Boulder Arts Blueprint Appendix

• Create Boulder Statement PDF

The Phase 1 Discovery Report includes a literature review, local and national landscape review, benchmarking with peer markets, and budget analysis. Phase 1 Findings includes a summary of themes from community engagement.

• Phase 1 Discovery Report Cover Letter PDF
• Phase 1 Discovery Report PDF
• Phase 1 Executive Summary

• Grant Review, Analysis and Recommendations

The arts and culture sector is a measurable force in Boulder's economy, quality of life, and community identity. This page brings together data from multiple sources including the Arts and Economic Prosperity 6 study, the 2025 Artist Census, the Boulder Creative Industries Report, and the 2025 Venues Study to paint a fuller picture of what the arts contribute to our community and where gaps and opportunities remain. These findings informed the Boulder Arts Blueprint and continue to guide how the city invests in arts and culture.

• Boulder Arts by the Numbers

The Boulder Arts Blueprint adopts the City of Boulder's Sustainability, Equity and Resilience (SER) framework as a guiding set of goals.

The SER Framework ensures that arts, culture and heritage programs are fully integrated into the City’s broader planning, policy and service priorities, advancing a more just, adaptable and sustainable Boulder. Comprising seven elements—Safe; Healthy and Socially Thriving; Livable; Accessible and Connected; Environmentally Sustainable; Responsibly Governed; and Economically Vital—the framework is applied throughout the Arts Blueprint in two complementary ways: it examines how arts and culture help advance the community’s long-term goals and it considers how those same goals shape a healthy, safe and economically viable creative ecosystem.

These two ways are highlighted below:

• Arts in service of Boulder’s broader goals: how arts and creativity help the whole community reach its generational Sustainability, Equity, and Resilience target
• Boulder’s goals in service of the arts: how those same targets apply within the arts community

For more on the SER Framework, visit the city's website.

1. Safe

SER goal: A welcoming and inclusive community that fosters positive neighborhood and community relations and ensures that all residents are secure and cared for during emergencies and natural disasters. Public infrastructure is well-maintained and reliable and natural resources like water, air and land are protected.

Arts in service of Boulder’s broader goals: Boulder’s creative life fosters welcoming, inclusive public spaces, building trust across differences, translating critical information in ways people absorb and helping neighborhoods prepare for and recover from disruptions. Creative practice turns safety from a top down directive into a shared civic habit.

Boulder’s goals in service of the arts: Artists and cultural spaces are protected and accessible, with conditions that allow creative work to flourish without risk of harm or displacement.

2. Healthy and Socially Thriving

SER goal: All Boulder residents are able to meet their critical needs, enjoy high levels of social, physical and mental well-being and have access to abundant recreational, cultural and educational opportunities in an environment that respects and celebrates human rights.

Arts in service of Boulder’s broader goals: Boulder is filled with inclusive cultural experiences which strengthen social ties and support mental and physical wellbeing. Through representation, access and everyday creativity, artists and cultural spaces help residents meet human needs for belonging, expression and joy while advancing equity across identities and neighborhoods.

Boulder’s goals in service of the arts: Boulder’s creative sector is itself healthy, connected and resilient. Artists, cultural workers and organizations have access to resources, affordable spaces and support systems that sustain their practice and well-being. The arts ecosystem reflects the city’s diversity, advances equity within its own structures and provides safe, inclusive environments where creative professionals can flourish, collaborate and grow.

3. Livable

SER goal: High-performing, safe and well-maintained buildings and infrastructure that accommodate a diverse set of community needs for working, learning, playing and living.

Arts in service of Boulder’s broader goals:The arts make Boulder more livable by turning buildings, streets and services into places of connection, attachment and care. Creative practice animates infrastructure, supports housing solutions and embeds everyday access to culture within walking distance. By weaving art into development, social services and neighborhood design, the city nurtures environments where people can work, learn, play, live with belonging and express themselves.

Boulder’s goals in service of the arts: Boulder ensures that artists and cultural workers can afford to live and create here. Safe, high-performing cultural spaces, affordable housing and well-maintained venues allow the arts community to thrive.

4. Accessible and Connected

SER goal: A safe, accessible and sustainable multimodal transportation system that connects people with each other and where they want to go. Open access to information is provided both physically and digitally to foster connectivity and promote community engagement.

Arts in service of Boulder’s broader goals:The arts advance an accessible and connected city by turning mobility routes into cultural experiences, using creative tools to bridge digital and physical divides and inviting all residents regardless of language, ability, or location into civic life. Through artful wayfinding, inclusive storytelling and hybrid engagement platforms, cultural practice helps people navigate, meet and participate more easily in Boulder’s public realm.

Boulder’s goals in service of the arts: A connected city ensures that artists, organizations and cultural audiences can easily access one another. Safe, affordable and multimodal transportation options link people to cultural venues and events, while digital infrastructure expands opportunities for creative production, collaboration and participation.

5. Environmentally Sustainable

SER goal: A sustainable, thriving and equitable community that benefits from and supports clean energy; preserves and responsibly uses the earth’s resources; and cares for ecosystems.

Arts in service of Boulder’s broader goals: The arts advance Boulder’s sustainability goals by weaving ecological awareness into everyday civic life. Through creative expression, the arts invite residents to see the natural world with renewed curiosity, celebrate resourcefulness and co‑create solutions that protect the planet for future generations. Arts organizations are leaders in climate adaptation by modeling sustainable practices, integrating resilience planning into their operations and inspiring their communities to embrace environmentally responsible choices.

Boulder’s goals in service of the arts: Creatives, artists and cultural organizations embrace environmentally responsible practices that model resilience and inspire collective action.

