It’s exciting to see that work you are creating brings your community together.  It’s even more wonderful when the work we do impacts and supports other communities in their own creative placemaking efforts.

Inspired by Arts @ the Feed & Grain and the new arts uses of the 1892 Loveland Feed & Grain and its collaboration with the Artspace Loveland Lofts, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper came to the Loveland Arts Campus to announce Space to Create, Colorado, the nation’s first state-driven initiative to provide affordable housing for artists and affordable community arts spaces in rural Colorado.

According to Governor Hickenlooper, “Housing and economic development are vital needs in rural Colorado, and the Space to Create initiative advances both of these issues by harnessing the power of the public, private and philanthropic sectors, as well as the creative community, to activate historic spaces and elevate rural economies.”

Space to Create, Colorado will help selected communities develop mixed-use projects that blend affordable live/work space for artists and their families with non-residential spaces for creative enterprises and organizations that serve a critical community need.  A total of nine projects will be launched in eight regions in Colorado’s rural small town and mountains communities over the next eight years. Each project will be customized to meet the individual community’s needs for creative workforce housing and commercial space for artists and creative sector entrepreneurs.

Space to Create is being led by Colorado Creative Industries, the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade, Colorado Department of Local Affairs, History Colorado, the Boettcher Foundation, and Artspace Projects.

“Artspace is honored to be involved in this first-of-its-kind creative workforce and economic development initiative in the U.S,” said Artspace President Kelley Lindquist.

An initial demonstration project has been launched in Trinidad, Colorado. Future projects will be prioritized based on community readiness, public support, housing needs and commitment of local resources.

Tim Schultz, President of the Boettcher Foundation and major advocate for the program, said, “The Space to Create initiative will unite affordable housing with creative workspaces and community-use facilities to create an important catalyst for economic development in Colorado’s rural communities.”

For more information about Space to Create, Colorado:  http://www.coloradocreativeindustries.org/communities/space-create