RedLine is a proud partner and administrator of the Arts in Society grant. This collaborative program provides grants to both individuals and organizations that use art as a vehicle to promote social justice and community welfare. 

We love highlighting our Arts in Society (AiS) grant recipients and all the unique and impactful projects made possible by their grant. And we’re excited continue this series with the 2022 AiS Grantee: Tri-Town Arts!

Three arts-based organizations in the Lincoln County communities of Genoa (World’s Wonder View Tower/Historic Sentinel Building), Hugo (The Garage) and Limon (The Old Schoolhouse) united to develop and launch a placemaking and storytelling project to knit together communities and lives in rural Lincoln County.

We recently interviewed Chandler Romeo of the World’s Wonder View Tower to hear all about the Tri-Town Arts AiS project Uniting Rural Youth and Building Community Through Art in Lincoln County. Learn more about this inspiring collaborative project below!

Meet Chandler Romeo

Chandler Romeo has worked professionally as an artist in the Denver area for over thirty years. She holds a BFA in ceramics from Colorado State University.

Her practice has ranged from studio work to community building. She’s shown in galleries, art centers, and museums in the region and nationally. She’s also created public art, worked as an arts administrator, owned and operated buildings that provide space for artists, and served on boards and commissions.

What was the inspiration behind the Tri-Town Arts project?

The “Tri-Town” concept had been floated to our group at the very beginning of our involvement with the World’s Wonder View Tower. 

There had been an idea to try to connect three significant sites in Lincoln County: the Hugo Roundhouse, the Limon Train Depot, and the Genoa Tower.  We loved the idea of joining forces with other groups in the county, and were looking for ways to connect. 

As far as the arts part, the Tower itself is a work of folk art. Our ideas for restoring the Tower always included some form of creative enterprise — a writer’s retreat, art residencies, a gallery or museum space. 

In 2018, the Tower was chosen as an aid station on the Pedal the Plains tour. 

We set up artist Emily Moyer to do screen printing on bandannas, which seemed to be a great way to engage the cyclists who rolled through. Two young 4H girls were there to help with giving out water and snacks to the riders, but they were totally intrigued with the printmaking. 

They jumped in and learned how to work the press. They told us they attended school in Limon, where there was no art teacher and no art classes. It nearly broke my heart to hear that students in Lincoln County had so little access to the arts.

This seemed to be the perfect way to solve multiple problems: connecting the three towns and providing arts experiences for students in the county. 

How did you get involved in the World’s Wonder View Tower, and what inspired you to get more involved in Genoa?

Becoming part of a partnership that bought the World’s Wonder View Tower — a classic roadside attraction that dates back to 1926, and then donated the Tower to the nonprofit Friends of the Genoa Tower was a new experience altogether.

A group of our friends and associates had always loved the Tower and wanted to help restore it and bring it back to life.

After the last owner died, we decided to jump in to preserve the place because it’s such an amazing and unique set of buildings. 

We learned early that restoring this historic landmark was going to require our involvement in the community. 

Meeting so many local folks in Lincoln County who love the Tower made me realize it isn’t just a cool building, but a major part of people’s lives and stories. 

What have you learned about the appetite for the arts education in rural areas?

I’ve learned there is no lack of enthusiasm or interest for the arts — but there is a huge deficit in resources to provide creative programs.

I’ve also learned that if you connect with the right people, things will happen. There are already fantastic resources for youth that are oriented towards skills and crafts (through 4H and Future Farmers of America), which is a great base for students to develop their abilities; however, tapping into their creativity is not always in the forefront.

Some students were a bit surprised that we were not offering a proscribed project, and it took a little while for them to dive in and make whatever they wanted. 

How did getting the Arts in Society grant support your project? 

The AiS grant got the cart and the horse moving far earlier than I had imagined. We knew we wanted to do arts programming, and realized that we could do workshops even before the Tower was restored.

Identifying partners in Limon and Hugo was key, and the project is now underway.

Gillian Laycock at the Garage Workspace in Hugo and Donna Metcalf at the School House in Limon are enthusiastic and savvy partners.

We are in a “pilot” phase with the workshops, and are learning as we go.  For the Tower folks, it’s challenging to manage both the arts programming and the capital project, but we feel that it’s important to be doing visible work in the community now. 

What did you learn from the first round of classes?  

We learned that if you build it, they will come! 

Our first set of workshops in June 2022 with artist Tim Flynn went very well, and the students were receptive and excited to learn something new.  Getting the word out is the most challenging for our group, since we live in Denver. 

But Donna Metcalf and Gillian Laycock are great resources and have effectively gotten the word out about the programs.  The more we do, the better attendance we’ll have.  We started out with fourteen students in Limon — four in Hugo, and three in Genoa. 

What would you change in the next round of art classes?

We’re trying a different format for round two: three shorter workshops in one day for a younger group of students. Then a week later, three workshops in one day for the older kids.

We’re going to look into scheduling workshops on Fridays and Saturdays in the fall months, because the schools in Lincoln County are on a four-day schedule and take Fridays off. 

We need to look at how sports affect the schedule, and whether that is a factor in our project. 

We’re also using a local teacher for the next round, whereas the first set of workshops was with an artist we brought in. 

I think trying out different schedules, and also looking at different art media (including expanding to music, theater and other ideas) will yield the information we need to create a program that truly fills the needs of Lincoln County residents. 

What can an emphasis on the arts bring to smaller towns in rural areas?

The arts are a great way to connect and develop a sense of community in small towns. It’s a way to include all kinds of people with divergent interests and abilities. It’s a way to develop a sense of place and pride in the place where you live. 

Meet Another 2022 AiS Grantee: Northern Colorado Health

Learn about the Northwest Colorado Health’s AiS project, the Youth Resiliency Program, and how it supports the resilience capacities of Routt and Moffat Youth and their caregivers through art, music, and nervous system regulation.

Read the interview here >