Immigrants and refugees with a proclivity for the arts will soon be getting a helping hand from the Aurora Cultural Arts District.
A trio of Aurora nonprofit organizations — ACAD, the ‘Fax Aurora business league and Community Enterprise Development Services — have teamed up to create the Acadia Project, a new program intended to bolster the creative works of the city’s immigrant and refugee artists.
“This program will identify refugee and immigrant artists in Aurora and help them build creative businesses to market and sell their crafts,” Bob Hagedorn, president and CEO of ‘Fax Aurora and longtime north Aurora advocate, wrote in a statement.
The intent is for the three affiliated organizations to leverage their individual strengths to buoy foreign-born artists and create an ecosystem in which they can create. Hagedorn said Community Enterprise will be tasked with identifying the artists and the ACAD will help provide some artistic supplies and knowhow, while ‘Fax Aurora will chip in business acumen and self-marketing strategies.
“It’s preparing people for how to go to festivals, set up a booth and sell their goods,” Hagedorn said.
The program has already received a $10,000 grant from the Denver Foundation, although Hagedorn said he’s trying to double that figure in the near future. He’s submitted an identical proposal to the Anschutz Family Foundation.
“We are working on raising additional funds to help fully realize this new project,” said Tracy Weil, managing director of the ACAD. “This program will directly assist the artists and creative entrepreneurs in our community to pursue their craft for economic success and self-sufficiency.”
Alex Wise, executive director of Community Enterprise, said she’s already identified about half a dozen creatives — including a photographer, dancers, a chef and a glassblower — who she believes could benefit from the program. She said the goal is to get about 20 people involved in the project through an application process that could be wrapped up by the end of next month.
Located in Havana Towers, the enterprise provides micro loans to refugee business owners. The organization has provided 102 loans, averaging about $15,000 each, in the past seven years, according to Wise.
First discussed in early 2015, the new Acadia program predates the recent proliferation of headlines concerning the country’s refugee acceptance systems, according to Hagedorn.
He said the goal is to help the city’s newest residence realize their hobbies can become sources of income.
“There are a lot of people who may have been creatives back home, but they come to the U.S., to Colorado, to Aurora and they don’t understand … the market or demand here and whether or not their creative skills are things that could actually earn them an income,” Hagedorn said. “This is where the project comes in.”
He added that the current political climate only motivates him to ensure Acadia succeeds.
“This whole thing began before the climate got ugly but, for me, at least, it just kind of energizes,” he said.
The name “Acadia” refers to the group of French colonists who, upon facing persecution, fled Canada in the 18th century to found what is now New Orleans, Hagedorn said.
“Many became what could be described as the first political refugees of North America,” Hagedorn wrote. “The immigrants and refugees of Aurora have a remarkably similar experience to the Acadians of the 1750s, and have found home, culture and community in Aurora.”