Business for the Arts Awards

A group of musicians performs on stage with guitars and microphones. They are in a modern, well-lit venue with an audience seated on the left. The letters "CBA" are illuminated on a wall in the background.

Las Dahlias performing at 2024 Business for the Arts Awards Luncheon. Image by Amanda Tipton Photography

CBCA’s Business for the Arts Awards celebrate innovative cross-sector partnerships, generous philanthropy, creative businesses, corporate engagement in the arts, and exemplary leadership across the state. The annual awards luncheon is the only statewide event honoring companies and individuals for their outstanding business partnerships and engagement with the arts.

SAVE THE DATE! 2026 Business for the Arts Awards Luncheon will be on Tuesday, April 21, 2026 at the Seawell Ballroom, DCPA. Tables and tickets will go on sale in January 2026.

Learn more about advertising in the 2026 Awards Luncheon program book.

2026 Business for the Arts Awards Honorees

2026 Arts & Business Partnership Awards

  • The Benson Hotel and Faculty Club on the CU Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora features an extensive Colorado-centric art collection, collaborates with local cultural organizations, and embodies a commitment to health & wellness through arts integration.
  • DAR Chocolate Art Bars, an artisan chocolate company based in Thornton, is passionate about adding art into daily life to uplift the human spirit by showcasing visual art on every chocolate bar, selling prints of featured artwork, and partnering with local nonprofits like Art from Ashes.
  • Fort Greene Bar, located in Denver’s Globeville neighborhood, is more than a cocktail lounge — it’s a meeting space where art, music and connection intersect. They host art exhibits, literary readings, film screenings, DJ nights, experimental performances and more to amplify diverse community voices.
  • MATTER is a design consultancy, printing press, manufactory, and retail bookstore for designers, revolutionaries, and creative thinkers, offering frameworks for ethics and models for change that elevate design’s role in the communities where we live and work.
  • Nocturne is a modern jazz and supper club in Denver’s RiNo Art District that has gone above and beyond to support Colorado’s live music scene through community engagement, artist development and youth education, serving as a platform for cultural growth and social good for the last decade.
  • Our Lady of Perpetual Motion, based in Fruita, is a renovated church turned “Art Hotel” on the Western Slope with a permanent art collection, regular music performances and community events, and an annual Artist-in-Residency program.
  • Semple Brown is passionate about quality design and its power to support community through culture and has demonstrated this commitment for over 40 years, as evidenced by a recent project to build a permanent home for the Colorado Photographic Arts Center in collaboration with Nichols Partnership.
  • Vermilion, based in Boulder, is a certified B Corp creative agency that builds brands worth believing. For more than 40 years, Vermilion has used their creative superpowers for good—supporting clients in arts & culture whose missions are rooted in helping Coloradans and their communities thrive.

2026 Next Wave Leadership Award

  • Lisa Branner, Executive Director of the Silverton Creative District, volunteered to lead the creation of Silverton’s new state-certified creative district, transforming how this high-mountain town of 700 people views creativity as a vehicle for year-round vitality and a cross-sector bridge for community building.

2026 Cultural Leadership Award

  • Bala Thiagarajan, PhD, Artist and Founder of Colorado South Asian Artists Group, fostered community and inclusion within her Leadership Arts 2023-2024 cohort and beyond. Bala launched Colorado South Asian Artists Group in 2025, a collective of multidisciplinary artists with ancestral ties to South Asia, which hosted an acclaimed group show, supported the Governor’s first Diwali celebration, and has four exhibits planned for 2026.

2026 Volunteer Attorney Impact Award

  • Morgan English, Attorney and Founder of MAE’s Gallery and Law Firm, has been an active volunteer with CAFTA since 2022. A talented visual artist, as well, Morgan combines art and law through events at her studio in the RiNo Art District, speaking on panels about A.I. and copyright, and providing pro bono legal representation and education through CAFTA and beyond.

2026 John Madden, Jr. Leadership Award

  • Dan Caruso, Managing Director of Caruso Ventures in Boulder, exemplifies how business can be a catalyst for creativity, innovation, and community vitality. Through meaningful partnerships with initiatives like the Roots Music Festival and Sundance Film Festival, he is championing a vision that links Colorado’s entrepreneurial drive with its artistic spirit—advancing our state’s standing as a national hub for both.

Catch up on past celebrations:

2025 Awards Luncheon Digital Program

2024 Awards Luncheon Digital Program

2023 Awards Luncheon Digital Program

2022 Awards Luncheon Digital Program

2021 Awards Luncheon Digital Program

Watch videos of past Business for the Arts Award Honorees

Past Business for the Arts Awards Winners

2025
Breckenridge Grand Vacations
Clear Creek Makerspace, powered by Localworks
Cultura Chocolate
Havana Business Improvement District – On Havana Street
Mexican Cultural Center
The Museum of Friends
The People’s Building
WeldWerks Brewing Co
DNA Picasso
Laura Moody
Max Hass
James A. Holmes
2024
Black Cube Nomadic Art Museum
Colorado Resiliency Arts Lab (CORAL)
Frasier Life Plan Community
Fuel & Iron Food Hall
Jubilee Roasting Co.
Klein Makerspace
The Aurora Highlands
The Underground Music Showcase (UMS)
Clelyn Chapin
Donald Rossa
Liz Hartsel
Jandel Allen-Davis, MD

2023 
Colectiva
Colorado School of Mines
Fitzsimons Credit Union
Gill Foundation & Scream Agency
McWhinney
Mishawaka Amphitheatre
Modivcare
U.S. Bank
Ashley Cornelius
Deborah Malden
Brian Hanning
Merle Chambers

