RiNo Art District to Debut Art RiNo Festival in September as Executive Director Prepares to Step Down

The RiNo Art District plans to unveil a new arts festival, Art RiNo, at its annual meeting and strategic planning launch party at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 14. The event is scheduled for September 5-11 and will include workshops, art installations and six new murals on six different walls around the district.

The neighborhood has come a long way since 2003, when Denver issued its River North Plan for the area northeast of downtown, between Park Avenue West and Interstate 70 and its interchange with Brighton Boulevard. At that time the stretch between Larimer Street and the South Platte River was mostly parking lots and dusty old warehouses. The plan described it as an area with enormous potential to become a unique community.

Two artists with studios there, Jill Hadley Hooper and Tracy Weil, did not wait for the city to act. In 2005 they came up with the RiNo nickname and formed the nonprofit River North Art District. "It took off from there," Weil recalls. Development now fills nearly every square inch, and larger projects are starting to replace ones that were new only a decade ago. The city updated its River North Plan in 2016. Hadley Hooper has since moved her studio out of the area, and her former space now houses Ironton Distillery. Weil recently sold his property at 3611 Chestnut Place for $5.8 million.

Street art helped put RiNo on the map, but it also left a stain. Crush Walls, the mural festival founded in 2010, collapsed after co-founder Robin Munro was accused of sexual harassment, which he denied. The district had recently partnered with Crush Walls and cut all ties with the festival in 2020.

The district continued to promote murals, however, by creating a monthly mural program. It has also teamed up with IRL Arts for Luminade, a celebration of new light installations at the ArtPark on May 9-11.

Weil, the district's current executive director, said the past year has focused on opening opportunities for underrepresented artists through the monthly RiNo Mural Program. Still, he said, both artists and members expressed a strong desire "to bring everyone together to highlight the exciting art happening here in Denver." Art RiNo is meant to answer that, drawing people together at the intersection of the Five Points, Cole, Elyria Swansea and Globeville neighborhoods.

The festival will go beyond visual art. The weeklong celebration of Denver culture will coincide with the 2022 Westword Music Showcase on September 9 and 10 in RiNo, where the Showcase moved two years ago from the Golden Triangle. On Friday, September 9, ten venues around the district will host free live performances by local acts. The action moves to the Mission Ballroom grounds on Saturday, September 10. Details are due April 18 on westwordshowcase.com.

Leadership at the district is also about to change. Weil is stepping down as executive director, and a search for his successor is under way. He said Chestnut Place has been his home for 22 years and the place where he developed a passion for agriculture. He has secured a studio in the district and will move into it soon. "I'm not going anywhere," he said, adding that he looks forward to continuing as a steward of the art district.

Weil said he is proud of the work done to support artists and members through the pandemic and to position the district for future success. The team recently promoted John Deffenbaugh to senior director of strategy and projects and Alye Sharp to deputy director. The district expects to fill the executive director role this summer.