6. Responsibly Governed

SER goal: A local government that provides an excellent customer experience, responsibly manages the city’s assets and makes data-driven decisions informed by community engagement inclusive of those who have been historically excluded from government programs and services. The city organization exemplifies an employer of choice with policies and programs to support employee inclusion and well-being.

Arts in service of Boulder’s broader goals:The arts strengthen a responsibly governed city engaging residents in civic processes and embedding equity-centered creativity into policy design and service delivery. When municipal leaders integrate cultural assets into governance through public art commissions, creative economy programs, residencies and inclusive cultural planning, they generate richer data, deeper trust and more resilient cross-sector partnerships.

Boulder’s goals in service of the arts: Fair and transparent cultural grantmaking, clear policies and accessible processes ensure that artists and organizations can participate in civic life.

7. Economically Vital

SER goal: A healthy, accessible, resilient and sustainable economy based on innovation, diversity and collaboration that benefits all residents, businesses and visitors.

Arts in service of Boulder’s broader goals: The arts power an economically vital Boulder by sparking innovation, anchoring small businesses and attracting visitors and talent while ensuring that creative opportunity and the benefits it generates are shared across communities. Culture and creativity are treated as core economic infrastructure.

Boulder’s goals in service of the arts: Affordable workspaces, equitable funding and policies that support creative entrepreneurship allow artists, cultural organizations and creative businesses to thrive.

1. City of Boulder. “City Revamps Organizational Structure To Bolster Cultural and Economic Development.” October 6, 2025.
2. Meeting packet, Special Joint Meeting with Planning Board, Dec 11, 2025.
3. Karen Morfitt, Vacant property owners in Lakewood set to pay new fees amid concerns about impact to community. CBS News. January, 2024.
4. City of Boulder. Boulder Creative Industries Report.
5. Office of Arts and Culture. Arts and Economic Prosperity 6 (AEP 6). The most recent AEP 6 study is from 2022 and is conducted by Americans for the Arts.
6. Office of Arts and Culture. 2025 Boulder Artist Census. 2025, pg. 21
7. Ibid.
8. City of Boulder. Boulder Creative Industries Report.
9. Ibid. pg. 8
10. Ibid.
11. Office of Arts and Culture. Americans for the Arts: Art & Economic Prosperity 6.
12. Before the creation of the Boulder Public Art Program, elements associated with urban design, such as bridges and underpasses, were often cataloged as public art. “Public art” is a category of art produced to be placed within outdoor public spaces, such as murals, light installations, sculpture and sound-based experiences. “Urban Design” operates at the scale of a neighborhood, pertaining to the placement, shape and function of elements like sidewalks, city-blocks, roads and open space. It focuses on how people get to where they would like to go. While the two are interwoven, public art is often a single or localized piece or series of pieces. While Urban Design may develop the shape, look and feel of a plaza, it is the public art within it that is often the notable distinguishing feature.
13. City of Boulder 2026 Community Vitality Budget (OpenGov), showing line-item allocations for public art and cultural program funding including Experiments in Public Art and Creative Neighborhoods. Available online.
14. Lange, Alexandra. Teen Girls Need Better Public Spaces to Hang Out. Bloomberg CityLab. 2021.
15. City of Rockville, Maryland. Implementation Manual for Publicly Accessible Art in Private Development.
16. City of St. Paul. City Artist.
17. Cause IQ.
18. City of Boulder. Arts and Economic Prosperity 6 (AEP 6). The most recent AEP 6 study is from 2022 and is conducted by Americans for the Arts.
19. Ibid.
20. Community development financial institutions (CDFIs) are mission-driven financial lenders, who ordinarily work in lower-income urban, rural and Native communities. These organizations commonly lend to affordable housing, small business and community projects that traditional borrowers do not.
21. Department of the Treasury. Community Development Financial Institutions Fund U.S, Annual Report Fiscal Year 2024, pg. 5.
22. CDFI Coalition. State Fact Sheet, Colorado, pg. 1
23. City of Boulder. “City of Boulder’s Affordable Commercial Pilot Program Awards Three Project Grants.”
24. Kuchar, Robin, “Music scenes and cultural ecosystems – Alternative practices between ‘official policy recognition’ and ‘post pandemic austerity’.” DIY: Leuphana University Lüneburg, Germany. 2025
25. Klekotko, Marta. “Applying the Urban Scene as Community Practice Approach in the Field. In: Scenes and Communities in the City.” Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. 2024.
26. Public Sphere Projects, Boulder Arts Blueprint: Phase 1 - Engagement Report, pg. 5.
27. City of Boulder. 5-9-3: “Exceeding Decibel Sound Levels Prohibited.” Municipal Code

Accessibility and Inclusion Goal: Boulder Chorale, Boulder Children’s Chorale Piccolini waving at parents, photo by Natalia Shostakova, 2023

Entrepreneurship and Workforce Goal: Boulder Metalsmithing Association, photo by Tiffani Bearup

Reputation and Identity Goal: Roots Music Fest Main Stage, photo by Lisa Siciliano, Dog Daze

Public Art and Public Space Goal: Fifty-Five Degrees, Adam Kuby

Nonprofits and Institutions Goal: Dairy Arts Center, Curious Realms Exhibition Opening, 2024, photo by Abby Shepard

Experimentation and Innovation Goal: 3rd Law Dance/Theater’s ‘Private Evening,’ photo by Mink Films

Scenes and Affinities Goal: Junkyard Social Club, Creative Mornings, 2025, photo by Jill Katzenberger

To read the Boulder Arts Blueprint in its entirety, including a detailed Engagement Report, please email culturalplan@bouldercolorado.gov.