(Music Playing) My first time on stage, I was definitely nervous, because I don't know, it's just such a new thing.

But once you're done singing a song and people clap for you, it feels awesome.

When you say a funny line and the audience laughs at you, the audience never knows how much that means to an actor.

It's like amazing.

♪ I Love To Sing ♪ A-B-C-D-E-F-G ♪ H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P-Q ♪ R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z I think as a parent, you want your kid to be able to try new things, find their passion.

And so having Northglenn Youth Theater right here in our community was really great, so she could try it out as soon as she was old enough and really explore kind of a theater what's her thing.

And it turned out it was.

So it's great to have that opportunity.

[MUSIC] I remember going to the Royal Albert Hall when I was about six years old and seeing an orchestra and seeing a conductor.

I knew from that moment on that I would always be loving classical music.

I didn't know I would be a classical musician.

I firmly believe we have to give the opportunity to everyone to find their moment.

[MUSIC] Every day you're coming home and you're just thinking about surviving.

Just how do we eat?

How do we get food on the table?

How do we survive?

Then it's not the best life and it creates a lot of illness.

Physically and mentally and spiritually.

And I think if we want healthier communities you have to have the arts.

And they have to be available to everyone.

[MUSIC] My father was the first black actor in Denver at the Bonfils Theater.

And he was never given a chance to be on stage.

He was a janitor.

That was during the-- just coming out of the civil right's movement.

And so it was a powerful time.

Sexism, racism, ageism, all of that.

My mother was a musician.

She loved to be a wonderful supporter.

So she was like an audience.

[MUSIC] So I created a company that became one of the first modern dance companies paid professionals in this community.

So all my brothers and sisters were in my dance company.

They played drums, congas, timbales, traps.

We would sing.

We would dance.

[MUSIC] Creating a space for my family that would feel like a safe space, a creative space, was what I learned how to do with my own family.

[MUSIC] The Denver Metro area in the 80s, specifically the early 1980s and mid 80s, was in a deep recession.

It was a very difficult time.

We were kind of a one industry community focused on oil and gas.

We hadn't diversified our business sector as we have today.

And we were in trouble.

[MUSIC] I was at the Denver Art Museum at the time.

And as a young curator, it was a very frightening time.

I didn't know if I'd have a job.

I didn't know if the galleries would be open.

I didn't know if we'd be able to do exhibitions.

[MUSIC] These organizations, the large organizations, the Botanic Gardens, the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, the Denver Art Museum and the Denver Student, were receiving funding from both the city and county of Denver and the state of Colorado.

Both during those recessions in the mid 80s said no more funding.

We're cutting you off.

They were closing galleries because there was not enough money to do what they needed to do.

There were some very visionary leaders in Denver Metro that decided it was so important to invest in our value of supporting a vibrant and sustainable arts and culture sector.

So they approached the state legislature and asked them to refer a tax to the voters that would ensure that current day numbers, just over 300 arts organizations would be funded.

[MUSIC] There was one other national funding model in existence, and that was the St. Louis Cultural Tax, which only funds St. Louis, one city.

[MUSIC] And at that time, Governor Romer, Federico Peña, mayor of Denver, and Rex Morgan being the leader of this group, looked at that model and thought, we could do this.

We need something like that in Denver.

They were strong and dynamic, and they didn't give up, and they were determined to get this passed.

[MUSIC] We were one of the first organizations to be on television and rally and educate communities because they didn't know about it.

[MUSIC] As a residence, I was working making these pins, and they were two pennies.

Just one of them won't buy much of anything anymore, but mere pennies are all it will take to make a dramatic difference in the future of this area's cultural institution.

And we put those pins on everybo and it worked.

[MUSIC] People voted three to one to increase their sales tax in the trough, really the trough, the low point of that recession, of the regional recession of the 80s and 90s.

So I think that's really interesting, that people cared enough about what they wanted for their region that they said yes to increasing their taxes.

[MUSIC] Maybe people think of us as, this part of Colorado was a sports town, sure.

