Support the Arts

If you want to give a gift that really counts, give a gift of (and to) the arts.

The pandemic and economic recession continue to have a disproportionate and devastating effect on the local creative sector. Until our local artists & organizations can get back on their feet, they need your support to endure.

The values we support today will determine what we have when this is over.

GIVE, ENGAGE, SHOP

GIVE a donation to local organizations & relief funds

Support your favorite museum. Donate to a local theatre or dance company. Ensure culture heritage and education lives on. Bring music to your community!

The Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD) has a list of nearly 300 arts and culture organizations in the seven-county metro region. You can donate directly to any of these nonprofit organizations who need your support right now. You can also search for arts & culture organizations through Colorado Gives.

ENGAGE safely with arts & culture experiences

Many arts and cultural organizations are reopening with safety protocols in place. In addition, several local cultural organizations have generously made the arts accessible throughout the pandemic with lots of free virtual programming. They all need your continued support through tickets, admissions, subscriptions and classes. Check out your favorite theatre, history museum, dance company, musical group, singing ensemble, art exhibit, film center, writing workshop or more to see what they have coming up!

SHOP local and support artists through goods, memberships, and classes

There are many ways to shop local and support the arts. Look for your unique, artisan-made goods at local gift shops and art markets and think about a membership, subscription or class has great gifts that last!

Museum gift stores offer unique one-of-a-kind gifts, including items made by local artisans, that also support the cultural institution. Many metro area gift shops have expanded their online shops since the start of the pandemic. Some of the museum’s gift stores are also open to in-person shopping with limited capacity and/or timed reservations.

Shop at one of Denver and Colorado’s Certified Creative Districts. With 30 creative districts in the state, each creative district, whether urban or rural, is distinct with its own local flavor, offering shoppers unique finds and one-of-a-kind gifts crafted by local artisans.

Finally, instead of big box shopping this year, live local and shop at your favorite neighborhood boutique or small business retailers, many who buy local and support local artists and creatives.

Toolkit

This guide contains all the tools you need to use this campaign in your own communications and outreach efforts — a graphic image and message that is available in multiple formats for websites, e-blasts, and social media. We have also provided an array of images you can drop into the campaign. Feel free to use one or a series to keep your communications fresh. We also invite you to incorporate a rights-managed image from your own organization, if you prefer.

If you would like to generate donations for your organization specifically, please use a link to your own website/donation portal as part of this campaign. If you would like to direct your audiences to a broader platform for more information, then please include the link artsthroughitall.org, which is managed by CBCA.

Either way, you’ll be guiding patrons on how they can support arts and culture during this challenging time. This downloadable toolkit contains all you need to join this campaign, and deliver the important message that the arts are there for us, through it all.

Inside the ZIP folder you’ll find:

Campaign Brand Guidelines PDF
Font (Montserrat)
Campaign-branded images for social media posts
Campaign logos
Messaging document

Download Full Toolkit (ZIP folder)

About the Campaign

About Arts through it All

The past year and beyond has brought hardship for many people and for many reasons. The pandemic’s impact has been particularly hard on our arts and culture organizations and creative workers, including economic losses from cancellations of their performance seasons and events, and even full closures of their nonprofit and for-profit local businesses. Layoffs, furloughs and job eliminations have devastated these cultural institutions and individual artists’ livelihoods, as well as many others who work in the creative and cultural sectors.

Recent surveys and research from the Scientific & Cultural Facilities District (SCFD), Colorado Creative Industries and Denver Arts & Venues, spell out just how catastrophic the losses are to the sector and our region and state’s creative economy. For example, with stages dark and December holiday performances shuttered at the Denver Performing Arts Complex, which is typically the busiest time of year, more than 3,500 actors, singers, musicians, artists, back-stage crew, box office staff and more who bring more than 2,700 performances annually have been deeply impacted by the closures.

These arts traditions we hold so dear throughout each season weren’t able to happen in 2020 and some are still in question for 2021 as our public health demands greater loyalty to one another to keep us safe and end this pandemic. Rather than watch as beloved organizations that serve our communities and our entire region struggle to survive, businesses, government leaders and arts advocacy organizations from across the Denver metro area have come together to amplify the cultural and creative sectors’ urgent need.

During the past holiday season and moving forward, our collaborative public awareness campaign encouraged local giving to the arts as a way to celebrate our beloved arts traditions, as well as preserve our arts legacies and opportunities for wonder in the future.

