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Welcome to Springs and Things, the podcast where two close friends spill the tea on all things Colorado Springs! From culture and community to hidden gems and neighborhood lore, we’ve got it covered. Join us as we sip our coffee (or maybe something stronger) and dive into the stories and secrets that make this city so unique. Whether you're a local or just passing through, our fun, light-hearted, and always entertaining take on the quirks, hot topics, and insider tips will keep you coming back for more. Discover what’s really happening in the Springs—beyond the mountains and parks!
Cheers, everybody, because we have something big we're celebrating on this episode of Springs and Things, and we could not have picked a better way to celebrate than kicking off Arts Month with the people who make it happen. Today, we're joined by Angela Seals and Luke Harper Prince from Copper, the Cultural Office of the Peg's Peak Region, which is celebrating its own milestone, twenty years of championing the arts. And here's something we want everyone to hear. Arts Month isn't just a Colorado Springs thing. It's happening all over the Pikes Peak region with more than 200 events packed into thirty one days of October.
Carly Ries:We're talking about why Colorado Springs is built for the arts from day one, what happens to the broom when art is live, why cutting the arts is a competitive disadvantage, and exactly what you should put on your calendar this month. And, you guys, we're recording today from Yobel surrounded by fair trade goods, great people, and the Lookup Gallery right next to us. If you haven't been, stop what you're doing right now and go check them out ASAP. Seriously. And this episode is brought to by Vanguard Aesthetics.
Carly Ries:With the summer months behind us, it is the perfect time to repair that skin of yours, so give them a call today. Hey, everyone. I'm Carly. And I'm Lauren. We're two Colorado Springs locals who love uncovering everything that makes the city special.
Lauren Ferrara:If you're the kind of
Carly Ries:person who wants to know where to go, what's happening, and the stories behind it all, then you're in the right place. Welcome to Springs of Things, your insider's path
Lauren Ferrara:to hidden gems, local flavor, and unexpected moments that make
Carly Ries:The Springs one of a kind. From secret spots and can't miss events to arts, eats, and those you've gotta hear about at Local Stories. We've got you covered. So grab your coffee, settle in,
Lauren Ferrara:and get ready to fall
Carly Ries:a little more in love with Colorado Springs. Let's dive in to Springs and Things. Okay. So I just made everybody cheers. Yeah.
Carly Ries:We're at Yobell right now. What are we celebrating, Carly? You guys, this is our hundredth episode.
Lauren Ferrara:Oh, yay. This is very yes. I just saw that. And I was you told me the tears, and I didn't know why. And my god.
Lauren Ferrara:A 100? A 100
Carly Ries:and we've only re released three. Wow, I know. So I was like, well, this cause is cause for celebration. We're kicking off Arts Month today. Well, you've turned me into an arts person.
Carly Ries:I mean, I've always been a theater person
Lauren Ferrara:turning into a whiskey person. Yeah. I'm talking to you right now. I am. I wanted it
Carly Ries:to be a surprise for everybody, and what a way to kick things off with a conversation about Arts Month.
Lauren Ferrara:Yes. Oh, I love October, like, for many reasons, but Arts Month being one of them.
Carly Ries:Yeah. Do you know we did an interview about arts month last year. And but this there's oh my gosh. There's so much more to talk about now. Can you
Lauren Ferrara:Yeah. Well, that's because you're so immersed in the arts now, Carly. I'm proud
Carly Ries:of you. I know. And I'm going
Lauren Ferrara:to going to a show tonight.
Carly Ries:I'm going to FAC for a show. I'm going to Evergreen before, you know, supporting downtown Colorado Springs.
Lauren Ferrara:They have some, like, veggie dishes that are really good.
Carly Ries:They you know what's so funny? I love their, like, their their glasses and their cutlery and it's I know that sounds weird.
Lauren Ferrara:No. No. I'm trying to remember. It's been a while since I've been there, but I think I, like, remembered being pleased by the whole presentation as well. Yes.
Carly Ries:So artsy. Well, Lauren, do you wanna tell everybody who we're here with today? I mean, I already said it
Lauren Ferrara:in the intro. We are here with Copper, the Cultural Office here in the Pikes Peak region, and they've been around for twenty years. So we've we're pretty happy with our hundredth episode. They've been here for twenty years now. Right?
Lauren Ferrara:Win. They definitely win. So, guys, we have Luke and Angela with us today. And tell us okay. Twenty years ago, somebody decided we needed a cultural office here in The Springs.
