RiNo Gives Back

Background Statement

As RiNo Art District continues to evolve, there is a community led push for a permanent space that includes comprehensive and inclusive education, space to create, and space to gather. The dense urban neighborhoods that make up the RiNo Art District have limited access to natural green spaces and healthy outdoor recreation. The RiNo Art District has the opportunity to address both these needs by creating the RiNo Art Park, a center of creativity, learning and entrepreneurialism located in the heart of a new park in north Denver.

Formed with the belief that everyone should have opportunities to explore, connect, thrive, and improve their lives, The RiNo ArtPark will be a natural green space that engages the Platte River and features two adaptively reused and repurposed historic buildings. The RiNo ArtPark will provide the families in the area with much needed green space, access to the outdoors, and a safe and clean play environment, and will serve over 85,000 individuals from the surrounding area each year. This program intends to bring the historic and diverse communities of North Denver together and to engage them and give them an outlet to express themselves through art, food and culture.

The RiNo ArtPark will be the City of Denver's finest example of community partnership, leadership, and innovation. This will be a new kind of park environment for Denver, one in which both the park and the buildings become a campus of interactive learning, culture, and community gathering. As an EcoDistrict, it was important to RiNo that a number of design features incorporate environmental sustainability. The following features will be included in the completed project: Solar Power, Polygal Facade Materials, Local Sourcing, Waste Composting, Water Reduction.

The ArtPark will combine Visual, Performing, and Culinary Arts in Colorado's finest example of community partnership, leadership, and innovation. RiNo ArtPark creates affordable space for artists, promotes diversity, equity and inclusion, helps inspire creativity and lifelong learning, and brings Denver to the forefront of sustainable, innovative urban design.

RiNo Art District's mission is to nurture and cultivate creativity and business in north Denver, while ensuring that art and artists remain at the heart of RiNo's evolving community. As a former industrial hub, the RiNo Art District is part of four historic Denver neighborhoods: Five Points, Cole, Globeville, and Elyria-Swansea. Once home to mostly industrial uses, the area has transformed into a vibrant community for artists, residents, and innovative businesses.

In 2004, local leaders in the area and the City of Denver began work on the River North Plan, looking at ways to revitalize the area. Soon after, in 2005, local artists Tracy Weil and Jill Hadley-Hooper joined forces to create the River North Art District to connect the artists in the area. Ten years later, the district began to see significant growth and development, leading district stakeholders to create two special districts, approved by voters in 2015. These districts were predicated on the notion that art should and would continue to be the common thread that ties the area together, creating a leader, advocate, and liaison through a strong organization with a solid budget and strategic plan.

Today, the RiNo Art District consists of a 501(c)(6) membership organization that carries out the day-to-day work of the organization as well as strategic governance and leadership; a Business Improvement District (BID) that focuses on artist and creative entrepreneurial support, placemaking, marketing and promotion, and advocacy; a General Improvement District (GID) that focuses on RiNo westside infrastructure and maintenance; and a new 501(c)(3) organization that will lead on RiNo's fundraising, programming, education, and events.

RiNo's programs have evolved as the district has grown, focusing on empowering community artists, and providing access to education and promotion. These programs, accessible to RiNo's approximately 400 artists as well as artists and makers in the greater Denver area, include:

RiNo Made Salons, a partnership with the Denver Public Library, as well as other community organizations that host a variety of entrepreneurship topics tailored to creatives

Matchmaking for RiNo businesses and RiNo artists, with a full curation program ranging from murals to large office buildings and new developments

Promotion of RiNo artists, makers, and small businesses

Artist talks, panels, and skills-based learning

RiNo Support Fund that provides small grants to artists, creatives, and small businesses. The RiNo Support Fund for 2020 has been redirected to provide $200,000 in micro-grants to members of our community struggling with the economic impact of Covid-19

CRUSH, RiNo's annual street art festival that pays over 100 local, emerging, and international artists, as well as educational and community events. CRUSH also includes programming for area youth.

These programs are tailored through community input and serve the many artists, makers, and creatives that live and work in the RiNo area, as well as provide leadership to emerging artists who are trying to get a foothold in the larger Denver art community.