is an independent committee which oversees the programmatic development and distribution of a pooled set of resources from SCFD Tier I organizations. Funds are held and managed by Mile High United Way and are meant to increase capacity at historically marginalized and under-resourced arts organizations in the seven county Denver Metro region.
 
Media Contact:
Shelby Morse
Senior Director, Marketing and Communications
Shelby.Morse@UnitedWayDenver.org
Cell: 970.978.1733