The Arts through it All advocacy campaign was developed early in the pandemic and originally launched on April 15, 2020. The campaign focused on three core messages of Forgo Ticket Refunds, Donate Today and Support Colorado Artists, and the campaign branding and assets were used widely by arts and cultural organizations throughout the state to communicate with their stakeholders, patrons and donors. These messages are still just as relevant almost a year into the pandemic, however, the need is even more dire.

The Arts through it All holidays campaign launched on Dec. 1, 2020, in the Denver metro region building on the original messaging and evolving for the holidays with the tagline of Gifts of Art from the Heart and a call to action to Give – Gift – Shop to support local cultural organizations and artists and ensure arts and culture endure. The campaign encouraged the general arts-loving public to remember arts and cultural organizations in their holiday gift-giving or charitable giving. It ran through the holiday season, urging all who can to give back and support our local arts and culture organizations during their holiday giving.

Now moving beyond the holiday season, the Arts through it All public awareness campaign remains relevant as artists and organizations cautiously move forward in this uncertain new year, planning to slowly build back in-person, socially-distanced opportunities and increase our opportunities for wonder and awe that we all miss from our arts and culture community. Relaunched in the lead-up to Valentine’s Day, the campaign’s new tagline is to Share the Love with a call to action of Give – Engage – Shop.

The Arts through it All holidays campaign was generously funded in part by the City of Denver’s allocation of CARES Act coronavirus relief funds. This public awareness campaign, for the holidays and into 2021, is made possible through additional sponsors including PNC Bank, Adams County, Denver Arts & Venues, City of Boulder and the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation. The campaign was managed and administered by Colorado Business Committee for the Arts (CBCA) in partnership with Denver Arts & Venues and the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD).

Impact of COVID-19

In Colorado, arts and cultural production in the creative industries accounts for $15.6 Billion and 4.5% of the Colorado economy, contributing 103,401 jobs, which is more than mining or transportation (US Bureau of Economic Analysis and the National Endowment for the Arts, 2017).

From a study commissioned by Colorado Creative Industries (CCI), our state arts agency, it is estimated that the state’s creative sector will lose approximately 59,588 jobs and $2.6 Billion in sales revenue between April and July 2020 due to the COVID-19 crisis. This four-month period of estimated losses will contract the region’s creative economy by 31% in terms of employment and 8% in annual sales revenue. Read the full 2020 Colorado Creative Economy Report with Initial Highlights of the COVID-19 Crisis report and the Highlights Summary.

The Music, Theater, Dance, and Visual Arts cluster alone has lost an estimated 27,193 jobs and over $1.4 billion in sales revenue between April and October 2020. This seven-month period of estimated losses contracts the Music, Theater, Dance, and Visual Arts cluster by 41% in terms of both employment and annual sales revenue. Read CCI’s report update for this industry cluster between April 1st and October 31st, 2020

Honing in further on Colorado and Denver’s music industry presents an even starker picture. A combined report from CCI and Denver Arts & Venues conservatively estimates a 51% loss in total employment and 24% loss of its annual sales revenue statewide between April 1 and July 31, 2020. For the Denver metro area alone, the study estimates 53% of employment in the region’s music industry and 25% of its annual sales revenue. Learn more about Initial Impacts of the COVID-19 Crisis on the Music Industry in Colorado and the Denver Metro Region.

It’s clear that, like the rest of the state, the Denver metro area’s last decade of creative growth has been decimated by the impacts of the pandemic. It is projected that, between April 1 and July 31, 2020, Denver’s creative industries lost an estimated 29,840 jobs and $1.4 billion in sales revenue due to the COVID-19 crisis. Check out the City of Denver’s Creative Economy and Initial Impacts of the COVID-19 Crisis report.

Americans for the Arts is also tracking the national economic impact of COVID-19 on the arts and cultural sector. Their dashboard is regularly updated and currently estimates $15.2 Billion in total economic loss.

Colorado consistently ranks top in the nation for arts participation, boasting some of the most iconic and unique cultural venues and events.

The loss of earned revenue and employment as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic is severe and relentless. Many organizations are facing permanent closures if financial support isn’t provided quickly and comprehensively. Several individual artists and gig workers have been further impacted as jobs in the service industry vanished and unemployment assistance wasn’t always available.

Arts through it All

Support the Arts

If you want to give a gift that really counts, give a gift of (and to) the arts.

GIVE, ENGAGE, SHOP

Toolkit

About the Campaign

Contact Us

General Operating Support Provided by:

Meow Wolf Foundation