Using Creativity to Drive Inclusion in Colorado Business Builds Groundwork for Arts, Equity, and Access as a Tool for Economic Growth
August 24th event celebrates and plans for a more inclusive and prosperous Colorado Business sector.
Alice Crogan | College of Arts & Media Aug 12, 2021
EVENT WEBPAGE
Using Creativity to Drive Inclusion in Colorado Business will amplify the work of entrepreneurs and small businesses who use arts, media and creativity to drive economic growth and build inclusion in business and industry. Resources, storytelling, discussion, and intentional interaction will help set a road map for the Colorado business sector whose recovery and growth will be dependent on models that prioritize access, innovation, and equity.
“Successful business leaders understand why creativity is continually listed as a top priority in the future world of work, healthcare and education,” states Theo Edmonds, Associate Dean for Transdisciplinary Research & Innovation at CAM. “Creativity as a tool to advance inclusion, well-being, and innovation––all proven drivers of economies–– is backed by science and empirical data.”
Edmonds is the co-founder of Underestimated People of Purpose (UPOP) which uses cultural analytics to prepare organizations for the Future of Work by aligning culture change management with innovation. UPOP is a recipient of the 2021 Americans for the Arts’ “Arts + Business Partnership Awards,” which recognizes businesses for exceptional mutually beneficial, innovative, and sustained collaborations with the arts. UPOP’s groundbreaking research has focused on using arts, humanities, and cultural analytics to measure and predict innovation capacity while introducing an entrepreneurial model that moves systems beyond diversity toward full inclusion
The August 24th event will convene leaders in traditional and emerging creative fields to present the creative economy through the experiences of filmmakers, visionaries, cultural entrepreneurs, data analysts, designers, immersive artists, and those who are breaking ground in technology and the experiential economy. Energize Colorado’s work to create meaningful small business growth indicators and use data to help build community will be introduced and explored in through the diverse groups advancing the creative economy.
This free event is open to business leaders, creative entrepreneurs and those looking to place-make in the future of the Colorado economy.
The following day, Wednesday, August 25th, CAM will host The Power of Art to Impact Spaces and Cultures, a complimentary session designed specifically for CAM students which examines how art, social justice, and inclusive practice can create change. Artists Hannah L. Drake and Josh Miller share how their personal artistic practices, from poetry to photography and arts-activism, champions inclusion through activity and action. Their work creating the (Un)Known Project, which incorporates history, storytelling, and art to honor and see Black men, women, and children who were enslaved in Louisville, KY, was recently featured in the New York Times.
For more information about Using Creativity to Drive Inclusion in Colorado Business and The Power of Art to Impact Spaces and Cultures please contact Alice Crogan (alice.crogan@ucdenver.edu, 410-530-8311).
Using Creativity to Drive Inclusion in Colorado Business
August 24, 2021, 4–5:30pm (followed by a networking happy hour at Tivoli Brewing, cash bar)
Emmanuel Art Gallery on the Auraria campus
Free + open to the public
Colorado Business Committee for the Arts (CBCA) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that has been forging inspiring partnerships between business and the arts since 1985 through year-round advocacy, research, training, and arts engagement efforts. As a champion of artists, cultural organizations and creative industries, CBCA advances Denver and Colorado as a cultural hub and validates the arts as an integral part of our regional economy.
Energize Colorado is activating Colorado’s small business ecosystem – enabling all Colorado small businesses to survive and thrive. Energize Colorado offers small businesses relief and a path to recovery—from access to funding to developing new ways to engage with customers in a safe way, innovating business models, or diversifying revenue streams.
