Four months before Juneteenth was declared a national holiday, Denver City Council, on Feb. 22, 2021, unanimously voted to make it an official commemorative holiday in Denver, to be celebrated on the Saturday closest to June 19. But Juneteenth celebrations in Denver can be traced all the way back to 1953 when businessman Otha Rice, who had a bar in Five Points, started the Juneteenth tradition in Denver.
“How many planets are there with people like us looking up and wondering whether there are other planets with people like them?” asks Chuck Stout, curator for the Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum.
Roger Kahn’s “How Crested Butte Became a Tourist Town: Drugs, Sex, Sports, Arts and Social Conflict,” Zoe Argento’s “Isolation Island: A Pandemic Story,” and Kathryn Haber’s “Fear Less, Love More.”
The Denver Art Museum’s “Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and Mexican Modernism” exhibit, conveys some of the power of Kahlo’s personality. The exhibit is from the private collection of Jacques and Natasha Gelman. Twenty of Kahlo’s works complement 130 others that either center on her or add context and understanding to her life and times.
Knitting4Peace volunteers across the U.S. make and deliver hand-crafted items to provide hope, comfort and support to marginalized or vulnerable people in local neighborhoods, as well as to individuals in global areas of conflict or suffering.
The eighth annual Central Park Artists Open Studios (formerly Stapleton Artists Open Studios) will spotlight neighborhood artists, this year in virtual form: an online flipbook featuring all 21 artists and links to their websites.
Norman Rockwell fans will see his most famous paintings at the Denver Art Museum, through Sept. 7. But the show goes deeper, exploring his later scenes of racism and violence in America. The presentation resonates with current events and invites reflection and discussion.
Frederic Remington (1861-1909) created images of the American West that still define our notions of the cowboy. Winslow Homer (1836-1910), considered the most original painter of his time, created masterful depictions of the Eastern Seaboard.
When the Colorado Youth Pipe Band performs at area St. Patrick’s Day festivities later this month, their costumes and music will undoubtedly evoke favorite Hollywood films or nostalgia for a misty green landscape. The music is powerful, and even those with no Scottish or Irish ancestry often find it speaks to them.
If you know the song “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” you’re most likely Black—and you also know it is often referred to as the Black National Anthem. If you’re White, you likely know none of the above.
For those who think nostalgically about the 1960s’ activism, Dolores Huerta says, “Sorry you missed 1968, but we’re back.” A crowd of 300 chants “Sí se puede!” (Yes you can!), the motto of the United Farm Workers (UFW), as she takes her seat at History Colorado.
The performance at Willow Elementary School’s annual Ubuntu Night follows a bustling pot luck dinner in the cafeteria where shared dishes—ranging from fried plantains to Jewish noodle kugle to New Orleans jambalaya—represent the broad cultural heritage of school families.
