GRAND LAKE — On Tuesday night members of the Grand Lake community along with representatives from Colorado Creative Industries held a celebratory event in honor of the community's coming official designation as one of the state's nearly two-dozen creative districts.
DiAnn Butler, Grand County Economic Development director and one of the individuals who helped spearhead the effort to receive the designation, said the town expects to receive the official designation in the next few weeks. The designation as a creative district will provide a unique set of opportunities for the town, opportunities that are otherwise unavailable to communities not designated as creative districts.
According to Butler, Grand Lake will become Colorado's 22nd creative district. The designation means Grand Lake will soon be included in the state's creative district marketing efforts through the Colorado Tourism Office. It will also provide the town with networking and cooperative opportunities with other creative districts to additionally enhance economic opportunities related to creative industries.
The town will receive $10,000 in funds from Colorado Creative Industries, awarded to newly designated creative districts. Butler said the community will be able to leverage those funds for possible future grant applications.
Tuesday night's party, held at Squeaky B's in downtown Grand Lake, follows a November event last year when representatives from Colorado Creative Industries, the entity that oversees the state's creative districts program, and 40 West Arts, one of the first creative districts set up by the state, gave presentations on the significance and benefit of a creative district designation.
Moving forward, Grand Lake's creative district will begin holding public meetings in an effort to develop strategic plans for the future of district and to decide how best to use any funds the district receives because of their designation. The first meeting will be held at 3 p.m. on Aug. 1 at the Grand Lake Center. The meeting is open to the public and anyone who engages in creative endeavors and associates themselves with the town of Grand Lake is encouraged to attend.