Fine Arts Center

Rebecca Belmore: Facing the Monumental
2020-02-21 - 2020-12-05 | Fine Arts Center, 30 W. Dale St., Colorado Springs, CO, 80903, United States
This major solo exhibition of Rebecca Belmore shows that she is one of the most important contemporary artists working along the border of art and politics. One of Canada’s most celebrated contemporary artists, Belmore creates artworks that respond to the pressing concerns of our time with beauty, sensitivity and resilience. The exhibition is the largest survey of Belmore’s work ever presented, featuring photography, sculpture and media installations from the past three decades.

Of Spacious Skies: An Audio Play Anthology Series
2020-09-17 | FAC Digital, CO, United States
Using the Golden Age of Radio Plays as the jumping off point, our intrepid team of artists, has created 12 weekly episodes of a series which highlights the past, present and future of Colorado Springs, with Pikes Peak as our center point. While it is best to experience the series as released, and recognized as a complete omnibus, each 15-minute episode can be listened to individually and in any order.

Same Old New School: A Conversation on Graffiti & Street Art
2020-12-03 18:00 - 19:00 (America/Denver) | Virtual
Same Old New School is a weekly podcast from Chicago’s Vocalo, hosted by FAC Director Idris Goodwin and Kevin Coval. The show examines the intersections of Hip Hop with culture, politics, fashion and more.
In this live special edition, Goodwin and Coval bring together a panel of artists and thinkers to talk about graffiti and contemporary street art and their historic influences civically, politically, and creatively.

Papel Chicano Dos: Works on Paper from the Collection of Cheech Marin
2020-12-04 10:00 - 2021-08-07 16:00 | Fine Arts Center, 30 W. Dale St., Colorado Springs, CO, 80903, United States
Experience artworks from 24 established and emerging Chicana/o artists created from the late 1980s to present day from the collection of Cheech Marin.

Holiday Cabaret
2020-12-17 - 2021-01-03 | Virtual
The FAC Theatre Company is packaging up joy and merriment and sending it your way in our 2020 Holiday Cabaret!
From our homes to yours, we’re bringing love, light, laughter, and a few surprises direct to your kitchens and living rooms for the FAC’s 2020 holiday production.
Grab your crew, a warm beverage, and a cozy chair and settle in for over a dozen unique acts from FAC Theatre Company favorites and their families in this special holiday season experience!

Sweet Land: A New Opera by The Industry
2020-12-17 - 2021-01-25 | Virtual
Despite stellar reviews and sold-out performances, the world premiere of experimental new opera Sweet Land was forced to shut down two weeks ahead of schedule due to COVID-19. Fortunately, a final performance was captured on film to preserve a new work the Los Angeles Times called “opera as astonishment.”
The Fine Arts Center Museum is pleased to provide access to this streaming version free of charge (first come, first served; 200 access codes available). Tickets to view the filmed performance have been made possible by the generous Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Grant for Southwest Art and Culture.

Creating Sweet Land: A Conversation with the Artists (Pt. 1)
2021-01-05 18:00 - 19:00 | Virtual
The FAC will host two conversations with the artists behind Sweet Land, both moderated by Raven Chacon (the first Mellon Foundation Artist in Residence at the FAC).
Panelists: Cannupa Hanska Luger, Du Yun, and Raven Chacon (moderator)

Creating Sweet Land: A Conversation with the Artists (Pt. 2)
2021-01-07 18:00 - 19:00 | Virtual
The FAC will host two conversations with the artists behind Sweet Land, both moderated by Raven Chacon (the first Mellon Foundation Artist in Residence at the FAC).
Panelists: Yuval Sharon, Douglas Kearney, Aja Couchois Duncan, and Raven Chacon (moderator)

Arts & Social Action: The Raid
2021-01-14 18:00 - 19:00 | Virtual
Join us for a community talkback and Q&A with Idris Goodwin and Tiffany Nichole Greene moderated by Dramaturge Julia Felise Dubiner.

