Gov. Bill Ritter is pleased to announce that the city of Grand Junction is the recipient of the 2007 Governor’s Art Award, which recognizes a Colorado city or town that effectively employs the arts to enhance the quality of life and economic vitality of their community. From 1969 to 2002, Governor’s Arts Awards honored artists and organizations, as well as corporate and civic leaders, for their significant contributions to Colorado’s cultural environment. The award has been reinstated this year with a new focus on the role of the arts in community development. The Colorado Council on the Arts, a division of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade, annually convenes a panel to review the nominations and select the recipient. The Western Colorado Center for the Arts nominated Grand Junction for this year’s award. In selecting Grand Junction as the recipient, the review panel cited several factors:
- The city’s financial commitment to the arts through the Commission on Arts and Culture, including the city’s “1% for the Arts Program,” artist showcases at City Hall and the Convention Center, the Artist Directory and Event Calendar, grants to local cultural organizations, support for artist-in-residence programs in the schools, business development workshops for artists, and the Economic Impact of the Arts report every five years;
- The breadth of populations served by the variety of arts events and activities offered by the city and the regions’ 20-25 cultural organizations, including the Art on the Corner exhibit, the annual Art & Jazz Festival, the First Friday Art Hop, Thursday Night Farmers Markets, the Art Mobile traveling art exhibits and lessons, the Art Center’s Summer Art Camp, the college’s Business Training for Artists program, and much more;
- The vision and commitment to using the arts as a tool for community enhancement as reflected in the Grand Junction Strategic Cultural Plan;
- The diversity of groups that support and participate in the arts, including the Downtown Development Authority and member businesses, the city’s economic development and tourism agencies, Mesa State College, elected officials, arts organizations, and individual artists; and
- The long term commitment by all of these groups to integrating arts and cultural activities into the community.
The award will be a large painting by Joellyn Duesberry, a Colorado artist nationally recognized for her landscape paintings. Duesberry’s work has been shown widely around the country, including a recent retrospective at the Denver Art Museum. She is represented by galleries coast to coast and several private collections.
The Governor plans to present the award to Grand Junction Mayor Jim Doody and the citizens of Grand Junction at a celebratory event later this summer.
The Colorado Council on the Arts combines state funds with federal funds from the National Endowment for the Arts and invests in communities across the state to ensure that the cultural, educational and economic benefits of the arts are enjoyed by thousands of Colorado youth and millions of Colorado citizens and visitors every day.