Lauren Ferrara:What do you think was missing? What was it like to be
Angela Seals:an artist before copper existed? Thanks again so much for having us on and for helping us celebrate our twentieth anniversary of the Cultural Office right here on top of Arts Month. Twenty years ago, Colorado Springs as a city was the largest city in The United States without a professionally staffed local arts agency. And so, it was really time, and the arts community got together and, realized they wanted a cultural plan. They wanted a shared strategy for how they were gonna grow, build audiences, create jobs, and thrive.
Angela Seals:And in order to do that, they needed the kind of agency that does that kind of work because a theater company's mission
Carly Ries:is to produce theater.
Angela Seals:You know? A gallery's mission is to sell art. No one's mission was these connective initiatives that require that 30,000 foot look at the whole region, the entire arts ecosystem, and so they founded the Cultural Office. We hold that today very close to our hearts that the arts community founded us to represent them, to help bring their strengths together, and to be a common voice for them in regional policy. And so twenty years ago, we had a thriving art scene.
Angela Seals:A hundred and twenty years ago, we had a thriving art scene, but we didn't have a cultural office until 2006. And so today, we celebrate that and, feel a real stewardship of that story.
Carly Ries:So we've had a thriving art scene this whole time, like you said, but I think often and this might be a controversial question. But when people think of the springs, they think mountains. They think military. They think Olympics now, which is great. Like like, Olympic City, that that's a greater reputation, but it obviously seems like they're missing something.
Carly Ries:Are these reputations fair, or what should visitors and locals know about the cultural scene, and what should it be known for?
Angela Seals:It's not a controversial question. It's something we talk about all the time. I'm gonna hand it to Luke because he's our one of our in house historians, and I just want Luke to chime in a little bit about the root of this, then I'll talk about it today.
Luke Harper Prince:Yeah. Thanks. I think very much it boils back down to the origins of Colorado Springs, in that the foundation of Colorado Springs by William Palmer and the railroads. Colorado Springs was William Palmer's home. There was founding of locations throughout Colorado that were industry, that were mining, that were very intentionally built because of the geographic locations.
Luke Harper Prince:And Colorado Springs was built as a home because of the beauty. And with that, he wanted to be here as he built Glen Eyrie and had his family here, and it was very intentional that this would not be an industry centered community. Outskirts of Colorado Springs, yes, but the center of Colorado Springs, the heart and soul of it, was very much in the very beginning for the arts, for the culture. A lot of land donated to the city was for institutions like Colorado College. And so from the very beginning, we've had that cultural aspect, and as different industry comes in and shapes what we currently are today, such as the military, right, such as Olympic City USA, those are absolutely 100% part of our identity.
Luke Harper Prince:And with that, we can't have a conversation that doesn't include the origins and this origin story that involves the artistic nature of what Colorado Springs is.
Angela Seals:Right. So that's the deep tap root. But today, this is a really diverse and high performing economy where aerospace and startups and defense and sports and culture are all intersecting all the time, Colorado Springs offers real space for new ideas to take shape. It's an innovative place, and it always has been. And the arts reflect that by being highly collaborative, by spanning disciplines, and spanning political divides, which I think is increasingly an exciting part of our identity.
Angela Seals:Colorado is in the top three in the nation for arts participation, and Colorado Springs' top cultural attractions attracted 1,000,000 audience members in 2025. So this is a valid part of who we are, and it's woven into all the other things we are.
Lauren Ferrara:Will you say more about the, like, political divides, and how do you think the arts changes changes that?
Angela Seals:Compared to other markets, I think we are really neat in that the arts community spans the entire spectrum. In some arts when you think of arts markets, you would definitely think of the arts being on the left, on maybe the far left of the political spectrum. Here in Colorado Springs, our faith based community is deeply creative, and they have been holding space for arts groups and creating arts groups for decades. Our historic churches downtown have been homes for arts and culture for over a century. And the newer faith community as well as our activist groups on the left, everyone is looking to arts as part of how they engage with each other, how they express ideas, and how they come together in shared space.
Angela Seals:So I think the fact that we have a politically diverse arts community is a real benefit. The Cultural Office is nonpartisan, and we feel that responsibility to serve the entire spectrum because creativity does not know a political party. So twenty years ago, that's 2006, which to me, I'm like, no. It's not.
Lauren Ferrara:That was
Carly Ries:five years ago. That's not accurate. If you could show someone from 2006 what the local art scene looks like today, what do you
Luke Harper Prince:think would amaze them the most? I would say the thing that would amaze somebody the most from if you skip twenty years ahead and looked at the scene now, it would be the collaboration between the arts groups that are here. Not only the size and the amount of people participating, but it's the amount of people that are collaborating with each other to be stronger together and to succeed. The very beginning, when the Cultural Office was founded, it was to highlight the importance of wanting to do that, and twenty years later, I think they would be amazed with how well we've done with that collaboration, and really the idea that one gallery doesn't steal from another gallery. They are here to advertise for that other gallery, to say on a first Friday, We're happy you're here, but we don't want to keep you all night.