Cleo Parker Robinson dance: The MOVE/ment
2021-01-18 13:00 - 17:00 | Virtual
The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College celebrates 50 years of Cleo Parker Robinson Dance. In honor of the 2021 Martin Luther King Day Celebrations, we are honored to share this recording of “The MOVE/ment,” a work inspired by a trip to Montgomery, Alabama by members of CPR Dance. It is a piece about the Civil Rights Movement that invites us all to ask what Civil Rights mean to us in the present day.

3x3 Projects: Proposal Submissions
2021-01-27 - 2021-03-05 | Virtual
Nine projects will be funded in the amount of $3,000 per project. Funds awarded will be inclusive and project teams will decide how to divide them accordingly. In the future there may be an opportunity to apply for additional funding to adapt these digital projects into physical experiences at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. Apply now!

A Deep Dive into the Work of Floyd Tunson
2021-02-04 13:00 - 14:00 | Fine Arts Center, 30 W. Dale St., Colorado Springs, CO, 80903, United States
Focusing on a recent acquisition and other works by Floyd Tunson, Collections and Education staff at the FAC Museum will be leading in-depth experiences for students with Tunson’s work throughout the month of February. These engagements will focus on preservation, care, and representations of cultural identity and social histories within Tunson’s work. In pursuit of building community with higher education students, this experience is offered to all students currently enrolled in college or university. (Must present valid school ID at check-in.)
As an artist from Colorado and a previous exhibiter at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College, Tunson explores concepts of cultural identity, American social history, pop culture, and the human condition. Tunson says that from one direction he sees “the terror of chaos, man’s inhumanity to man, mortality, and the unknown. From another direction, the human condition seems like a magnificent, orderly evolution of extraordinary beauty” stating that the totality of his work reflects his “quest to comprehend and express these forces and their interconnectedness.”
Students, space is limited — reserve your spot now!

First Friday with FAC Director/DJ Idris Goodwin
2021-02-05 21:00 - 22:30 | Virtual
Join us for a virtual DJ set brought to you by the FAC, CC Mutual Aid, and the Chinook Center of Colorado Springs. Sponsored by CC’s Alumni and Family Relations.
FAC Director Idris Goodwin will host as DJ for a lively night of dancing! The event is FREE for all participants, with a suggested pay-what-you-can donation to Colorado College Mutual Aid and/or the Chinook Center.
The Chinook Center is a Colorado Springs grassroots community that supports people and organizations working for social, economic, and environmental justice in the Pikes Peak Region. Please note that a donation to the Chinook Center is processed separately from your event registration. Make a donation to the Chinook Center.
Please RSVP by Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021

Celebrating Fifty Years of Cleo Parker Robinson Dance
2021-02-09 18:00 - 19:30 | Virtual
Join us for this conversation with the celebrated, Denver-based choreographer Cleo Parker Robinson as the FAC celebrates fifty years of her esteemed dance ensemble. Using the universal language of dance to honor the African Diaspora, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance explores the human condition, champions social justice, unites people of all ages and races, and ultimately celebrates the complexity of life through movement. Moderated by FAC Director, Idris Goodwin, this discussion with Robinson and her team of creatives will shed light on their recently released video of “The MOVE/ment” as well as their longer history of black arts production both in Colorado and beyond.

Libation Creations: Valentine Edition
2021-02-11 17:00 - 18:00 | Virtual
Artmaking Happy Hour Series
Celebrate love! Back by popular demand, artist Linda Sagastume and mixologist Angelina Rice bring you romance-inspired creations to liven up this year’s Valentine’s Day. Whether you typically revel in or avoid the holiday, this event will hit you in the right spot — just like Cupid’s bow!
Here’s what to expect-
Step 1: Angelina will guide you through mixing a delicious Valentine-inspired Pomegranate Rose Champagne cocktail in a step-by-step demonstration, live from her winery, Mesa Winds, in Hotchkiss, Colorado.
Step 2: Drink in hand, follow along with Linda as you create a beautiful Valentine heart garland. You can add your own unique touches using scrapbook paper, vintage book pages, sheet music and more.
Step 3: Sit back, sip, and admire your artwork.
This is a live event and participants are encouraged to ask questions along the way. List of drink ingredients and art supplies are provided upon registration.
FAC Members: $5; Non-members: $10
Register for the Libation Lecture

