Work in Progress: Re-envisioning the Collection is an experimental series of collection-based installations designed to explore new ways of presenting and understanding the collection. Participate in the process by contributing your response to each installment through interactive activities. New works of art will be presented throughout the series in response to questions and ideas related to the upcoming reinstallation of the collection galleries.
A People’s History of the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center
Dec. 6, 2024–Spring 2025
A People’s History of the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center invites the community to act as co-creators of this installation telling the Fine Arts Center’s story. From the 1919 founding of its precursor, the Broadmoor Art Academy, through its 1936 visionary origin as the nation’s first major multi-arts center housing a museum, performing arts, and an art school under one roof, to the present and into the future, the Fine Arts Center has been cherished by the community and is central to the cultural identity of Colorado Springs.
As part of the process of creating new exhibitions from the permanent collection, this installation welcomes stories and insights from the Colorado Springs community to help unearth lesser-known aspects of the Fine Arts Center’s complex history. Opening with a basic timeline to serve as a framework, this installation incorporates selected events, artworks, and printed ephemera which act as landmarks, highlighting past inflection points. Visitors can participate in the creation of the installation through written notes and discussion with curator Pat Musick, who will be at work in the gallery at scheduled times, adding viewers’ contributions to the timeline. The stories, themes, and insights emerging from this interactive process will serve to further inform the historical segment of the permanent collection reinstallation.
Skip the line and reserve your museum tickets in advance!
A People’s History of the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center is curated by Pat Musick, Permanent Collection Reinstallation Co-Curator.