Durango Arts & Entertainment

Arts and Entertainment
For current listings of regional events: Arts Calendar Or Entertainment Calendar

Durango and La Plata County have no shortage of entertainment opportunities. In fact, event organizers often lament that finding a day that doesn't compete with some other activity is very nearly impossible. Pick a passion, and it's most likely found in La Plata County.

Durango posesses a vibrant fine arts community, with a dozen independent galleries and the community built and supported Durango Arts Center, as well as The Arts Center at Fort Lewis College. From contemporary fine art and photography, to Native American and "cowboy" art, Durango's galleries provide an on-going and ever-changing feast for the eyes. The City of Durango is also organizing an official "Art in Public Places" program in conjunction with the Durango Arts Center, helping to bring more public art such as the bronze statues now installed along 2nd Ave.

Live theatrical, dance and musical performances can be enjoyed almost nightly, whether in the more intimate environs of the Durango Arts Center Theater and the Diamond Circle Theatre, or in the state-of-the-art 614-seat Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College. Even many of Durango's fine restaurants and fine social drinking establishments offer live musical entertainment nightly. For independent film buffs, the Durango Film Society screens numerous art and small production films.

During the summer, outdoor musical festivals such as Music in the Mountains or special concerts hosted at Durango Mountain Resort or Trimble Hot Springs, make sure that the hills are literally alive with the sound of music. In the near future both the Durango Community Recreation Center and Fort Lewis College will also have outdoor amphitheaters.

Museums add a further dimension to life in La Plata County. History and culture can be savored at the Animas History Museum or Southern Ute Tribal Museum. Durango is also home to the internationally renown Center for Southwest Studies. With the most comprehensive collection of Southwestern art and artifacts in the country, the Center is truly considered one of the gems of the region.

But the arts aren't reserved for passive viewing. Programs for all ages-including art, photography, dance and more-are available through the Durango Arts Center, at the Smiley Building (known as an incubator for existing and budding artists) and at independent galleries and studios. Guilds and organizations open to public participation encompass disciplines such as weaving, quilting, literature, genealogy and more. (also see special interest section of the Durango Community Calendar for art classes)

For current listings of regional events:
Arts Calendar

Performing Arts
The melodrama at the Diamond Circle Theatre performs during the summer months. The Community Concert Association series is available by subscription and brings three to five fine musical performances each fall and winter.

Extending the performance season are the Durango Choral Society that is renowned for its Christmas spectacular every year, the Children's Chorale and the Durango Barbershoppers. During the summer, Music in the Mountains provides a week long festival of popular and classical music performed at the Purgatory Resort ski area. The Fort Lewis Theatre Department produces several plays each year. Lastly, the Durango Arts Center brings in at least two high caliber performances annually such as the Denver Symphony Orchestra and the internationally acclaimed MOMIX Dance Troupe.

Fort Lewis recently completed construction on a new $5 million, 614-seat Community Concert Hall. The hall is designed to accommodate primarily non-amplified musical performances, although lectures, stage, opera, and amplified musical performances also can be accommodated. The hall has hosted Music in the Mountains, gospel groups, jazz, ballets, and a variety of other performances. For more information see their web site at durangoconcerts.com

Other Arts Activities
The public has an open invitation to be a part of the Four Corners Weavers Guild, the La Plata Quilters Guild, the Pine Valley Artists Association, the Durango Barbershoppers, Calligraphers Guild and the Durango Graphic Artists Guild.

Dance
Durango is fortunate to have a diverse array of dancing clubs which include the International Folkdancing Club, the Durango Round Dancers, the Dance Co-motion, a Fort Lewis sponsored club, The Dance Center and the Durango Ballet Academy.

The Dance Center has a curriculum that is designed to develop dance technique and appreciation of the artistry of dance. The Dance Center offers a wide breadth of classes (up to 40) throughout the year and also hosts major performances every year such as the Dance Through Time. For more information call (970) 247-4122.

The City of Durango supports cultural events by budgeting annually to the Durango Arts Center which re-grants the money to organizations for diverse arts events and programs. For the latest Durango Arts Center newsletter, please call (970) 259-2606 or write to the Center at 802 E 2nd Avenue, Durango, CO 81301.

Center for Southwest Studies
Fort Lewis College has a distinctive history in the field of public education and, in particular, Indian education. For over one hundred years, it has been a first-string player in helping educate Native Americans. Qualified Native Americans attend tuition-free. The Center of Southwest Studies was established in 1964 to serve as a museum and a research facility and to develop an interdisciplinary Southwest curriculum. The Southwest curriculum draws from courses in Anthropology, Art, Literature, History, and Sociology. The Center's holdings, totally approximately 8,700 linear shelf feet, include some 15,000 volumes, numerous periodicals, more than 7,000 linear shelf feet of manuscripts, unbound printed materials and three-dimensional artifacts, 5,000 reels of historic microfilm, 600 oral histories, and about 35,000 photographs. In 1989, the Colorado Commission on Higher Education selected Southwest Studies as one of five programs of excellence in state funded higher education. As a result of the special legislative appropriation that funded this award, the Center employed an archivist in 1991.

The Center's collection of Southwestern artifacts and historical records and its large collection of books and other printed materials, many of them rare, addressing every aspect of the Southwest, are a resource for every member of the community and beyond. The Center's mission is to identify, preserve, and make accessible this resource for all who are interested in the history of the Four Corners region.