Anna Tsouhlarakis: To Bind or to Burn
2021-02-12 - 2021-08-21 | Fine Arts Center, 30 W. Dale St., Colorado Springs, CO, 80903, United States
To Bind or To Burn presents recent works by multi-media and performance artist Anna Tsouhlarakis (Navajo, Creek, and Greek). Tsouhlarakis was the 2019-20 Andrew W. Mellon artist in residence at the FAC. During this time in the studio, she explored projects that questioned how to indigenize contemporary art practice. This exhibition combines art works from these explorations with earlier works to show her continued engagement with the connections between Native American Art and Minimalism.

To Bind or to Burn: Conversation with the Artist
2021-02-12 18:00 - 19:00 | Virtual
The FAC will be celebrating virtually the opening of a new exhibition, Anna Tsouhlarakis: To Bind or to Burn, February 12-August 21, 2021. Join Polly Nordstrand, curator of Southwest Art, in conversation with the artist as they discuss her strategies to indigenize contemporary art. The exhibition presents various bodies of work, including the projects she created while an artist-in-residence at the FAC. A major sculpture, Edges of the Ephemeral, was installed in doors for the first time. Learn about the exhibition
Join the virtual opening!

Anna Tsouhlarakis works in sculpture, installation, video, and performance.
Her work has been part of national and international exhibitions at venues such as Rush Arts in New York, the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Crystal Bridges Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, the Heard Museum, and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. Tsouhlarakis was the Andrew W. Mellon Artist-in-Residence at Colorado College for the 2019-2020 academic year and has participated in various art residencies including the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and Yaddo, in Saratoga Springs, NY. She received her BA from Dartmouth College with degrees in Native American Studies and Studio Art. She went on to receive her MFA from Yale University in Sculpture.
Tsouhlarakis (Navajo + Creek + Greek) lives and works in Colorado.
Learn more about the artist

Intimate Apparel – A Reunion/Reading
2021-02-19 18:00 - 20:00 | Virtual
In 2018, the FAC Theatre Company produced Intimate Apparel by Lynn Nottage. In celebration of Black History Month, the entire cast of the 2018 production will re-unite to present a reading of the play via zoom. The reading will be streamed live on Feb. 19 and then remain available as a watchable stream through Sunday, Feb. 28.

The Arts & Social Action: The End of Their World, Welcoming in Ours
2021-02-21 17:00 - 18:30 | Virtual
This event offers a portal into the truths of six disciplined and worldly artists who often speak what is unspoken, drawing on themes of pandemics, uprisings, and survival. We will showcase the work, struggles, and lives of Trans women and Trans femmes of color who have world-ending ideas and dangerous dreams of a future that respects all gender autonomy. This work and the ensuing conversations will explore how trans feminine people incorporate art into their organizing and activism practices, through the stylings of cinema, song, music, dance and live performance portraying pandemic era trans feminist politics. Prepared video recordings and live performances of each artist’s work will be shared and then followed by a live conversation and Q&A with the artists hosted by CC Artist-in-Residence, edxi betts.

Artivism CO — Why We Need This Now: A conversation with Lisa Villanueva
2021-02-23 14:00 - 15:30 | Virtual
When you wake up in the morning and look in the eyes of your children, grandchildren, and those you love the most, do you contemplate their future? Pause and reflect on our country’s state of environmental destruction, violation of rights and the blatant silencing of voices in our marginalized communities?
If so, please join us in a candid conversation about:

How and why Lisa created Artivism CO
Why partnering with community organizations like the Fine Arts Center’s Bemis School of Art at Colorado College is so important for connecting with local youth
Why children are (truly) the solution for a better future

Join Lisa Villanueva, the creator and author of Artivism CO, as she speaks through her own history, and the history of Artivism CO, an organization that facilitates and encourages young people to use art to evoke emotions while also exploring the human, civil, and environmental rights that lead to change.