And we're also an arts and culture, a science town.

[MUSIC] [APPLAUSE] The Denver Center for the Performing Arts is the largest nonprofit theater compan in the country.

We sell more tickets than any other arts complex in the United States, which is unheard of.

[MUSIC] The average Broadway show costs about $125, but it can go up to $300 or $400.

Because we have SCFD funding, we've been able to offer our community $10 tickets across the board, whether it's a Broadway show, a theater company show, or a theater for young audience show.

Sometimes the arts feels a little bit out of reach for some folks.

At least, I kind of get that sense sometimes.

And so when it's readily available, when it's discounted or free, it just makes it easier to just take that first step.

And sometimes that's all that you need for a spark to go off for you or for your kid to be like, oh, that's what I want to do.

I just needed to see it.

I needed to experience it once.

And so if you have those opportunities ready available, you just get to explore those different potential passions.

[MUSIC] I have always worked in an art museum.

I spent years teaching adults, students, five-year-olds in front of works of art.

And what happens when you do that is you realize it's not about you, it's about them.

Here at the Denver Art Museum, we've worked hard to design programs where the art and creativity is the spark for young people to imagine their worlds, to see themselves, to build a future.

Students just need to be given the tools and materials.

They have the creativity inside.

SCFD is critical for the Denver Art Museum.

It's what allows us to keep our doors open, is what supports us in having free days and in creating festivals like Dia de los Niños.

It's how we have built partnerships and relationships with artists and cultural organizations in the Denver Metro area.

[MUSIC] BMoCA was founded in 1972 by a group of local artists to inspire creativity and foster community.

All our exhibitions, we try to bring the local art scene in conjunction with the more national and international art scene to here boulder our flagship.

It actually helps me make art.

The support of the Scientific and Cultural Faciliti District has allowed us to branch beyond the city of Boulder and reach broader audiences.

We also have programs that we go as far as Douglas County.

[MUSIC] So I love over the years to look and see how some of the organizations that I would consider, maybe hidden gems, have been able to thrive because of this funding.

[MUSIC] It's an honor to give the Rex Morgan Award for 2024, to my friend George Sparks (Applause) (Music Playing) So since I'm representing the "S" part of SCFD, when you come to the museum, you go into the lobby, and there's this giant dinosaur.

There's a T-Rex right in the lobby.

And as of today, we are formally renaming that T-Rex Morgan.

(Cheering) (Music Playing) SCFD is almost an existential part of this museum.

And as a CEO, 25% of our revenue comes from this tax.

Only about 1 third of the people who come through our front door pay full price.

And fully, a third of the people that come through our front door is giving them free.

(Music Playing) (Cheering) What I like about the zoo is not just you get to walk around and look at the animals doing their natural thing that they would do every single day.

The fact that you are getting information on these animals.

The fact that you will know why they're doing what they are doing.

[MUSIC] It just made me really build a connection with those animals.

And I just really enjoy watching them.

I think as a parent, we're always looking for opportunities for our children to be able to get out into the world and experience things that'll just kind of jog their thinking outsi of screens and all these other things that kids are so subject to these days.

So I know that Charlotte has really been influenced by a lot of these experiences.

[MUSIC] Organizations like the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and Botanic Gardens have been really instrumental in her coming up with new things to explore.

It's been amazing.

[MUSIC] The Denver Museum of Nature and Science, mostly I would go straight to the dinosau area because why wouldn't I?

You could see people extracting fossils.

Most of the time, they would be up at the window and you could ask them questions about what they're doing there and things like that.

Education is a core part of our mission here at the museum.

Historically, we've seen about 300,000 school kids either in their classroom or they ride the bus here and come on school trips.

[MUSIC] The Curiosity Cruiser is a trailer, and we outfitted it like a small museum.

And we take it to fairs and festivals.

We also use people and our artifacts quite liberally to go to community events where we can be of support to other organization He's a great ambassador for the museum and for SCFD.

(Indistinct Chatter) [MUSIC] When I moved here, I didn't know anyone.

