CBCA - Release

CBCA ANNOUNCES BUSINESS IN THE ARTS AWARD WINNERS
17 METRO AREA MAYORS TO SHOW HISTORIC SUPPORT FOR ARTS AND CULTURE
The 17th Annual Business in the Arts Awards
Sponsored by Ernst & Young, LLP

March 11, 2004 - In recognition of outstanding contributions from businesses and individuals in support of arts and culture in Colorado, the Colorado Business Committee for the Arts (CBCA) today will host the 17th Annual Business in the Arts Awards Luncheon in the Donald R. Seawell Grand Ballroom at The Denver Performing Arts Complex from 11:30 AM until 1:00 PM. The awards recognize businesses and executives for their leadership, commitment, and vision in developing exemplary alliances with the arts.

The 2004 Business in the Arts award winners:
Small Business Award: Garlic Mike's Italian Cuisine
Medium Business Award: Pueblo Bank & Trust Company
Large Business Award: OppenheimerFunds, Inc.
Community Leadership Award: Lowry Foundation
Leadership Award: Carol Ann and Gary Hixon

Profiles of the winners follow below.

A panel of five judges chose the winners based on the following criteria:

Leadership Award nominations were judged on:

The 2004 judging panel was comprised of business and cultural leaders and included Caroline Fuller, Fairfield & Woods; Jim Copenhaver, JC Enterprises; Gwinavere Johnston, JohnstonWells Public Relations; Linda Kanamine, HealthONE; and Jim Williams, Swallow Hill Music Association.

This year, 17 metro area mayors are scheduled to appear as part of the luncheon program to show their support of metro Denver's Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD). Mayors scheduled to attend include:

Mayor Ken Fellman of Arvada
Mayor Ed Tauer of Aurora
Mayor Jan Pawlowski of Brighton
Mayor John Hickenlooper of Denver
Mayor Randy Pye of Centennial Mayor
Barbara Connors of Erie
Mayor Steve Sullivan of Foxfield
Mayor Mark Smiley of Glendale
Mayor Charles Baroch of Golden
Mayor Nancy Sharpe of Greenwood Village
Mayor Chris Berry of Lafayette
Mayor Steve Burkholder of Lakewood
Mayor Gary Lasater of Parker
Mayor Mary Carter of Sheridan
Mayor Susan Spence of Superior
Mayor Noel Busck of Thornton
Mayor Ed Moss of Westminster

In addition, more than 600 business and arts leaders attend this annual event, which promises again in 2004 to provide an exciting, arts-infused celebration, with performances celebrating the spirit of arts and youth.

Winners will receive a commissioned piece of original artwork by Colorado artist Charlotte Ziebarth. Luncheon entertainment will be provided by the Colorado Children's Chorale, The FunKinetic, Jafrika, and Emily Levin of the Denver Young Artists Orchestra.

Title Sponsor
Ernst & Young, LLP

Silver Sponsor
The Denver Post/ Rocky Mountain News

Artwork Sponsor
Kaiser Permanente

Video Sponsor
First Data

Program & Favor Sponsor
The Publishing House

Contributing Sponsors
Art & Anthropology
Art Management & Planning Associates, Inc.
Colorado Data Mail
ColoradoBiz Magazine
The Denver Center for the Performing Arts
Egan Printing Company
Le Petit Gourmet Catering
St. Mary Land & Exploration Company

Patron Circle Table Sponsors
AmeriVest Properties
The Anschutz Corporation
Brookfield Properties
Brownstein Hyatt & Farber
Colorado Educational and Cultural Facilities Authority (CECFA)
CH2M Hill
Colorado Data Mail
Delta Dental of Colorado
The Denver Post/ Rocky Mountain News
First National Bank
Frontier Airlines
Holmes Roberts & Owens
Holland & Hart
PCL Construction
Pinnacol Assurance
Qwest Communications
StorageTek
UMB Bank
Wells Fargo

Profiles of the 17th Annual Business in the Arts Awards Recipients
Small Business Leadership Award
Garlic Mike's Italian Cuisine

