Installation image from BMoCA + Anythink Bennett installation, Topographic Memory by artist Cherish Marquez. Courtesy of Wes Magyar and BMoCA.

Kiah Butcher’s curatorial career grew because of her commitment to community engagement. Placing contemporary art in unexpected places, like libraries, is the perfect venue to connect Colorado artists to different communities across the front range.

“For years, we have been doing art education in libraries, and the museum decided to expand on the outreach education programs in libraries with dynamic exhibitions that spark curiosity,” Butcher said.

In conjunction with BMoCA’s downtown Boulder museum space, contemporary art is blooming in libraries across Adams, Arapahoe and the newest partner, Jefferson county library districts.

In the small town of Bennett, in Adams County’s farthest eastern reach, BMoCA offers contemporary art that is informed by the community and its residents to explore ideas about their own town and landscape. As part of her project, featured artist Cherish Marquez held two community workshops where participants built a simple video game using Unreal Engine, a 3D computer graphic engine. Participants created their own virtual landscape, while telling stories of Bennett which were embedded in the final game design.

A topographic map was made from recycled fabric, and conductive material, which allowed users to move through the digital community model created during the workshop.

Across the street from the library sits Bennett School District (including the elementary, middle and high school). Melinda Laz, BMoCA Educational Outreach Manager worked to bring these unique art experiences to classrooms and make connections to the art in the library.

“Libraries have a unique connection to community,” Laz said. “Students learned about the artwork and artist directly in their classrooms and then could walk across the street to engage even more deeply with the work.”

Thanks to the voters and residents of the seven-county metro area, SCFD has come a long way in its more than 30 years of existence. SCFD is the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District, a tax collected and distributed to more than 300 cultural organizations in our seven-county Denver metro region including Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas and Jefferson counties. Just one penny on every $10 spent in the district creates vibrancy for us individually and collectively.

The City of Boulder is the home to thousands of artists and over 140 arts organizations. In fact, Boulder has the nation’s third-highest concentration of artists, right behind Los Angeles and Santa Fe, according to the National Endowment for the Arts. This year, the Boulder's arts community will demonstrate the reason they are nationally ranked with an incredible array of cultural experiences from murals and installations, to music and dance. Join Boulder’s only large-scale, inclusive celebration of arts and cultural offerings at the 10th Annual Boulder Arts Week from April 7 through April 15. In 2023, Boulder Arts Week will feature digital and in-person arts and culture offerings, including art walks, exhibitions, performances, dance, music, theater, public art, lectures, readings, and workshops at venues throughout the city. You can learn more.