Luke Harper Prince:Go out. Go explore. Walk down the street. See all of the other activities happening. So the collaboration between the artists and between the creatives, between the galleries, between the cultural institutions, they're not only aware of each other, but they're really here to support each other in a huge way.
Angela Seals:That's a great one, Luke. And I I would wanna show them the Ed Center and the Olympic Museum. I mean, the Ford Amphitheater, and I don't wanna show them the construction on the city odd, which they would know and just be amazed at. I mean, I think that this generation that we're living in right now is building some of the real gems that will be remembered more than twenty years from now, a hundred years from now, and I'm really proud of our generation for for doing that. So and you can stream almost any concert, see any painting on your phone.
Angela Seals:So what
Lauren Ferrara:do you feel like happens in the room when art is live?
Luke Harper Prince:Alright. This this one is yeah. I am excited. This one connects directly with Arts Month this year. So we have a theme every year for Arts Month, and this year's theme is to be art is made for the moment.
Luke Harper Prince:Real art is made for the presence of the other half of the equation. An artist doesn't necessarily paint a painting not to ever be looked at or seen. Yes, there's a lot of therapeutic aspects to that, but a performance absolutely needs an audience. And in a lot of ways, the audience participation is the other half of the question. And to really be involved in it, it's something that, as an audience member, to hold that space to say, I'm here for the performer, and I'm here for the artist making this ceramic for me, right?
Luke Harper Prince:This is going to be used. This cup, this mug is to be used in the kitchen, Right? There's the other half of it. There's the making of it, and then there's the use of it. And to be there live and experienced in the moment, that is something that you can't replicate artificially with AI.
Luke Harper Prince:You can't just have that on your screen. It really needs you to show up and be there, and the Arts Month theme this year, Made for the Moment, it really kind of invokes a little bit of FOMO, right? It's because you want to be there. You can't miss it, And in a lot of ways, art is is an unmissable. You just can't miss it.
Luke Harper Prince:It's so prevalent, and and the experience is something that you were there for.
Lauren Ferrara:Well, and I feel like also, like, post 2020, things change. You know? Like, art, you support feel more like people coming to a space, enjoying it together, a lot of people around, and now there's, like I mean, we interviewed Patrick Sharon, and there's so much I mean, I've seen, like, a violinist play in a tree. You know? Like, people are doing all kinds of really unique things.
Lauren Ferrara:How do you think things have changed here just kinda since 2020?
Luke Harper Prince:You know, I think that the change between 2020 and where we are now is the idea that you can go out and art doesn't have to have any type of label that you need to abide by. The creativity behind it is the weird. There's the phrase in Manitou, which is where I'm from, to keep Manitou weird. And very much so, that's alive and well, and I think during the pandemic, people really sat back and realized, well, what are we doing? And why can't I go be weird and be your true self and be your true being?
Luke Harper Prince:And when you have art reflecting that, you get the violinist in the tree because why not? And when somebody sees something unique, and we see that very often in tourism, is that people want to experience something that isn't copy pasted from other places. This is real. Authenticity is something that you can't replicate. It's something that is in the moment.
Luke Harper Prince:You're there for it. And is it weird? Absolutely. It very much can be, but it's it's a vibe, as the kids say.
Carly Ries:It's a total vibe. Lauren, do you remember when we were at we were at the exhibit in the Pioneers Museum, and I, like, stopped, I just, like, stared for a second and got teary eyed at that painting? Yes. And what
Lauren Ferrara:I loved about because yeah. What I loved about that exhibit and still love about it is that, you know, so many times you're or I noticed when I go to a museum, I go and I read the thing next to the piece of art. Like, I don't actually look at the painting until the thing you know, the captions told me what to look for, and I love that none of those are there. You just like, what happened to you is exactly what was supposed to happen. Like, you got drawn to the one thing.
Carly Ries:You would it was crazy. We were I was walking around the exhibit, and I just, like, stopped, and I and, like, we're or I like we said earlier, I'm, like, new to the gallery scene, the exhibit scene. I've always been into a theater and put live performances, but our work itself, like, Lauren's, held my hand and walked me through it and showed me how amazing it can be. And I started crying in front of this painting.
Lauren Ferrara:I was like, what is happening to my body? This is crazy.
