Fort Fund Grant Applications Altered

Members of the Cultural Resources Board move to spend more on advertising
By Aliese Willard

Two people dance in an event put on by Streetmosphere,
Old Town, Fort Collins. Photo from the Beet Street website.

Recently awarded with the 2011 Governor’s Arts Award for the state, the city of Fort Collins will now be able to better promote its stellar contributions to the arts.

Board members discussed a proposal for a marketing grant to promote Fort Collins’ cultural events at the Cultural Resources Board meeting March 31.

“Now that we have all these fabulous events, we need to tell people about them,” said Katy Schneider, Tourism and Communications manager of the Fort Collins Convention and Visitors Bureau. “It’s a resource issue in terms of time and money. We need to be more proactive about encouraging people to promote outside of Fort Collins.”

Schneider outlined the proposal, which would revise the process of allocating Fort Fund monies, with a new focus on advertising local events in Northern Colorado.

“It would be appropriate (for groups) to approach us and ask for help (funding),” Schneider said. “There are organizations out there who have produced great content, and people need to hear about it.”

Board chair Sue Beck-Ferkiss said she was supportive of changing the regulation and investing more money in promotion of events and tourism. She also reminded board members that the Downtown Development Authority is willing to match funds allocated by the board to give to different groups. CVB liaison Diane Gaede said she was not excited about reviewing more applications, and Beet Street liaison Patrick Moran was concerned about spending money on advertising.

“Print can be a great asset, or a hole you throw money in,” Moran said.

Beck-Ferkiss eased the tension by suggesting that applicants for Fort Fund grants be given a supplemental and optional sheet that would give them the additional choice to be considered for matching dollars on top of the grant.

In other business, board members snacked on yogurt pretzels and cashews as they appointed fellow board members for leadership and liaison positions for the next year.

Jan Gilligan, the current vice-chair who was not present at the meeting, was selected to be the next chair when Beck-Ferkiss’ term ends. Chris Clemmer will take over the position of Vice Chair, and John Hayes will be the new board liaison for the Downtown Business Association. Members Diane Gaede, Carol Ann Hixon and Patrick Moran all retained their current positions for the next year.


All board members then chose which programs or cultural events aided by Fort Fund grants they will attend. Among the events are dance, musical and theatrical performances, art shows, the Trimedia Film Festival, recreational events like “Articulture” at the Gardens on Spring Creek, and community gatherings such as Pride in the Park, put on by the Lambda Community Center.

Photo from Fort Collins Articulture website

Liaisons were especially excited to attend Wine Fest on April 22, where they will participate in a night of wine and food tasting at the Hilton to support Disabled Resource Services.

Beth Flowers, senior producer of Beet Street, made a special appearance to forewarn the board that Beet Street will be applying for monies from Fort Fund for the group’s Streetmosphere outdoor performing arts event.

Flowers said that the group’s “funding had changed quite dramatically,” and is “much less than we’d planned for.”

She reviewed Beet Street’s Streetmosphere program highlights, including that the program brought in $45,000 last year. Flowers is excited about new program offerings for the coming year. She said that70 percent of the performers are new, and several well-known performers, such as singer/songwriter Wendy Woo, will come to Fort Collins.

Another issue addressed by the board was the Opera Fort Collins program change. Because the performing arts venue the Lincoln Center is still not completed from renovations, Opera Fort Collins will be performing “Madame Butterfly” at CSU’s University Center for the Performing Arts May 20 and 22. Opera Fort Collins will perform the opera “Carmen” at the Lincoln Center once the building is completed.


The next board meeting will be Wed. April 27 at 5 p.m.