Denver's First Lady Is Honorary Chair Of Denver Arts Week
DENVER (CBS4) - Denver Arts Week offers a chance to dive into Denver's local art scene with music, museums, galleries and more. This year the honorary chair of the week is Denver's First Lady, Mary Louise Lee.
Lee is a marvelous singer and performer, but also a champion of the arts in the city.
"We want to make sure that everyone around the world knows that Denver is a first class city," Lee told CBS4. "We're big with the arts. We're big with our museums and our Colorado Symphony. And all of the different things we have … all of our cultural institutions … our Denver performing arts."
Lee knows what she's talking about, she's an accomplished performer herself. She regularly sings at Jazz at Jacks on the 16th Street Mall as well as other venues. She knows the importance of art to community.
"It's about being creative. It's about just life in general … about feeling emotion. Everybody can relate to it. It's how we express ourselves," Lee said.
Denver Arts Week is the perfect time to experience the city's cultural scene. First Friday Art Walk on Nov. 1 kicks off the week. Seven arts districts will have galleries open in the evening offering special exhibits, free refreshments and discounted prices – in some cases as low as $52.80.
Night at the Museums is Saturday, Nov. 2 with free admission to some 22 museums in the Denver Metro Area. A free shuttle will be taking people to various museums in the heart of Denver.
Night at the Museums runs 5-10 p.m. and offers discounted tickets to some of the most popular exhibits like Mythbusters at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and Passport to Paris at the Denver Arts Museum.
Throughout the entire Denver Arts Week everyone can enjoy free and discounted tickets to more than 300 events and nearly 200 arts organizations.
LINK: Denver Arts Week
Lee is an ardent supporter of the arts, inspiring the First Lady's Bring Back the Arts Initiative, which is an effort to get arts education back into public schools. On Sunday, Nov. 3, The Initiative is hosting a dance competition at the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Studio. The competition starts at 6 p.m. and is the third in a serious sponsored by The Initiative.
Lee feels every cultural opportunity puts Denver on the national stage.
"We want to make sure everyone knows we're full of life, we're full of energy, and we're full of creativity in this beautiful city of ours," Lee added.
- Greg Moody is CBS4's Critic At Large. His reports on CBS4 News are featured on the CBSDenver.com Entertainment section.
- Also, don't miss Moody's entertaining bio, his Top Spots in Denver lists, and his frequently updated Moody's Picks page.
--Written for cbsdenver.com by Special Projects Producer Libby Smith