A Poetry Reading with Douglas Kearney
2021-02-26 16:00 - 17:00 | Virtual
In celebration of Black History Month, join us for an evening of poetry and discussion with Douglas Kearney.
Douglas Kearney is a poet, performer, and librettist who has published seven books that bridge thematic concerns such as politics, African-American culture, masks, the Trickster figure, and contemporary music. His most recent collection, Sho, aims to hit crooked licks with straight-seeming sticks. Kearney is also the author of Buck Studies, which was awarded the CLMP Firecracker Award for Poetry, the Theodore Roethke Memorial Poetry Award, and the silver medal for the California Book Award in Poetry. Kearney’s collection of writing on poetics and performativity, Mess and Mess and, was a Small Press Distribution Handpicked Selection; and Patter examines miscarriage, infertility, and parenthood. He has received a Whiting Writer’s Award, was named a Notable New American Poet by the Poetry Society of America, and has been awarded fellowships from Cave Canem and The Rauschenberg Foundation. His work has appeared in Poetry, Iowa Review, Boston Review, and Indiana Review, and anthologies, including Resisting Arrest: Poems to Stretch the Sky, Best American Poetry, Best American Experimental Writing, and What I Say: Innovative Poetry by Black Poets in America. Raised in Altadena, CA, he lives with his family a little west of Minneapolis, MN and teaches creative writing at the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities.

Youth Rep Ensemble
2021-03-03 16:00 - 18:00 | Virtual
Virtual Spring Camp!
Wednesdays & Saturdays, March 3–May 1 (8 weeks). This spring session for high school students will offer weekly workshops from esteemed faculty and guest instructors ranging from auditions technique, classical text, movement, voice work and more. Students will also devise and rehearse for the first ever Fine Arts Center Theatre School Cabaret that will be streamed on May 7. This class is a must for students looking for a continuation of their skill development as well as performance opportunities!

Budding Thespians
2021-03-06 09:00 - 11:00 | Virtual
Virtual Spring Camp!
Saturdays, March 6–May 1 (8 weeks), 9–11 a.m. It is time to once again to raise the virtual curtain on our youngest performers! Students will explore the magical world of theatre through games, rehearsals, and collaboration. Interactive instruction will have students dancing, acting, crafting and much more! Registration for this camp includes an “Imagination Pack” that will be delivered right to your front door. The final performance of this camp will stream to the public on May 7.
Instructors: Sally Hybl (FAC’s The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins), Jessye King (FAC’s The Sound of Music, Busytown: The Musical)

Emerging Artists Class
2021-03-06 09:00 - 12:00 | Virtual
Virtual Spring Camp!
Saturdays, March 6–May 1 (8 weeks), 9 a.m.–12 p.m. Rising theatre stars take note! This class is designed for students who yearn to further develop their love and skills for the theatrical art form. Daily theme exploration will allow these students to get a three-dimensional view of performing and creating. Collaboration will be key to the work that we do. Registration for this camp includes an “Imagination Pack” that will be delivered right to your front door. The final performance of this camp will stream to the public on May 7.
Instructors: Carmen Shedd (FAC’s The Sound of Music, Matilda: The Musical), Ryan Miller (FAC’s The Sound of Music)

Works in Progress: Boy mother / faceless bloom
2021-03-09 18:00 - 19:00 | Virtual
Boy mother / faceless bloom is a multimedia performance work combining large-scale sculptural and scenic design, live and recorded music, and embodied movement to tell the story of a young boy who learns he will be a mother. Drawing upon the combined, personal mythologies of Nengudi, Kwon, Nishimura, and Kohl, Boy mother / faceless bloom explores transgender identity, parenthood and ancestral lineage in a time of planetary crisis, as well as the spiritual legacies of colonialism, imperialism, and ideologies of domination.
