There’s always a vibrant arts community in Colorado Springs, but come October, the calendar overflows with creative entertainment. Arts Month is all about discovering something new. The goal is to have at least one new cultural experience with family or friends. And there is no shortage of things to do and performances to see during October. Some of the options will challenge your preconceptions and make you think. Others will pull you into the action and let you forget — your worries, your inhibitions, your insecurities that you’re not artistic.
Hosted each year by the Cultural Office of the Pikes Peak Region, Arts Month makes it easy to discover and celebrate local arts, while putting some fun and creativity into your life. While there are many great concerts, theater performances and gallery openings to explore, Arts Month isn’t limited to what you might think of traditional arts. Comedy, spoken word and culinary arts are all major themes as well, making for some tasty and creative experiences to discover.
To guide you through the month’s offerings, many events are organized by these theme weeks:
Arts Month Kickoff, Oct. 1
Week 1: Visual and Culinary Arts, Oct. 2-8
Week 2: Theater and Film, Oct. 9-15
Week 3: Poetry, Prose and Comedy, Oct. 16-22
Week 4: Music and Dance, Oct. 23-29
Here are highlights of the many things to do during Arts Month. Start making plans, registering or buying tickets, and filling up your calendar.
Kickoff
Blues on the Mesa
Oct. 1 at Gold Hill Mesa
Gold Hill Mesa will be wailing with a full day of stellar blues music, food trucks, craft breweries, wine, cider and distilleries, arts vendors and plenty of dancing on the lawn. The stellar national and regional lineup features King Solomon Hicks, Bob Margolin and the Delta Sonics, Hazel Miller & The Collective, the Lionel Young Band, and Mojomama.
Pikes Peak Zine Fest
Oct. 1 at the Knights of Columbus Hall
Celebrate DIY publishing with this budding small press event. Meet local and national zinesters, buy and swap new zines and connect with other self-publishing artists.
Jazz 93.5 Birthday Bash
Oct. 1 at the Ent Center for the Arts
To celebrate five years on the air, the local jazz station is throwing an all-day party, featuring local artists and a concert by nine-time Grammy award winner Janis Siegel, an American jazz vocalist best known as a member of The Manhattan Transfer.
Elgar’s Enigma
Oct. 1-2 at the Pikes Peak Center
Josep Caballé-Domenech and the Colorado Springs Philharmonic kick off the 2022-23 concert season with pianist Jorge Luis Prats performing Sergei Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 2followed by Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations. It’s a fascinating piece that Elgar himself described as, “Enigma…a dark saying [that] must be left unguessed.”
Arts Month Mixer
Oct. 5 at Kinship Landing
Join the Cultural Office of the Pikes Peak Region for hors d’oeuvres, live music, poetry and a chance to win some great Arts Month giveaway experiences.
Week 1: Visual and Culinary Arts, Oct. 2-8
The Art of Kimchi Making
Oct. 2 online
Join Gather Food Studio and learn to make this Korean classic from the comfort of your own kitchen — for free! Check out other free Arts Month cooking classes too.
Bad Art Night
Oct. 7 at PPLD: Old Colorado City Library
Don’t think you’re an artist? This event is for you. Get all the fun of making art with none of the pressure! Create the most ridiculous artwork you can think of, from painting to collage to sculpture, while enjoying snacks and refreshments. You can even win a prize for the most over-the-top bad artwork.
First Friday at the Aud
Oct. 7 by Community Cultural Collective at Colorado Springs City Auditorium
As the City Auditorium continues its path to renovation, the Smokebrush Foundation for the Arts and the Community Cultural Collective are revitalizing it with art. Come enjoy this exhibition of work by visual artist Neil Fenton in a solo show: An October Retrospective.
Art on the Circuit First Friday Artwalk
Oct. 7 at Downtown, Old Colorado City, Manitou
Get out and enjoy gallery openings, receptions, artist meet and greets and more in the Springs’ primary creative districts.
Arts Month After Hours
Oct. 7 at COATI
Head to COATI after First Friday ends for a free community event hosted by the Colorado Springs Black Chamber of Commerce. J&J Hip Hop Dance Company, DJ Shield, E De La, and Urban Classic will drop the beats.