Carly Ries:Have you guys ever experienced or witnessed anybody have a strong reaction to a piece of art or performance or anything that really sticks with you?
Luke Harper Prince:Yeah. I have a great example of a moment that I I witnessed, and it was this year's Meadow Grass Festival. Oh, isn't that fun? It is so great, being from Manitou, a lot of Manitouids are out there at Meadow Grass. But I was approaching, I had found myself to the entrance gate, and in front of me, there was a dad and two really small children under the age of seven or eight.
Luke Harper Prince:They couldn't have been older than that. And they were just finishing checking at checking out or checking in, whatever it is, with their wristbands and whatnot. And the dad looks down at the kids and said, alright. We're here. You can go anywhere.
Luke Harper Prince:And in front of them is the meadow, and all the kids having fun and playing, and then there's music off into the left. And the little girl just looked up at her dad almost confused and said, I can we could just go anywhere? And the little girl was older than her little brother, and, like, we're talking really young kids. And the dad says, yes. We we're here.
Luke Harper Prince:We've made it. You can go anywhere. And just the awe in that moment and in that little girl's space was like, wow. We can, like, just run around. And what that instilled to me was the presence of safety and that we are at a in a safe place and that the art created that.
Luke Harper Prince:The music and the venue and the people, it brought a family together where we were able to look around and say, there's no danger here. The kids can go run-in the meadow and not be worried about what the world has for us. And so that moment to to similar to you, it almost brought a tear to my eye because I was approaching, and I too felt super safe. I was like, I made it too. As much as those kids did, I also have made it to Meadowlands.
Luke Harper Prince:I
Angela Seals:love that, Luke. Sometimes I look around in audiences or festivals, and I think these are people of peace. These are people who have chosen to step out of all the other things and just have a beautiful experience together. You know? The example that came to my mind actually, it's funny because I've worked in the arts for twenty four years, and so there's, like, a really deep well of many, many experiences.
Angela Seals:But the one that rose to my mind when you asked this question was a little a little girl who had crawled up onto a sculpture at an art museum, and she was laying on the bottom of it looking up through it. And it was okay in that moment. The docent had decided she was alright. But my husband and I were watching her, and I said, that is a totally valid way to experience that piece of art. That is the best way actually to ask it that question, like, to to investigate it, was to crawl up inside and see like, you couldn't get that from seeing a still image of the museum's collection on their website.
Angela Seals:She was, like, feeling the texture of it. She was looking at how the light played through it. She was putting her body inside of it. And I think that connects back to be here when it happens, real art made for the moment. Right?
Angela Seals:Our arts month theme is climb up inside of it, touch and feel it, and and see what you can't see any other way.
Lauren Ferrara:There was this exhibit. You guys might have been there. Oh, not an exhibit. It was, like, get the installation. I it's the best thing I can call it, but the Fine Arts Center had at the cemetery in town.
Lauren Ferrara:Do you remember this? There was a performance artist, and I think it was the dance team or the a dance major you know, students in dance from UCCS, and you go, and then there was this piece of cloth. You're with a bunch of people walking around the cemetery, and you don't realize that, like, most of the people are part of, like and then you kind of become part of it. So everybody is, like, handing you fabric, and you're tearing it apart, and you're moving your body in a cemetery. It was just, like, so unexpected and so cool and very hard to describe.
Angela Seals:We're all just staring
Carly Ries:at you like, what? Okay. Let's take a quick break to talk about our awesome sponsors. And as most of you know, Lauren and I love Vanguard Aesthetics right here in Colorado Springs. And if you're a Botox gal like Lauren, listen up.
Carly Ries:Throughout October, if you book a Juvederm filler treatment, you get twenty units of Botox for free. Like, for free. Smooth, refreshed, and still totally you. If that sounds like a deal, call or book online with Vanguard Aesthetics today. They're linked in our show notes.
Carly Ries:And next up, you guys, grab your friends and your popcorn because the Rocky Mountain Women's Film Festival is back October sixteenth through the eighteenth at Colorado College, and it is the longest running women's film festival in North America with three days of documentaries, shorts, and stories by and about women. We go through every emotion when we attend, and the conversations after are even better. So go get your passes today. That link is in our show notes as well. And lastly, after all that sitting watching those amazing films, your body is going to want to move, and CORE Collective is the place to do that.
Carly Ries:It is a reformer Pilates studio in downtown Colorado Springs, and their instructors bring the burn and the fun. It doesn't matter if you're a total newbie or a former regular. You'll get a stronger core, better posture, and less stress, plus a crew that actually cheers you on. And if you use the code springs and things, all caps, no spaces at checkout, you'll get three classes for just $30 total. What a deal.
