A proclamation recognizing the 30th Anniversary year of the Metropolitan Denver Scientific and Cultural Facilities District.
However, since no written protests of assessment were filed with the manager of public works by November nine, 2018, Council will not sit as the Board of Equalization for the proposed Skyline Park Local Maintenance District. Next up, we have proclamations. We do have one proclamation this evening. Councilwoman Black, will you please read Proclamation 1383? Yes. Thank you, Mr. President. Proclamation number 18 1383, recognizing the 30th anniversary year of the Metropolitan Denver Scientific and Cultural Facilities District. Whereas, arts, culture and science play a unique role in the lives of our families, our communities, our state in our country, and enrich our lives by embodying the accumulated wisdom, intellect, knowledge and imagination of humankind . And. Whereas, in 1988, voters in Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Denver, Douglas and Jefferson Counties voted to create the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District, a special district collecting a 1/10 of 1% sales and use tax for distribution to arts, culture and science organization. And. Whereas, CFT was reauthorized in 1994, 24 and 2016 by the voters across seven counties, including Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas and Jefferson Counties, securing a place for art, biology, music, zoology, dance, history, nature and botany in the fabric of our lives, ensuring nothing less than culture for all. And. Whereas, in the 30 years of CFD existence, the landscape of arts, culture and science in the metropolitan region has expanded greatly, with nearly 300 organizations spend IT funding from distributed distributed funds in 2017. And. WHEREAS, organizations benefiting from funds from CFD create an unparalleled level of access for Colorado residents, offering thousands of free and discounted activities each year. And. Whereas, nonprofit arts, culture and science organizations drive the Colorado economy by generating $1.9 billion in total economic activity and supporting 11,820 jobs in 2017. And. Whereas, CFD continues to thrive as a national model for cultural funding now, therefore, be it proclaimed by the Council of the City and County of Denver's Section one that the Council of the City and County of Denver State of Colorado does hereby proclaim 2018 as the 30th anniversary of CFD. Section two that the Clerk of the city and county of Denver shall affix the seal of the city and county of Denver to this proclamation, and that a copy be transmitted to the scientific and cultural facilities. District Executive Director Deborah Jordi. Thank you, Councilman Black. Your motion to. Adopt. Thank you, Mr. President. I move the proclamation 18 dash 1383 be adopted. It has been moved and seconded. Comments from members of Council. Councilman Black. Thank you, Mr. President. I'm honored to serve on the board of CFD. The 30th anniversary is quite a milestone. It collects close to $60 million a year for the metro region, for our arts, culture and science. Thousands of organizations have benefited, benefited in those 30 years. With that tax, we're able to have a world class arts and culture scene that you wouldn't have in other cities of our size. So it's been a great, great benefit to the city and county of Denver and all of the other counties surrounding us. Additionally, it was mentioned in the proclamation there are hundreds of free events and free days for all of the cultural organizations. And it's not just our big organizations, the art museum and the museum, nature and science and the performing arts complex. But it's also small arts organizations across all of those counties. So it's just an incredible benefit that we have living here in the metro region. And I think the voters of 1988 who voted for it and everyone who has reauthorized it since then. Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilwoman Ortega. Thank you, Mr. President. And Councilwoman Black, thank you for bringing this forward. This is. An incredible asset to our community. And I know cities across the country have tried to figure out how Denver and the metro area was able to accomplish this. You travel to other cities that may have a little bit arts and culture. I know Austin claims they have the biggest music scene, but our music scene is way bigger than Austin's. We just don't quite promote ourselves the way they do. Right. But, you know, it's not just music. It's our performing arts. It's our crafters. We have such a robust creative sector in this city and this metro area that we really have something to be proud of. And there are lots of people who work full time in this industry, but there are many who work part time and do other jobs. And if we could continue to grow this industry, then we could have more people that would be able to do this full time as opposed to part time. But, you know, almost any night of the week, you can go and listen to live music at any number of venues. We have many street festivals where we have music and crafters. So I'm I'm really excited. And for those of you who are not aware, the National Restaurant Stock Show is looking at doing a public market that sort of takes a lot of the work that's already happening to that next level where we have a year round go to place, where we could have a lot of these different kinds of things happening on a regular basis. So great work for everybody who has been part of this. I know this was under mayor pinions days. I remember Susan Barton scout worked for him when this was brought forward. But it was a metro wide effort and continues to be. And it's not just venues in Denver that get to benefit from this. There are venues across the metro area. And so we're we're really a very blessed community to have these incredible assets, not just the physical structures, but the people who make all of this happen. So congratulations for 30 years of some incredible stuff happening in our metro area. Thank you, Councilwoman Ortega. So, you know their comments. I'll just add a second to everything that was said. We are very lucky to have CFD and to have voters who are forward thinking enough to see what that could be. Awesome organization. And thank you, Councilman Black, for bringing this forward. Madam Secretary, Raquel. Black Eye. Brooks Espinosa, i Flynn I. Gilmore, i. Herndon, i. Cashman can each i. Lopez Hi. Ortega. Hi, Susman. Hi, Mr. President. I am. I'm secretary. Please close voting announced the results. 12 hours 12 hours proclamation 1383 has been adopted. Councilman Black, is there someone you'd like to bring up to accept? Yes, we have two people from CFD here today, Deborah, today, who is our executive director, along with our board chair, Rob Johnson. Rob, please come give Deborah some support. It's an incredible board and an incredible organization. And thank you both for working so hard. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Black, President, members of council. We are truly happy to be here and really appreciate your ongoing support. You know, I remember the days when Susan Vargo, Gail was on council. It really working hard through to every council since. But what's unique is not only the the depth and breadth of what the organizations do, but the reach of collaboration. We have so much collaboration between Denver organizations in Boulder and Douglas County that come together just like we see in other parts of our community and the business sector and others. It's amazing to think that in 1989, the first year of distribution, there were 124 organizations. Today there are almost 300. At that time, the first year of distributing the funds, it was $14 million. And as Councilman Black said, we're on the road to $60 million. The National Endowment for the Arts total budget for the country is around 150 million for the entire country. Our distribution is in the seven county the size of Delaware and Rhode Island put together. So it's pretty remarkable. Remarkable. It's also what the organizations do to create wonder and joy for the children. When you think last year that 4.3 million children attended cultural performances or run outs at their school. So thank you for having us and supporting us. CFT. Thank you. Thank you very much. Was our only proclamation before we move on. Unfortunately, due to fire code and the signs on the back. We can't have anybody standing in that back aisle. That is the ingress egress. So I would ask if everybody can get real cozy and make room so that we can fit everybody in.