Garlic Mike's Italian Cuisine is setting the standard for small business leadership for the arts in Gunnison. Under the direction of owner Mike Busse, Garlic Mike's has supported Gunnison's arts community with a remarkable depth of commitment, making a real difference in the life of the community at large. Gunnison is a small community of about 6,000 people, but at the heart of the town beats a thriving arts center. Gunnison Arts Center offers a range of programming and instructional resources including 2 exhibition galleries, a 75-seat theatre, a dance studio, and visual arts classrooms. Garlic Mike's Italian Cuisine has been proactive in lending support to the Gunnison Arts Center. The restaurant has generously provided food, space, staff time, and donations to the Center for fundraising events. In a small community like Gunnison, $100 is considered a generous gift from a small business. Over the past year, Garlic Mike's has donated more than $4,000 in food and services to the Gunnison Arts Center. To put that contribution into greater perspective, the entire annual marketing budget for Garlic Mike's Italian Cuisine is less than $4,000. Mike has also given freely of his time in planning meetings, and has taken initiative in suggesting new programs and implementing business coalitions to benefit the arts center. The contributions of Garlic Mike's Italian Cuisine have returned tenfold to the nonprofit arts center. Better equipped to meet community needs while maintaining its own quality standards, the Gunnison Arts Center has been positively impacted by this small business commitment, as has the broader community. Voted Best Chef and Best Restaurant by the People's Choice of Gunnison County, Garlic Mike's has received relatively little publicity for their philanthropic contributions, preferring to operate behind-the-scenes on their mission of support for the arts. They provide the leadership simply because it is the right thing to do.

Medium Business Leadership Award
Pueblo Bank & Trust Company

Financial institutions rely on good relationships in order to conduct business, but not all banks extend those relationships beyond their customer base more deeply into the community. Pueblo Bank & Trust, by contrast, is proud of its identity as a "community bank," and its investment in community institutions is central to the firm's character. Viewing art as an important element of every community, Pueblo Bank & Trust Company has committed a portion of its philanthropic agenda to the support of art and artists in our state. Pueblo Bank & Trust Company nurtures a partnership with the arts by organizing and wholly funding annual events designed to showcase the works of Colorado artists. Over a thirteen-year period, Pueblo Bank & Trust Company has hosted 31 events in Boulder, Denver, Pueblo, and Salida, featuring more than 280 local artists. Pueblo Bank & Trust Company further extends its reach into the community through a scholarship fund supported by a portion of the proceeds from each art event and designated for students of fine art at local colleges and universities. Tens of thousands of dollars in scholarship funds have been donated to University of Colorado at Boulder, Metropolitan State College of Denver, University of Southern Colorado, and the Stacy Thomas Memorial Fund in Salida. A distinctive approach to promoting the arts, Pueblo Bank & Trust Company's scholarship funds increase access to education and help develop a future generation of artists. Their support of individual artists is of particular value during these times when state and federal resources for artists are severely limited. Pueblo Bank and Trust Company has provided well over $100,000 in sponsorship support for arts events in the cities in which it has operations, funding festivals, markets, special exhibitions, and even an arts council. Pueblo Bank & Trust Company holds community partnerships in high regard, and through its commitment to the arts has built relationships of far-reaching value and benefit.

Large Business Leadership Award
OppenheimerFunds
OppenheimerFunds, a New York-based mutual fund firm with offices in Denver and Englewood, is Colorado Ballet's largest and most committed sponsor. The company's million dollar commitment to Colorado Ballet dates back to 1994, when OppenheimerFunds was seeking opportunities to significantly impact the cultural life of the Denver region. OppenheimerFunds saw in Colorado Ballet an opportunity to support what would become one of the top regional dance companies in the nation and to broaden access to the arts in metropolitan Denver. From 1994 to 2002, OppenheimerFunds provided Colorado Ballet $790,000 in direct financial support with few restrictions on use. The gift included funding for outreach programs targeting underserved populations, and OppenheimerFunds additionally made ticket purchases for charities including The Gathering Place, Safehouse for Battered Women, Colorado Mental Health Institute, and numerous others. In 2003, OppenheimerFunds announced a three-year $650,000 commitment to Colorado Ballet including season sponsorship and ongoing in-kind support from the OppenheimerFunds employee base. The 2003 commitment is the largest corporate gift in Colorado Ballet's 42-year history, and represents a 37% increase in funding. The growth of OppenheimerFunds' commitment reflects the increased scope of the dance company's performing season and educational outreach programming. Over the course of the partnership, OppenheimerFunds has provided Colorado Ballet with valuable in-kind services as well. The donation of the use of OppenheimerFunds' call center facilities and personnel has assisted Colorado Ballet in its membership and subscription drives. OppenheimerFunds personnel have conducted investment seminars with Company administrative and artistic staff. Executives of OppenheimerFunds have contributed through board service and volunteer support, and by guiding the business decisions that have led to the success of the partnership. Longevity in corporate giving is impressive, especially in challenging economic times. Amazingly, even after losing their New York offices in the tragic events of September 11, 2001, OppenheimerFunds' commitment to Colorado Ballet was unwavering. OppenheimerFunds has continued to be successful, and its corporate values are expressed through its dedication to giving back to the community.

