Wayfinding Signage

“The new wayfinding signs blend form and function, catching people’s attention and leading them to their intended or yet-discovered destinations”. -Bob Nevins (pictured center), Town Planner

The Town invested over $77,000 to create a comprehensive wayfinding signage program that builds upon the history and unique sense of place in Crested Butte. The Crested Butte Creative District, the Town and BOZAR worked together with local designers Margaret Loperfido (pictured left) and Keitha Kostyk (pictured right) to design the wayfinding signage in a way that would fit the context and character of the Town and Historic District while featuring artistic elements that are consistent with the character of the Creative District. Additionally, Ira Houseweart from Hotchkiss, Colorado and Sign Guys and Gal from Gunnison, Colorado were chosen to manufacture the brackets and signs.  The Creative District is excited to see the wayfinding signage in place and hopes that visitors and locals alike will be encouraged to utilize the signage to walk their way through town while enjoying the history, creativity and unique character of Crested Butte.

 

Destination Signage

Earlier this year, the Town and Creative District released a request for creatives for new and unique destination signage for iconic Town Parks and landmarks. Through this project, the Town and Creative District hoped to engage local creatives to enhance the creative spirit of the Town of Crested Butte. Unlike the Town’s comprehensive wayfinding signage project, which uses a uniform design aesthetic, the Town and Creative District wanted to install one-of-a-kind signage at specific Town landmarks. The Creative District selected Sarah Schmidt (pictured above) to create the Three Ladies Park and Creative District signs, and Bill Tintera to create the Totem Pole Park sign.

The Crested Butte Creative District recognizes the value in shopping locally and paying our local creative community for community projects—including our new wayfinding and destination signage. Are you looking for a new sign, a custom set of shelves, or the perfect piece of art for your home? The Creative District encourages you to shop locally and creatively by utilizing our directory of local creatives at https://www.cbcreativedistrict.org/our-creatives/.

 

The Creative District is currently seeking proposals for a winter digital marketing campaign to better promote and market local creatives and creative businesses. The overarching goal of the campaign should be to encourage locals and visitors to shop creatively and locally by utilizing the Creative District’s directory of local businesses and building upon the Creative District’s 2017 campaign called “Give Creatively” (http://www.cbcreativedistrict.org/give-creatively/). Additional components of the Creative District could be to feature unique artists and craftsmen in the Creative District (such as a series on “Creatives of Crested Butte”, promote creative events, promote paid opportunities for creatives, and overall build recognition and community awareness of the Creative District.

This is a PAID opportunity. The budget for this project is $2,000 for October 15-Nov 1, plus an additional $200 for sponsored social media content.

Proposals are due on September 28, 2018.

Please contact Mel Yemma, Creative District/Open Space Coordinator at the Town of Crested Butte at melyemma@crestedbutte-co.gov with any questions or to submit your proposal.

The Crested Butte Creative District is requesting proposals from local creative individuals for the creation of artwork for the base of the Creative District sign. The Creative District encourages iron or black metal embellishments for the two posts holding up the Creative District sign at the 4-way lawn. The Creative District is seeking an installation that will enhance the posts holding up the sign and will contribute to the unique sense of place in downtown Crested Butte.

This is a paid opportunity. The total budget for the project is $2,500, including materials and installation.

Proposals are due on September 28, 2018.

Please contact Mel Yemma, Creative District/Open Space Coordinator at the Town of Crested Butte at melyemma@crestedbutte-co.gov with any questions or to submit your proposal.

Featured Photo: Lian Canty posing with her mural at the KBUT office. Photo by Lydia Stern. 

The Crested Butte Creative District is requesting proposals from local creative individuals for the creation of a one-of-a-kind mural or wall art installation for the common room at the 308 3rd street public restrooms.

The Creative District is seeking an installation that will enhance the available space and unique sense of place in downtown Crested Butte. Interested applicants are encouraged to check out the space (a copy of the RFP is posted on the wall) to inspire their creativity for their proposal.

This is a PAID opportunity. The budget for this project is $3,500, including materials.

Proposals are due on September 28, 2018.

Please contact Mel Yemma, Creative District/Open Space Coordinator at the Town of Crested Butte at melyemma@crestedbutte-co.gov with any questions or to submit your proposal.

The Play Outside piano was an interactive experience combining art and music on one instrument that anyone and everyone can play. Throughout July 2018, all individuals could access the piano in the courtyard of the Crested Butte Mountain Heritage Museum to express themselves and have fun. One of the primary goals of this project was to foster community pride through collaborations between locals, visitors and artists. The Creative District, Music Festival, and Museum, together, selected Richard Buchannan, a graduate from Western State Colorado University to be paid paint the piano using his unique style of painting textural hands. When describing the project, the Music Festival’s Executive Director Christa Ryan said, “the piano is an amalgamation of Crested Butte, a physical display of the artistic, creative and amusing qualities and individuals who make up our community.”

The Master of Gallery Management and & Exhibits Specialization of Western State Colorado University will be holding a symposium on the “The Art History of the Gunnison Valley” on August 2, 2018 at 6 PM at the Crested Butte Mountain Heritage Museum. The event will present research on the rich and far-reaching narrative of artistic production in the Gunnison Country. The evening will feature the premier of Shaffer Nickel’s short film, An Art History of the Gunnison Country on the fascinating story of uncovering the Valley’s art history, which includes the mind-blowing animations of Ryan Sullivan that illustrate the connections of these images to their current-day landscape.

Admission to the event is a $20 donation to the Scholarship Fund for the Master in Gallery Management & Exhibits Specialization (MGES).