And I was really looking for a place or places that could make me feel at home.

Without places like this, I would have not really known what Denver was about, what Denver could offer me, what I could offer Denver.

It doesn't only make Denver better, it makes me better, too.

[MUSIC] Colorado Dragon Boat is an overall 501(c)(3) nonprofit that promotes and celebrates Asian-American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, culture and art here in Colorado And our largest event and what we're best known for is the Colorado Dragon Boat Festival.

So there's something for the whole family over the two-day event.

We're a free admissions festival because we want to make sure that everybody is able to come and join us.

[MUSIC] In addition to the Colorado Dragon Boat Festival, we have the Colorado Dragon Boat Film Festival in partnership with Denver Film, which is a tier 2 SCFD funded organization.

We love the Denver Film Festival.

We went to a screening, I think, just a few weeks ago actually here at the Botanic Gardens and saw a great movie.

And so we love their stuff.

[MUSIC] On March 13, 2020, when the global pandemic was at its peak, there was no choice but to shutter the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, just like so many arts organizations across the globe.

We lost $100 million in revenue.

And we had to say farewell for an extended period of time to about 170 team members.

In the early days of the pandemic, we went from 350 employees to 35.

[MUSIC] Lots of theaters that never reopened, some that continue to have reduced program We could not have survived had it not been for the SCFD.

And having a vibrant and sustainable arts and culture sector, people have shown up for us in every possible way, whether it was donating the value of their tickets or making a contribution or sending a love letter and saying, we'll be back.

[MUSIC] I think another of the great opportunities when collaborations happen, you have more minds thinking, aligned, and thinking about a larger project.

How can we better impact our community?

We give more opportunities to artists to develop expansive works of their imagination and allow them to think big.

We have a relationship with Access Gallery, one of the gems of the city, because we have spaces to display artwork that they might not have.

We have audience to get exposed to.

[MUSIC] The Colorado Symphony has these really interesting collaborations, not just with Bach and Beethoven and Schubert, but with rappers and rock stars and all kinds of people.

And we also accompany movies.

So you could go and see a movie, and the score is being played right in front of you.

There's so much possibility.

[MUSIC] (Applause) Now the festival is also develop a reputation.

And the orchestra players go out to the schools and give kids an opportunity to hear this beautiful music, and even to maybe try and play the instruments a little bit.

Almost everybody who's playing in these orchestras started off playing in a school band or something like that.

I did.

I played in a little school orchestra.

That has proved to be very, very valuable.

I wanted young people from the age of one to start training and learning and being exposed to all the arts.

So it's even greater than I even imagined.

So we have outreach.

We're in 90 schools teaching every day.

We have our academy downstairs.

We have our theater, and at least 20 of the companies make this their home.

They come and perfor here all the time.

So we have access to so much more, and we can provide more to communities that just didn't have access.

And also, it changed the economy totally.

SCFD is near and dear to my heart, because it plays such a significant role in who we are as residents, who we are as a community.

That makes us unique and very competitive when companies are looking to relocate and expand to the Colorado market.

And just having that cultural and science and arts experience is so important to the residents We had a $1.7 billion dollar day in Colorado, where we had two companies announce that they were relocating to Colorado.

And they're bringing a total of 1,500 new jobs that pay an average wage of $95,000 a year.

And without SCFD, these opportunitie wouldn't exist.

This is a model that doesn't exist anywhere else in the world.

When I was chief of staff for Mayor Hancock, I traveled to more than 20 different countries.

And at every single stop, they would say, how did you do it?

There are counties and there are cities that have established an arts tax, but nothing quite as robust as what we have.

The encouragement that you get from an agency like this makes a huge difference to the morale of us as musicians and as presenters.

It's a kind of a commitment to the value of cultural life in our existence in general.

I mean, it's a very inspiring concept.

(Audience Applauding) I think for a lot of people, theater is their chance to become someone else for a little while.

When I see Millie on stage, she becomes herself.

That's who she is.

And that feels good.

[MUSIC] (Audience Applauding) [MUSIC]