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Hosts look back and forward ahead of this week’s CCI Summit

Carbondale is getting a little more creative this week. The town’s application to become a certified creative district is in the hands of Colorado Creative Industries, the state organization in charge of the program.

This week, the town hosts the Colorado Creative Industries Summit. The event will bring in about 300 people to talk about creative economies and how to make Colorado a better place for art.

The process of becoming a certified creative district involves lots of steps. You have to have a vibrant art scene, for one.

Michael Varnum is the director of the Steam Plant Events center and the manager of the Salida Creative District, which is about two hours west of Pueblo. Salida hosted the Creative Industries Summit in 2014.

“There was still an excitement and still is about us being named a creative district,” Varnum said. “It also brought people together to work together to put the summit on.”

The impacts of the festival are felt immediately. Colorado Creative Industries estimates that each summit brings in about $100,000 to the host city during the festivities.

People working in creative fields will attend seminars talking about everything from public art, to entrepreneurial practices to collaboration across industries. There’s also a smaller version of the deTour program, which emphasizes bringing Colorado Musicians into non-traditional markets, as well as building community through music.

Margaret Hunt, the director of Colorado Creative Industries, said her group’s job isn’t necessarily to bring in that kind of money, but to show artists across the state what is possible; what they can do in their industry.

“We see our role in creative industries as setting strategy and being a convener and facilitator around the creative sector in Colorado,” said Hunt.

So what does it take to become a creative district? You have to have the physical, cultural and artistic resources to create a healthy community — economically and culturally. You have to be a center for the arts and you also have to find your niche. That’s what Amy Kimberly — who is spearheading this whole thing — feels Carbondale has.

“You really get that collective feeling. Everybody is in the same place, the same time,” Kimberly said. “Everybody celebrates together, learns together, sees each other on the streets. All the locals become part of the feeling of it as well.”

Carbondale gets to show off its creative people as they host the 2016 summit, which in and of itself has its own set of criteria, like figuring out the cost of hosting.

Breckenridge, Pueblo and Fort Collins also have held the summit.

Even a year after finding out that Carbondale would be hosting the event, Kimberly said she is just now starting to worry about what might happen. Has she prepared enough? Is everything in order? Has everything been accounted for?

“I think nerves are coming right now,” Kimberly said. “I think we’re all pretty nervous that we’ve got everything together for all the people.”

Right now, Colorado Creative Industries is reviewing applications for towns and cities to become certified creative districts. If selected, they would be eligible to receive state funding to support artistic endeavors. Kimberly says she hopes that people understand how Carbondale has evolved in its quest to become a certified creative district.

It isn’t a requirement to host the summit before being fully accepted into the creative district program, but Kimberly said she hopes it will help nudge the powers that be in the right direction.

“The better we look right now, hopefully it will help down the road when they decide who should be certified and who shouldn’t,” Kimberly said.

Carbondale should find out about its certification application sometime in June.

Patrick Fort grew up in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, nurturing a love for ice hockey and deli sandwiches. After moving to Colorado in 2010 to attend the University of Colorado to study music, Patrick discovered his love for journalism. In 2013, Patrick created and hosted the award-winning radio program Colorado Stories, a news program that covered CU and the surrounding community. An avid mountain and road cyclist, Patrick also referees youth ice hockey. He loves '60s pop bands and and trying new recipes ranging from milk-braised carnitas to flourless cakes.
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