The project to produce the art history of the valley emerged from a Crested Butte Creative District project proposed by Nicolas Reti and Ivy Walker of the Oh Be Joyful Gallery. The Creative District also funded the production of Nickel’s video. They have now begun collaborating with WSCU Art Historian Heather Orr and retired WSCU librarian Ethel Rice, who have been working on a very similar project of to study the university’s art collection and its faculty. All of this research and preparation is in anticipation of a grand exhibition for Summer of 2019 at the new Center for the Arts to present the full fascinating narrative of art in the Gunnison Valley.

Above is an engraving by Thomas Moran of our iconic Teocalli Mountain which appeared in Picturesque America.

The Town of Crested Butte (“Town”) is looking for creative individuals to design and paint unique, creative crosswalks for the walking safe route for the Crested Butte Community School. Through this project, the Town hopes visibly show the safe route for students to walk and bike to school, while enhancing the creative spirit of the Town of Crested Butte’s Creative District.

The crosswalk locations are at 7th street and Belleview Avenue, 8th street and Belleview avenue, and 8th street and Red Lady Avenue.

The deadline to submit proposals is August 1, 2018. The project must be substantially completed by August 17, 2018. 

Each selected applicant will receive $1,000 per crosswalk plus up to $100 stipend for brushes and materials. The Town will supply the paint.

The Crested Butte Creative District has an opening for a new Commissioner.  The Commissioner would be appointed to a two-year term.

Creative District Commissioners are responsible for setting the direction of the Crested Butte Creative District.

Some of their current projects include:

• Implementing a recently passed public arts policy
• Developing professional development programming
• Marketing and branding the Creative District
• Creating paid opportunities for local artists
• Establishing programs for youth education and professional development

If you are interested in becoming a Commissioner and hoping to learn more, please feel free to read the Commissioner Handbook and/or reach out to Mel Yemma, Creative District/Open Space Coordinator. 

Applications are due on August 17 by 5 pm. Applications should be emailed to melyemma@crestedbutte-co.gov.

Applications may also be mailed to or dropped off at:

Town of Crested Butte

507 Maroon Avenue

PO Box 39

Crested Butte, CO 81224

Now in its 19th year, Writing the Rockies (July 18 – 22, 2018) is one of the largest and most diverse writers’ conferences in the region, bringing together hundreds of writers and publishing professionals to celebrate the literary imagination and the written word in one of Colorado’s most beautiful high valleys.

Set in the Gunnison Valley of southwest Colorado on the campus of Western State Colorado University, the conference is part of Western’s low-residency Graduate Program in Creative Writing and is also sponsored by the Department of Communication Arts, Language, and Literature.

The conference is fully open to the public.

Events at the conference correspond to Western’s Graduate Program tracks in Genre Fiction, Screenwriting, Poetry, and Publishing and include a wide range of workshops, lectures, seminars, readings, and film screenings that create an intense, collegial writers’ community across five days. There is also a track at the conference on Creative Nonfiction with an Emphasis on Writing about the Natural World, which is in development as a concentration within the Graduate Program as well, along with many special events, from plays to an opera workshop, alumni events, and more.

THE CREATIVES

THE CREATIVES

FEATURED OPPORTUNITY

FEATURED NEWS

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The Crested Butte Creative District works to connect local creatives with paid opportunities. Check out the listings below for our current offerings!

If you are looking to hire a local creative for your next project, please email hhenry@crestedbutte-co.gov so that we can post it on our site!

Current Opportunities

THE CREATIVES

FEATURED OPPORTUNITY

FEATURED NEWS

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On June 14, 2018, the Creative District Commission is hosting a public meeting to review the proposals received for the Mallardi Theatre public art installation. The Mallardi Theatre is the first 2% capital public art project the Commission will recommend to the Town Council. Each applicant will have the opportunity to present their proposal and there is also an opportunity for public comment.

The meeting will take place at 6 p.m. on Thursday June 14th in the Town Council Chambers at the Crested Butte Town Hall.

Please click here to view the agenda. 

The Creative District awarded the Crested Butte Old Rock Library with a Paid to Create grant to build and install a “Little Free Library” at the 4-way bus stop.

 

The Creative District is requesting proposals from local creative individuals for the creation of a one-of-a-kind hanging art piece for the ceiling of the Mallardi. The Creative District will purchase the piece from the selected creative for the permanent inclusion in the Town’s public art collection.

*The deadline has been extended to May 25, 2018*

Photo Credit: Lydia Stern

 

 

 

 

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Calling all Artists!

Midnight Gallery is excited to announce its first-ever juried invitation for emerging and established artists. If you are an aspiring artist or accomplished in your medium and looking to showcase your work in a professional gallery setting or on our gallery website, this is an excellent opportunity to promote and develop your career as an artist in Crested Butte.

As a new initiative, the objective is to connect with local artists of all mediums who may be at varying stages of their professional/artistic development. Welcoming artists working in traditional and nontraditional mediums, and artisans working small as well as way-to-big to physically fit in the gallery.

Thank you for your interest in our program! Please email Kimbre@Midnightgallerycrestedbutte.com with questions and to get scheduled for our jurying date.

 

 

THE CREATIVES

THE CREATIVES

FEATURED OPPORTUNITY

FEATURED NEWS

[mc4wp_form id=”693″]

The Crested Butte Creative District works to connect local creatives with paid opportunities. Check out the listings below for our current offerings!

If you are looking to hire a local creative for your next project, please email hhenry@crestedbutte-co.gov so that we can post it on our site!

Current Opportunities

THE CREATIVES

FEATURED OPPORTUNITY

FEATURED NEWS

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