Community Leadership Award
Lowry Foundation

A true vision of community incorporates more than just roads, houses and office buildings. Vibrant community life stems foremost from the spirit of the people who live, learn, work and play there. Intangibles like a sense of shared vision and a feeling of common purpose connect residents and feed community spirit. The Lowry Foundation, charged with enhancing the quality of life and public spaces in the new Lowry, identified the use of art as a way to foster these crucial intangibles and build community involvement and civic pride in one of central Denver's newest communities. Once a working Air Force base in Denver, Colorado, Lowry has been transformed into a model community where people enjoy an environment rich with art and culture. With a vision for the community that ties together art, history, education, and recreation, the Lowry Foundation has developed art programs that at once engage residents and enhance public spaces. In 2000, the Lowry Foundation partnered with the Museum of Outdoor Arts to bring a temporary public art exhibition to Lowry commercial areas, parks, and traffic roundabouts to stimulate community interest and involvement in an ongoing process for a permanent public art exhibit. Community stakeholders - Lowry residents, business owners, city officials, and neighbors - and outside funders alike have enthusiastically supported Lowry Foundation's Transit Art Project, a series of creative bus shelters designed as art pieces that are both interesting and functional. A Public Art Master Plan was approved in 2003, and plans to begin permanent installations are set for 2004. The Lowry Foundation has also made the effort to incorporate art into community events through the use of local performing artists and the restoration of historic Eisenhower Chapel for use as a cultural center. The decision-making teams of the Foundation, from the Board of Directors to the Public Art Committees, are comprised of community stakeholders, and this community engagement produces a sense of ownership that at once broadens the base of financial and volunteer support for the Foundation's work and promotes a sense of true community.

Individual Leadership Award
Carol Ann and Gary Hixon

Both individually and jointly, Carol Ann and Gary Hixon have incorporated arts advancement and promotion into their professional and personal lives. Carol Ann, a retired teacher and school administrator, and Gary Hixon, owner of a successful interior design firm, have given extensively of themselves, their time, and their dollars to shape the cultural landscape of their small community. The couple has initiated and coordinated numerous new programs, events, and fundraisers, many of which have become annual attractions. The Hixons have introduced the business community to opportunities for exposure and expansion through support of the arts, and as participants in city and state planning processes, they have advocated for the arts as an integral part of a healthy, vital community. More than one generation of schoolchildren has been shaped into future arts audiences through programs linking school children with the arts. The Hixons have also served on numerous boards and committees for local arts groups including the Fort Collins Symphony Orchestra, Fort Collins Museum of Contemporary Art, and Arts Alive Fort Collins. Through these efforts and many more, the Hixons have changed the face of the arts in their community. The growth in size and sophistication of the city of Fort Collins reflects the community's choices regarding quality of life. The arts community, as well as the business community and general public, look to the Hixons for leadership, vision and commitment. With a passionate commitment to helping the business sector and general public understand that for a community to thrive it must possess and support the arts, the Hixons have played a pivotal role in the transformation of Fort Collins from a small university town to a city with a secure identity and value for the arts. After more than three decades of sharing the joy and meaning of the arts with the community at large, Carol Ann and Gary Hixon have created a legacy encouraging and inspiring other individuals and businesses to do the same.

2003 BUSINESS IN THE ARTS AWARD WINNERS

JohnstonWells Public Relations, Small Business Award

Berger Funds, Medium Business Award

HealthONE, Large Business Award

The City of Englewood, Community Leadership Award

Jim Copenhaver, Leadership Award