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John Eding, Manager of Communications and PR
303-866-3670 | john.eding@state.co.us

Presented in collaboration with the Denver Latino Cultural Arts Center, Hecho en Colorado highlights the outsized artistic achievements of a dynamic and powerful community shaping culture in Colorado. It meets visitors in the History Colorado Center’s ground-floor Ballantine Gallery, directly adjacent to the iconic Anschutz Hamilton Hall. 

Hecho en Colorado
July 6, 2020–January 10, 2021
History Colorado Center, 1200 Broadway
Tickets ($8–14; free for History Colorado Members and children under 5): historycolorado.org/history-colorado-center

Hecho en Colorado’s run will include regularly scheduled small-group Cafecitos that grant exclusive access to groups who register in advance. Larger virtual events with artists discussing their influences and experiences will also take place, sponsored by AARP. The exhibition of approximately 50 works is curated by Adrianna Abarca, founder of the Latino Cultural Arts Center. Hecho en Colorado embraces a spectrum of fine-art traditions and forms of expression. It features representational art forms that depict and draw from both urban and rural traditions. They reflect both ancient and contemporary Indigenous heritages. Up-and-coming artists are juxtaposed with prominent figures such as Carlota EspinoZa, Carlos Fresquez, and David Ocelotl García.

A new 1,100 square-foot gallery located just inside the main entrance of the History Colorado Center, the Ballantine Gallery welcomes visitors alongside the museum’s iconic light-filled atrium, the Anschutz Hamilton Hall. As an effort built around co-creation and co-authorship, the opening of the Ballantine Gallery in the fall of 2019 mirrors several ongoing public engagement initiatives at History Colorado. They include the Museum of Memory project, a public-history initiative to help communities reframe challenges and struggles into histories of resilience and pride; This Is What Democracy Looks Like, a series of upbeat provocations and challenges that inspire renewed participation in election-year democracy; the Women’s Vote Centennial Colorado, a grassroots effort to examine the power of voting and explore the largest voting-rights expansion in US history through contemporary voices and topics; and the Year of La Chicana, a community partnership that connects the core issues of the Chicano movement with issues of social justice, identity, and inclusion.

About the Latino Cultural Arts Center
The Latino Cultural Arts Center (LCAC) is on the verge of something truly special in the history of Denver that will elevate the artistic and intellectual contributions of the Latino and Chicano communities to a national level. We are developing a cultural campus across three locations in the Sun Valley and La Alma Park neighborhoods.

In 2017, the LCAC opened with Hijos del Sol, a retail social enterprise, where local and international artisans sell their crafts while preserving centuries of traditions. We were recognized by Westword magazine as the city’s best museum gift shops.

In January 2022, we will open “Las Bodegas” (or warehouses) an integrated community arts center where artists, young people, families, and the public can seek continued learning opportunities that speak to their histories, interests and passions. From housing the art of the Abarca Family Collection to our community partnerships, we are celebrating and advancing the history and wellbeing of Latinos and Chicanos. The LCAC vision lives through every dance move, brush stroke, and music beat. 

Visit LCAC-Denver.org for more information.

About History Colorado
History Colorado’s eight museums around the state are now reopening to visitors. Inclusive, values-driven, and intentional, History Colorado has responded to the COVID-19 pandemic with an agile reorganization. Its blitz has created new educational channels for adults and youth (including at-home summer-camp kits now available), full-length episodes of its podcasts, a series of Archaeology & Preservation webinars, a major volunteer project, a weekly digest with over 28,000 subscribers, and one of the nation’s most comprehensive collecting initiatives: a partnership with dozens of schools, communities, and more than 40 newsrooms called History in the Making. While working from home, its State Historical Fund staff distributed more than $1 million in grant dollars to community projects across the state between March 20 and April 20, and continued its grant funding on schedule.

History Colorado’s mission is to create a better future for Colorado by inspiring wonder in our past. We serve as the state’s memory, preserving and sharing the places, stories, and material culture of Colorado through educational programs, historic preservation grants, collecting, outreach to Colorado communities, the History Colorado Center and Stephen H. Hart Research Center in Denver, and nine other museums and historic attractions statewide. History Colorado is one of only six Smithsonian Affiliates in Colorado. Visit HistoryColorado.org, or call 303-HISTORY, for more information.

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