STEAMBOAT SPRINGS – The Steamboat Creates website was designed by the Steamboat Springs Creative District as a resource to bring all information about Steamboat’s arts heritage and culture into one place. “Steamboat Creates was one of the first big initiatives of the Steamboat Springs Creative District. It’s going to be a resource for the community, in perpetuity,” says Dagny McKinley, development coordinator for the Steamboat Springs Arts Council.

In June 2017, Steamboat Springs joined twenty other districts in receiving a Colorado Creative District Designation from Colorado Creative Industries. This designation promotes districts to attract artists, visitors and creative entrepreneurs to their community, showcase cultural and artistic organizations and improve the quality of life of Colorado’s residents.

“As a part of our pursuit of the Creative District Designation, we were required to develop a strategic plan,” says Kim Keith, executive director for the Arts Council. “We had a number of strategic initiatives, one being economic vitality for the arts community."

Image by Elliot Lawrence, 501 Photography

"We noticed that people are pleasantly surprised by our arts and culture community. What we intend to do with the economic vitality component is to make people aware of the rich arts, culture and heritage here in Steamboat before they visit."

"Our goal is to turn tourists into cultural visitors, so they’re actually coming here to experience some of the music performances, visual arts galleries and museums we have.” 

“We built the website because we wanted one place for all the arts, creatives and creative businesses to come together. We wanted it to be a huge resource for not only locals, but visitors,” McKinley says. “There are a couple components to the website we hope will be very helpful for people.”

“There is an events section with a calendar listing of upcoming events, including events listed by all of our affiliates. It’s a one-stop shop for opera, theater, music, dance, writing and anything else arts-wise going on around town,” McKinley says.

Image from Visual Hunt

“We have a workshops section, for those wanting to get involved in adult and children’s classes,” McKinley says. “We have a directory of the town. People can look on a map and find locations of public art, take a walking tour on their own, look up and visit the galleries in town. The directory also lists out authors and poets, performing arts, music and dance. Whichever kind of institute you’d like to get involved in, you can find them all on the site.”

“We have an opportunities page, where you would go to find job listings, scholarships and grants for arts history, heritage and creativity. We’re hoping with all of those components it speaks to the creatives, locals and tourists, giving them opportunities to stay involved in the arts scene,” McKinley says.   

Artists around the community are already going to the site and wanting to be part of it. “We have a place for our creatives to seek out job opportunities, sell their work and get acknowledgement for the wonderful stuff they’re doing,” Keith says. 

“We have a section for creative workspaces, so if little studios become available that are affordable, we have a spot for that on the website. As a rural and resort community, affordable housing is tough.”

“If we can look at that community need through a creative lens, then we’re serving our creative sector and that’s what we want to do. It’s important to know this is a resource for our community, our creatives and for the people that love art that aren’t necessarily artists but want to engage in art and cultural activities,” Keith says. “It’s a very broad approach to giving support to the creative sector in Steamboat.”

Steamboat’s Creative District designation acknowledges the vibrancy in this town’s creative economy. For more information visit: http://www.steamboatcreates.org