Fall is in the air, and it's been amazing to see autumn cultural programming come to life across the district. Thanks for all you do to make this season special for our community! This month, we have a few key updates on the Road to Reauthorization process and remaining Phase 2 efforts, SCFD Speakers Bureau, and SCFD's ongoing performance management work.

 

Road to Reauthorization Phase 2 – Remaining Efforts

  • Reauthorization Input Committee (RIC): Our nomination process was extended and closed on 10/2/26. Big gratitude to everyone who took time to consider and submit nominations for the RIC! We received 52 nominations with a diverse representation of counties, tiers, and size of organizations and are confident that we have a strong group of nominees to consider. We’re in the process of organizing the nominations and will move into the decision-making process this month with the goal of communicating selections and making a larger announcement no later than early November. Stay tuned for more updates as we move through our process!


  • SCFD Funded Partner Questionnaire: GBSM and SCFD have partnered with Corona Insights, a Denver-based research firm, to develop a questionnaire for SCFD funded partners. The questionnaire will gather input on some of the concepts that many of you identified during Phases 1 and 2 of the Road to Reauthorization process. Please look for an email from Corona Insights this month titled “SCFD Road to Reauthorization Funded Organization Questionnaire”. To ensure every funded organization has an opportunity to participate, each organization will be able to submit only one questionnaire response. Your feedback will remain anonymous, and all data collected will be reported in aggregate to GBSM to ensure confidentiality. Thanks in advance for your support in completing this questionnaire – your feedback is greatly valued and appreciated!


  • Landscape Analysis & Listening Tour Report: As a continuation of our commitment to live our values of transparent communication, the GBSM project team is putting finishing touches on a Landscape Analysis & Listening Tour Report, will outline key feedback points heard throughout Phases 1 and 2 including the Community Reauthorization Workshops. This resource will allow you to dive into successes and challenges with what we heard across the district ahead of Phase 3, Proposal Development.

 

SCFD Speakers Bureau

The Speakers Bureau is a new community engagement initiative designed to raise public awareness of SCFD and our vision of Culture For All while equipping speakers from around the District to share the SCFD’s story. The Speakers Bureau will launch a pilot program this fall to test content we designed including speaker training, an SCFD 101 presentation, and audience feedback collection.

 

Are you interested in representing SCFD as a Speakers Bureau presenter? Fill out this interest form to be added to our contact list. After the pilot concludes, we will begin reaching out to interested speakers for onboarding in Q1 2027!

 

Performance Management

As we continue our work towards the ultimate goal of a successful reauthorization, SCFD staff are working internally on our three strategic priority pillars including board business, external organizational health, and internal organizational health. As part of this work, we are evaluating all staff classifications and roles. I am excited to share that Emma Mantooth will be re-classified from Communications Manager to Director of Communications and Marketing. Please join us in congratulating Emma!

 

Sending a tremendous amount of gratitude to all for your engagement with us throughout the Road to Reauthorization process and other SCFD efforts. Your feedback has been invaluable, and we have greatly appreciated hearing diverse perspectives. We're looking forward to our continued work together as we close out 2026 with the remaining Phase 2 efforts mentioned above and begin phase three modeling and refining proposals in Q1 2027 for the future of the District. 

Engage With Us

Check Out "New Horizons", SCFD's 2025 Annual Report

Last year, SCFD and our funded partners explored new horizons through innovative partnerships, new programs, and the beginnings of our Road to Reauthorization process. Learn more about SCFD's impact in 2025 by reading our newly-released annual report, "New Horizons".

A group of women in multi-colored dresses dance on stage.

Share Your 2026 Free Days!

As you continue to build out your event calendars, don't forget to submit your free admission opportunities to the Free Days calendar here. This is one of our most popular webpages, and we'd love to help spread the word about your free events! Feel free to use #FreeDayFall on social media and tag @scfd_co on social media as well for these special events.

What you need, when you need it

Just a friendly reminder that we continually add information, tutorials, grant deadlines, and other important details to pages dedicated to your tier of partnership with the district. Of note, 2026 grant process calendars are now available on each of the webpages below. Please use these resources to help answer your questions. 


Tier I | Tier II | Tier III 

Resources for Good

Celebrate Denver Arts Week

Denver Arts Week returns November 6–15, 2026, and this year marks its 20th anniversary. Does your organization have events and deals happening November 6-15, 2026? If so, submit them below to be included for free in promotions on DenverArtsWeek.com. If you have already submitted your events and deals, no further action is needed.


Need inspiration? Check out the current list of Denver Arts Week events and deals to get ideas!

Spread the Word

SCFD has resources for curtain speeches, social media posts, newsletter spotlights, and more in our Communicators' Toolkit. We'd love your help in spreading the word about SCFD and our vision of Culture For All! If you need additional resources or branding information, please reach out to emma@scfd.org.

 

Resources for Good

News from the Board

October Board Meeting

The next meeting of the SCFD Board of Directors will be held virtually at 1:00 p.m. on October 22, 2026. Get information for joining meetings.

 
 

SCFD | scfd.org