Ensuring that arts communities can flourish across Colorado takes creative solutions. A new policy framework from the Colorado Business Committee for the Arts creates a roadmap to address some of the top challenges for the state’s creative industries and to make the most of the opportunities ahead.  

Based on feedback from over 800 individuals through surveys, focus groups and interviews, the framework aims to represent the collective vision of the creative community across Colorado. 

“It recognizes the profound role that arts and culture play in shaping the social fabric, economic vitality and collective identity of communities” reads Colorado’s Art Policy Framework final report. “At its core, this framework is an affirmation that the arts are not merely an ornamental aspect of society but a fundamental driver of human expression, innovation, and connection.”

While advocacy has long been relevant to the Colorado Business Committee for the Arts’ mission, the framework marks a shift for the 39-year-old organization.  

“Advocacy was always part of our mission, but sort of advocacy with a little ‘A,'” said Meredith Badler, the organization’s deputy director. “It was really during the pandemic that we got more involved at the state legislature as well as at the federal level, and so a lot of our initial advocacy work was very reactive.”

Today, the organization has a contract lobbyist, a grassroots mobilization tool called the Colorado Arts Action Network, an active policy committee and important partnerships to support its advocacy efforts. 

The pandemic made it apparent that previous efforts were not always inclusive of the entire state and barely scratched the surface of need but also that there was an eagerness from people to have their voices heard in this arena, Badler added. 

It’s here that the need for a policy framework became apparent. 

“For a long time in Colorado there just hadn’t been a unified and coordinated voice for arts advocacy,” Badler said. “It really came from this idea of being more inclusive and proactive in our advocacy work going forward.”

What are Colorado’s priorities to support the arts? 

The framework establishes where the Colorado Business Committee for the Arts should focus its future advocacy and lobbying efforts through four priorities that exemplify what the organization heard through its stakeholder process. 

The first priority speaks to the need for policies that are locally and culturally responsive. 

In mountain and rural communities, the organization heard significant feedback around the need to amplify arts assets, events and cultural heritage through statewide tourism and local promotion, Badler said. These communities also expressed a need for more resources and capacity including in education, concerns about the affordability and availability of arts space and threatened liveability for creative employees, all of which are addressed in the framework. 

While the stakeholder process showed more similarities than differences between Colorado’s communities, there are still unique needs depending on where you live, Badler noted. 

“It’s a big, diverse state and the needs of a community — just even thinking about the Roaring Fork Valley, what people need in Rifle in Glenwood and the climate in Aspen — are very different,” she said. 

This top priority speaks to the need to understand “that every community or demographic or discipline may have some distinct needs, and we need to be thinking about that from the beginning as we’re suggesting, monitoring or supporting policy going forward,” Badler said. 

Policies that meet this could include creating and supporting municipal-arts partnerships, protecting dedicated arts spaces, using art as a tool to support mental health and ensuring equitable and daily access to arts.

The second priority revolves around supporting the creative economy and ensuring there are sustainable funding models — be it grants or financial incentives — supporting art infrastructure and including the creative sector in economic and tourism strategies.

The third priority is centered around bolstering the liveability of creative workers. This includes making sure creatives have access to affordable housing, fair compensation and professional development. 

The fourth and final priority is making sure arts education is supported and expanded for all ages. This includes policies to expand, improve, mandate and fund preschool to 12th-grade public arts programs as well as integrating arts into educational and career pathways. 

Turning the framework into action 

With the framework set out, the next step includes making a more tactical legislative agenda and ensuring these priorities are reflected in future policy at the federal, state and local levels. 

Critically, with a tight state budget and uncertain future for federal arts funding under President-elect Donald Trump, this will include collaboration and being creative about how to support the arts beyond funding. 

“How can we make sure arts and creative industries are incorporated into other initiatives?” Badler said, adding that this includes looking at things like: “What’s happening in the housing space, and how can we make sure artists and gig workers can access those opportunities? What’s happening in mental and behavioral health, and how can we make sure that arts interventions are eligible for those opportunities?” 

Federally, there are concerns that under the pending Trump administration, arts funding could take a hit including the National Endowment for the Arts. In his first term, Trump attempted to eliminate the program, from which the state of Colorado receives around $85 million to fund statewide programs. 

“It’s something we’re looking very closely at,” Badler said. “Not only would (changes to the National Endowment for the Arts) impact direct grants to cultural organizations and projects here in the state, but our state arts agency gets a significant amount of matching funds from the (endowment) every single year.”

In addition to these large-scale efforts, the policy framework also suggests that local advocacy and progress are critically important. 

One survey respondent from the San Luis Valley put it this way: “When local communities are empowered to make decisions about what is happening in the community — whether it is arts related or education or otherwise — you get more buy-in and more genuine projects.”

As such, the full 54-page report includes a comprehensive list of the concerns and potential solutions presented throughout the stakeholder process to guide local advocates and efforts. 

“While (Colorado Business Committee for the Arts) doesn’t have the capacity to be at every city council meeting across the state, we’re hoping that this can be a resource for those local advocates and that we can provide any support or guidance that’s available,” Badler said. 

In recent years, the organization also created the Colorado Arts Action Network, a grassroots mobilization tool to help people stay informed about and involved in arts policy. 

“I think the call to action is really signing up for the Colorado Arts Action Network,” Badler said. “That’s how we’ll really start. It will help people be able to stay more informed and take action going forward as we bring this roadmap to life.”