2022
Artwork Archive
Conscious Alliance
Colorado Chautauqua
FCI Constructors
Holiday Twin Drive-In
Meow Wolf Denver
PNC Bank
Urban Peak
Tara Rynders
Roopesh Aggarwal
Dave Rein
Richard “Dick” Carter

2021
Carbondale Clay Center
Charles Schwab
Craig Hospital
Eclectic Activation
Jack’s Solar Garden
Levitt Pavilion Denver
Pizzeria Locale
RedLine Contemporary Art Center
Jose “Chepe” Rosales
Michael Sattler
Shirin Chahal
Jeanette Trujillo-Lucero

2020
America’s Mattress of Western Colorado
Anythink Libraries
Centura Health
Downtown Denver Business Improvement District
Mountain Sun Pubs and Breweries
Roaring Fork Transportation Authority (RFTA)
Youth on Record
Zeppelin Development
Zach Warkentin
Kendall Smith
donnie l. betts
Rob Applegate

2019
Bank of America
City of Lakewood / 40 West ArtLine
Colorado Harvest Company
Dairy Block
Meredith Hutson
The Independence Center
Kaiser Permanente Colorado
Mariner Kemper
Dave Ratner
Armando Silva

2018
Bellco Credit Union
Cecily Cullen
Dazzle
Delta Dental of Colorado
Downtown Artery
Gensler
Caroline R. Kert
Hal Logan
Kate Perdoni
RTD & City of Aurora
Stanley Marketplace
Xcel Energy

2017
TRG Arts
Jackson Stevens
Sage Hospitality
Tim Schultz
Noble Energy

2016
Share Denver
Will Chan
Crestone Mercantile
Illegal Pete’s
Former Mayor, Bob Murphy

2015
Boulder Digital Arts
General Services Administration
Katie Kruger
Janus Capital Group
Bill Marino

2014
Arrow Electronics
Robert & Judi Newman
AspenPointe
Rakun
Gates Family Foundation

2013
CBS4
Chuck Morris
Denver International Airport
I Heart Denver Store
Newmont Mining Corporation

2012
Aspen Skiing Company
Battery621
Frederic C. Hamilton
The Westin Denver Downtown

2011
First Western Trust Bank
Platte River Ventures
VISIT DENVER
Walter Isenberg

2010
No Awards for CBCA’s 25th Anniversary. Created the John Madden, Jr. Leadership Award

2009
4240 Architecture, Inc.
Cathey Finlon
East West Partners, Riverfront Park
Pinnacol Assurance
Westword Newspaper

2008
Anchor Center for Blind Children
GE Johnson Construction
Company
Kaiser Permanente
ripcord, LLC

2007
Barker Rinker Seacat Architecture
Corporex Colorado & Mile High Development — Museum Residences
Gates Corporation
Gunnison Country Times
Mercy Regional Medical Center

2006
Cleworth Architecural Legacy Project of the Denver
Architectural Foundation
Continuum Partners — Belmar Development
St. Mary Land & Exploration Company
Zeppelin Development — Taxi

2005
Alpine Bank
Ellen Bruss and Mark Falcone
Fine Arts Foundation
JohnstonWells Public Relations
Lockheed Martin
Pinyon Mortgage Corporation

2004
Carol Ann and Gary Hixon
Garlic Mike’s Italian Cuisine
Lowry Foundation
OppenheimerFunds
Pueblo Bank & Trust

2003
Berger Funds
City of Englewood
HealthONE
Jim Copenhaver
JohnstonWells Public Relations

2002
Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce
Lester “Dusty” Loo
Northern Trust Bank
Starz Encore Group
Wells Fargo

2001
Daily Camera
East West Partners, Riverfront Park
John Hickenlooper, Wynkoop Brewing Company
StorageTek

2000
Brookfield Properties
Deloitte & Touche LLP
Kathryn Paul, Kaiser Permanente
The Denver Post

1999
Downtown Denver’s Courtyard by Marriott
SullivanHayes
Tesser LLC

1998
Colorado National Bank
Penguin Studio Press Inc
The Peak 96.5 FM Radio
The Westin Hotel

1997
Allegro Coffee
Colorado Springs Gazette
Telegraph
Deloitte & Touche LLP
Senn Lewis Visciano & Strahle PC
Target Stores

1996
Boogies Diner, Aspen
Estes Park Trail-Gazette
Public Service Company of Colorado
Syntex Chemicals
The Denver Foundation

1995
Bank One
CW Electronics
INVESCO Funds
Reynelda Muse, KCNC-TV
Denver
Telluride Times-Journal
Wilson/Johnson Creative

1994
Charles M. Schayer & Company
Douglas County Education
Foundation
McClain Finlon Advertising
Minorco USA
NationsWay Transport
Norwest Bank
Silvertree Hotel, Aspen/Snowmass
The Mission Viejo Company
United Airlines

1993
Blue Cross & Blue Shield of
Colorado
First National Bank in Trinidad
The Denver Post
The Little Nell
The Rocky Mountain News
US West

1992
Amoco Production Company
Brooks Brothers
Denver Area Honda Dealers
Association
First National Bank of Wray
Steamboat Ski & Resort Corporation

1991
Associated General Contractors of Colorado
AT&T
Fort Collins Coloradoan
Robinson Dairy Inc
US West
West Pines Hospital

1990
Colowyo
Dauer Architects
First Interstate Bank of Denver
Mervyn’s
Newmont Mining Co.
Security Life

1989
Apache Corporation
Continental Airlines
Everitt Companies
Martin Marietta
Phelps Inc
West Pines Hospital

1988
American TV &
Communications Corp
Aspen Skiing Company
Otero Savings, Colorado Springs
Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company
Target Stores
Wano/Coors Company Inc