Community members can join in the celebration on Nov. 1 and 2
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Oct. 19, 2023) — The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College is excited to announce the upcoming Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebration, Nov. 1 and 2, 2023, from 4-8 p.m. The two-day celebration includes live music, performances, and hands-on art activities. The event is free and open to the public.
Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) is a tradition that dates back around 3,000 years in Latin America. Mesoamerican cultures such as the Aztec, Toltec, Quechua, Mapuche, and others hold a cyclical view of the universe in which death is an integral part of life. The dead are still members of the community, kept alive in memory and spirit, and are welcomed back to Earth during el Día de Muertos. The revival of the observance of Día de Muertos in the United States is part of the Mexican American reclamation of Indigenous identity that began with the Chicano Movement, which spanned from the 1940s to the 1970s. This celebration continues to evolve in different ways in various regions, illustrating the importance of reclaiming cultural heritage and tradition. Within the United States, it has evolved as a mix of Latin American Indigenous practices, Roman Catholic spiritual traditions, and diasporic Hispano/a/x, and Latinx American cultural expression. Like many holidays, it is celebrated in different ways by individuals, families, and communities.
The Fine Arts Center’s celebration will feature free museum admission, performances, food and drink available for purchase, face painting, the Colorado College Mobile Arts truck, and more. Colorado College’s Mariachi Tigre ensemble, as well as Mariachi Diamante, will perform Mexican popular and folk music. Mexican folk dance groups Ballet Folklórico de Barajas, Grupo Folklórico Sabor Latino of Denver, Ballet Folklórico de la Raza, Ritmo y Sabor Hispano, and Grupo de Baile Hispanidad will also perform. Bemis School of Art instructors will guide visitors in hands-on activities including creating tissue paper marigolds and flags, and decorating sugar skulls, and CC Mobile Arts will facilitate ojos de Dios (God’s eye) making workshops. Additionally, visitors will have the opportunity to have an up-close viewing of a selection of arte popular or Mexican folk art objects within the newly transformed “Agents of Care” gallery space.
The event will also feature a community ofrenda (offering) to which all are welcome to contribute. Ofrendas are made to honor those who have passed and often make creative or socially engaged statements. These altars are traditionally filled with photographs, food, flowers, and candles. A digital printer will be available for those who wish to print a photo during the celebration. At the conclusion of Día de Muertos, messages and memories will be placed in the sacred fire with love and care to commit them to the cosmos.
Within our community ofrenda, guests will find the newly commissioned work “El árbol de honor: Muerte y vida como uno” (“The Honoring tree: Death and life as One”), an installation by Denver-based artist Cal Duran. Duran will also facilitate the construction of an interactive ofrenda over the two-day Día de Muertos celebration in collaboration with CC Mobile Arts. Guests are invited to bring flowers to contribute to this communal work.
Ofrendas created by students from seven local schools and community organizations will also be displayed at the museum Oct. 16–Nov. 4. Over the past several months, students spent time learning about the tradition and creating their own ofrendas reflective of their own contexts and communities. Students from Harrison High School, Cheyenne Mountain Junior High School, Palmer High School, Grand Mountain Middle School, Widefield Elementary School, Inside Out Youth Services, Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind, and Pikes Peak State College will feature their work in the museum galleries.
In addition to the altars created by Duran and local students, the exhibition “Mi Gente: Manifestations of Community in the Southwest” is currently on view in the museum. This exhibition explores the work of Chicanx, Hispanic, and Mexican American artists throughout New Mexico and Colorado and unpacks what “community” is and means by identifying familial, artistic, and spiritual communities that are represented within the collection stewarded by the Fine Arts Center.
This event has been made possible in part by grants from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, The Anschutz Foundation, and the Bee Vradenburg Foundation.
Care and Share Food Drive
We are proud to be partnering with Care and Share Food Bank for Southern Colorado to collect non-perishable food items for our neighbors in need across Southern Colorado. Everyone who contributes will receive a free museum admission pass for a future visit to the FAC.
MORE FROM THE FAC
Museum free days are offered the second Saturday and third Friday of each month.
The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College welcomes participants with disabilities. American Sign Language interpretation will be available on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 4–8 p.m. Please contact Frances Huntington, fac@coloradocollege.edu, (719) 477-4360 to request any other accommodations. Advance notice may be necessary to arrange for some accessibility needs.
Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College
The story of the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College (FAC) began with the founding of the Broadmoor Art Academy in 1919. A museum, performing arts theatre, and community art school, the FAC is a pillar in the cultural community of the Rocky Mountain West providing innovative, educational, and multi-disciplinary arts experiences designed to elevate the individual spirit and inspire community vitality. For more information about the FAC, visit fac.coloradocollege.edu or follow on Facebook @CSFineArtsCenter.
Land Acknowledgement
Colorado College occupies the traditional territories of the Nuchu, known today as the Southern Ute Tribe, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, and the Northern Ute People, who lost their beloved homelands due to colonization, forced relocation, and land theft. Other tribes have also lived here including the Apache, Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Comanche — and notably, continue to do so, along with many other Indigenous Peoples. To actively seek social justice, we acknowledge that the land continues to hold the values and traditions of the original inhabitants and caretakers of this land. We pay honor and respect to their ancestors, elders, and youth — past, present, and future.
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