Our Story
Background
At a time in which many were feeling overwhelmed, anxious and maxed out on virtual interaction, but social contact and resources are limited, we were driven to work on pragmatic solutions for coming together around the arts and in community. CC Mobile Arts (CCMA) is at its essence a creative response to COVID-19 and the underlying issues that the pandemic has exacerbated in our community. The program prioritizes making the arts accessible to a diverse range of audiences in inclusive, innovative spaces. Naomi Wood, Associate Professor of Spanish and Portuguese, was honored as a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Humanities and awarded a three-year NEH grant (2020-2023) and in the first year she dedicated her vision and the grant funding to establishing the Mobile Arts Program. Thanks also to Creativity & Innovation at CC’s Faculty & Student Collaboration Changemaker Grant, and Antiracist Initiative Funds the program has continued to grow and thrive both on and off campus. The essential leadership of student workers directs and expands the impact of CC Mobile Arts with student-driven research, media projects and community outreach, adding layers of critical thinking, collective creation and mindful practice to programming and partnerships. Since 2022, CCMA has benefited from a co-director model with Nancy Ríos, Ph.D joining to lead and collaborate in the execution of our vision.Our Mission
The CC Mobile Arts Program offers pop-up visual and performing arts at no cost to the public. We work to increase Colorado Springs and Front Range communities’ interaction with a variety of artistic forms, create connections across the region through art, and uplift global majority local artists. Staffed by a Colorado College student-worker team in collaboration with faculty mentorship, CC Mobile Arts operates out of a refurbished 16’ foot box truck wrapped in local artists’ paintings, equipped with a fold-out stage, full concert sound system, solar-powered generator, and carts of visual arts supplies. Our team works with local organizations to support their vision of community-making, offers consulting on cross-town, interdisciplinary and thematic programming, and contributes to a shared narrative of humanity that emphasizes joy, justice, and equity. Through visual arts crafting, concerts, film screenings, dance and theater performances and workshops, CCMA affirms the importance of honing a creative voice and appreciating imagination in the collective work of breaking inherited systems of oppression.Our Vision
We work to make visual and performing arts accessible to all and to uplift the stories that resist hierarchizing narratives of how we relate to one another and to our natural environment.How We Achieve Our Vison ?
Support various kinds of artistic community activities and events with a creative, multifunctional refurbished truck.
- Sustained community partnerships
- Reviving outdoor community centers and public spaces
- Supporting local artists
- Reflexive collaborative leadership
- Empowering student workers
- Accessibility
- Inclusivity
- Interactive/Participatory
- Community Building
- Adaptability/Versatility
- Sustainability
- Spatial/Sensory
- Educational
- Performances: Theater, dance, poetry, music, multi-disciplinary
- Classes/workshops and collective arts activities
- Pop-up Community Space: library, guided movement/activity, gathering space.
- Gallery exhibition space
- Traveling performance, marches and parades
- Outdoor cinema
- Documentation: film activities, feature artists, record community engagement
- Participation in local events
- Support Colorado College Blocks off-campus within the Southwest.
- Collaborations with community organizations and facilities, schools, community centers, co-operatives, etc.
show all / hide all
Follow Us!
Report an issue -
Last updated: 08/27/2024