Springs Art & Seek
Oct. 8 wherever the clues lead
Make art. Hide art. Seek art. Follow the clues for a fun, creative experience around town, and it’s finders keepers when you locate the artwork.
Week 2: Theater and Film, Oct. 9-15
Mel Brook’s Young Frankenstein
Sept. 30 – Oct. 30 at the Butte Theatre in Cripple Creek
Head to Cripple Creek for a zany twist on a classic story. When Frederick Frankenstein, grandson of the infamous Victor Frankenstein, inherits his family’s estate in Transylvania, he finds himself in the mad scientist shoes of his ancestors.
Lumberjacks in Love
Sept. 15 – Oct. 9 by Theatreworks at the Ent Center for the Arts at UCCS
Lumberjacks living in semi-unwashed bliss find their rustic bachelor lifestyle disrupted by the arrival of a spunky mail order bride. Expect cross-dressing, mistaken identities, romantic entanglements, high-country hijinks and more flannel than Breckenridge in September.
Spooktober Movie Marathon
Oct. 13 at Red Leg Brewing Company
Bring your blankets and camp chairs to the Red Leg lawn for a PG Halloween movie. There’s a differing show every Thursday night in October.
Impossible Things
Sept. 23 – Dec. 31
Cosmo’s Magic Theater
You’ll wonder how Cosmo, one of the world’s top sleight of hand artists, does it. Enjoy a fun and elegant evening of comedy and magic in a Victorian parlor setting. Read more about Cosmo’s Magic Theater here.
The Play Crawl
Oct. 12 by Funky Little Theater Company in Old Colorado City
Funky Little Theater presents 10 original mini-plays — about 4 minutes long — staged in 10 small businesses around Colorado Avenue. Food trucks kick off the event in Bancroft Park, and there’s a Pub Crawl afterward.
Our Shorts Are Showing #10
Oct. 13-14 at Cottonwood Center for the Arts
Craft Production Resource presents the six winning short plays from the 10th annual Our Shorts Are Showing Playwriting Festival Competition. Come enjoy an evening of new, original, short plays written, directed and performed by local Colorado talent.
Week 3: Poetry, Prose and Comedy, Oct.
Poetry719 We Do Stuff Festival
Oct. 17-24 at various venues
It’s a poetry fest all week, with events and open mics every day of the week. Join Poetry719 for a wide range of themes, locations, celebrations and experiences. Read all about the We Do Stuff Festival here.
Pikes Peak Live!
Oct. 22 by Pikes Peak Library District at Knights of Columbus Hall
Start with a series of workshops where you can choose poetry, singing and performance or stand-up comedy. At the end of the day, everyone comes together for a public talent show.
Comedy Open Mic
Oct. 20 at Lulu’s Downstairs
Think you’re funny? Try out your standup act at Lulu’s, where every Thursday is Comedy Open Mic. Or just come to watch and laugh.
Week 4: Music and Dance, Oct. 23-29
Singo Music Bingo: A Singo Halloween!
Oct. 27 at Goat Patch Brewing Company
Come play bingo with a twist — in Halloween costumes. Instead of listening for numbers, you listen to music snippets and mark songs on your card.
SALT Contemporary Dance
Oct. 28 by Dance Alliance of the Pikes Peak Region at Ent Center for the Arts at UCCS
SALT Contemporary Dance celebrates innovation in dance through performance and creation. The mixed repertoire program will feature work by world-renowned choreographers, including Micaela Taylor, Olivier Wevers and SALT’s Joni McDonald.
The Coroner’s Ball, A Carnival of Curiosities
Oct. 29 at the City Auditorium
Be warned: This will be a Halloween party like no other. Enjoy a costumed celebration of the mystical, mysterious and macabre. There will be a carnival of curiosities, live entertainment and a true-crime scary story series with El Paso County Coroner Leon Kelly.
communityculturalcollective.org
Terror and Tease
Oct. 28-29 by The Champagne Cabaret at La Burla Bee
Burlesque meets theater as narrators take the audience on a creative retelling of classic scary stories with sexy, adult-themed characters.
Halloween Party with Harry Mo & The Cru
Oct. 29 at Front Range Barbeque
The live music and barbecue joint throws its annual Halloween costume party with reggae from Harry Mo & the Cru. You can even win some amazing prizes.
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