Recently in 50 for Colorado Category

Now you may have learned something new about culture in Colorado-but what does it mean in economic terms?  Every other year, the Colorado Business Committee for the Arts (CBCA -www.cbca.org) works with SCFD on collecting information from over 90% of SCFD grant recipients.  Deloitte and DualDraw then analyze and interpret the data in terms of economic impact.  Here are some key findings from the 2008 study (based on 2007 figures): 

·         Denver's arts and cultural community created $1.69 billion in total economic activity in 2007 up 19% from 2005.

·         $330 million was generated from cultural tourism.

·         Metro Denver cultural and scientific organizations enjoyed attendance of over 16.4 million in 2007, an increase of 17% over 2005.

o    This includes 3.5 million contacts with school children in 2007.

·         Combined payroll, seat and sales taxes paid in 2007 by arts, cultural and scientific nonprofits were $21.3 million, up 31% over 2005.

·         40,000 people contributed their time and talent by volunteering in arts, cultural and scientific nonprofits.

I could go on and on about the importance of culture-but I don't want to bore you.  If you would like to have a list of more resources, please e-mail me at Heather.Owens@colorado.edu. 

Thanks for reading.

-Heather

I have to provide a disclaimer...I love culture-especially art-related.  Since living in Colorado (fall 2007-present) my volunteer work includes being on the Denver Art Museum's junior board (CultureHaus) and Boulder 2140 social & cultural committee.  I'm a member of the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, the Kirkland Museum, and a few art associations of the Denver Art Museum along with being an alumni of Leadership Arts which is organized by CBCA.  When I lived in Chicago, I volunteered and worked for the Art Institute for more than 5 years and was very active on the cultural scene as a member of various young professionals groups.  I have also been very fortunate to travel extensively and have visited at least 100 museums in North America, Europe and Japan.  The art medium I work with is photography. 

It's that time of year where we are accepting nominations for the next 50 for Colorado class. The 50 for Colorado leadership program has been around since 1985 and has 1,000 alumni.  Each year participants from a variety of industries (non-profit, consulting, government, legal, education, finance, marketing, etc.) learn about key sectors that are important to Colorado's economy. 

The class will meet January 15, February 5, March 4-5, April 9, May 7, June 11-12, July 9, September 10-11, October 8, and November 5.  Sessions include government & politics, military & defense, sports & recreation, mining, energy, entrepreneurship, agriculture, research science, and arts & entertainment. 

To nominate someone, please visit our website at http://Leeds.colorado.edu/50forCO and look under the getting started section.  You can also send a nomination into our ExecEd@colorado.edu.  Please include the following information: 

·         Name of nominee

·         Company of nominee & Position

·         Address of nominee

·         E-mail and telephone number of nominee

·         Nominator's name

·         How you are acquainted with the nominee

-Heather

On Saturday 9/26, we entertained alumni and current participants at our 2nd Annual 50 for Colorado Homecoming Bash at the Butterfly Pavillion in Westminster. The night was full of food, music and mingling, along with a live and silent auction.

Thanks to all who made it to the Bash. We hope all of our past & current 50 for CO participants (spanning almost 20 years) enjoyed themselves. The entire Exec Ed staff considered it a success; we grossed over $5,500 on our auction items to go toward scholarships!

This Saturday is our second annual 50 for Colorado Bash.  We started the Bash last year as a fundraiser for our scholarship recipients and encourage class years to get to know each other better.  We have some amazing auction items including dinner with Red Miller (Former Denver Broncos' head coach), gallery rentals, Super Bowl XXXIII team signed football, amazing spa package in Pagosa Springs, lots of overnight hotel stays, and much more.  Our interns really helped out with procuring items this year.  They are rock stars!

Speaking of rock stars...each year all of us in Exec Ed can't wait to get to know our alumni at various events and also get ready for next year's class.  At this year's Bash we have alumni that are from class of 1988 to class of 2009.  The 50 program started in 1985 and we have about 1,000 alumni.  It's an amazing network of people that work in non-profit, financial, government, legal, arts, consulting, and marketing. 

Besides preparing for our event this weekend, we are also encouraging all our alumni to nominate someone that they think would be a great fit for the 2010 class.  Please visit http://leeds.colorado.edu/50forCO to see our upcoming sessions and nominate your colleagues on-line.  Nominations are due October 9. 

-Heather Owens, Program Coordinator

I can't believe it is already August.  It was just last month that Heidi Ganahl, Founder & CEO of Camp Bow Wow came in and spoke to the 50 for Colorado leadership group.  The day's focus was on Entrepreneurship. 

Heidi opened the first Camp Bow Wow in 2000 in Denver and began franchising it in 2003 (over 200 franchises to date in the US and Canada).  Heidi is an amazing speaker and is a great supporter of CU-Boulder.  To put it in perspective of how much she supports us...she spoke to our group while she was just shy of 9 months pregnant. 

If you haven't heard Heidi speak, I strongly encourage you to do so.  She will be the keynote speaker at the Denver Business Journal's event "Outstanding Women in Business-2009" on August 27.  I hope to see you there.

Also during our Entrepreneurship Day, Marley Hodgson of Mad Greens (great paninis & salads- Don Quixote is my favorite) spoke about Building an Honest Business and utilizing locally-owned businesses as much as possible.  John Georgis of Banjo Billy (not your average bus tour-yee haw!) spoke about how he was in the right place at the right time.  Lynn Price, founder of Camp to Belong, talked about her personal story of not knowing her sibling growing up and founded an organization for people who are in a similar situation.  The common theme was how they all started their own businesses and the obstacles they overcame.  All are fabulous speakers. 

Later that day seven participants of the 50 program were on a panel discussion and talked about the positives and negatives of having your own business.  Industries included financial, insurance, consulting, accounting, human resources, promotional advertising, and auction/public relation services.  The panel was moderated by a 50 participant who works at the Small Business Development Center. 

Additional speakers for the Entrepreneurship session included Paul Jerde of the Deming Center for Entrepreneurship, Greg Berry of Nuance Intelligence, and Courtney Price of VentureQuest.  It was an enlightening day and gave a lot of people food for thought of what kind of business they would create. 

So...what kind of business would you start up? 

-- Heather Owens, Program Coordinator