Carly Ries:Be sure to check them out. But it's funny because I feel like something that all of these stories have in common is it brings people together or has a way of bringing people together. And the ironic thing about that is I think when people picture artists, they think of them working alone in a studio. So how isolating can it be to make art in a mid sized city, and what changes when artists actually start finding each other?
Luke Harper Prince:It's big. The creativity is is big in the sense that it's not just one discipline. It's many disciplines inside a single industry, and then it's also many industries inside a greater sector. And so a lot of my work at the Cultural Office is surrounded by the economic activity within the creative sector, and that has parameters, and with those parameters, we've developed six different identifiable industries that really house a lot of the mass density of those creative individuals. It always boils back down to the creative individual, And so, in a sense, they're not working solo or alone.
Luke Harper Prince:You have disciplines that are shared together to create an industry. So if you have a lot of folks working in multimedia and the film industry, you get all of these similarities, and you start grouping these similarities together, and that's what ultimately forms segments and industries and ultimately the creative sector, because it's identifiably different than other sectors. Now, that's not to say that creatives don't live in every single industry, in every single sector, throughout known space and time. The creatives are everywhere, but the mass population of them is what we're calling the creative sector, and very much so, they're together. Whether they actively seek out that opportunity to work with each other or not, because there's absolutely space to hold for the individuals that want that solitude and that creative space for their therapeutic necessity, right?
Luke Harper Prince:But when they seek it out and to find how they can work together, I think that's a really big key part of what the Culture Office does and offers for those creatives. It gives them a space to say, Yes, I do this discipline and I would love to learn from the others doing those disciplines. Nowhere in any of what the Culture Office does do we proclaim that we're the experts on anything. We are the experts of bringing those resources together so they can learn from each other and to bring that convening space for them to have those conversations that never in a million years could we necessarily say, This is the output that we're looking for. This is the goal that we're looking for.
Luke Harper Prince:That is so organic with each one of these disciplines that it's quite beautiful. And so when you give them the opportunity to work together, there are strengths when they come together.
Angela Seals:I think it's important to hear in what Luke said that we serve the arts community. That doesn't mean they are all artists at an easel, and most of them are actually not working in isolation at all. They're in an architectural studio or a graphic design studio. If they're in theater or in a band, all of that is ensemble work. Many people get into creative work because they really enjoy ensemble work together in process.
Angela Seals:And one of the great things I love about working at the Culture office is that we get a chance to remind people that they are part of something much larger every day even if they are alone in their studio. We're all working together to advance something pretty exciting.
Lauren Ferrara:Speaking of advancing the arts, so when budgets get tight, the arts are often you know, we see this in school districts, the first thing is to get cut. I was at the Jeff Crank, Jessica Killen debate, and they were asked about, you know, this massive deficit we have. Like, where would you cut? And Jeff Crank says, Department of Education. He says arts and culture.
Lauren Ferrara:What would you tell folks who maybe don't see the value?
Angela Seals:What I tell them right now in our community is that it's a competitive disadvantage to not invest the way that the cities we are competing with across The United States are. Other destinations and other local economies are investing in creative work as one of the main ways that they're differentiating their local economy and their destination. And so if we choose to make that choice, we are putting ourselves at a disadvantage. We won't be the fastest growing city in Colorado for long if we don't include this as part of the big picture.
Lauren Ferrara:And there is an ROI. Right? Like, I think I've heard about other cities. If somebody puts up a housing development or, you know, any big building, like, a certain percentage has to be invested in public art. Is that something we're looking at?
Lauren Ferrara:Is that something we can do?
Angela Seals:It's something we should look at. It's something many other communities do, and they're not asking the question, should we be? They're asking how can we invest in high impact ways in this sector? And so the fact that we are still having this conversation as if it doesn't matter really puts us behind the times. I'd also say, there are thousands of people employed in the creative sector here in just El Paso County.
Angela Seals:And so I'd love to hear them say that to their face, that they don't think their sector deserves any investment.
Carly Ries:So what would you say
Lauren Ferrara:to somebody who's never been to a gallery opening, a local art show, because they feel like they're not artsy people? It's arts month. What do you wanna tell them?
Luke Harper Prince:I'd say that you don't need an invitation, and you don't need permission. I think that arts in and of itself is the invitation. And you also find art in unexpected places. You could be walking down the street and very intentionally, as we were talking about, there's public art in a lot of places. That's not by accident, and so art can be experienced without the direct inbox invite.
Luke Harper Prince:Right? You can be experiencing it just on daily walk. Could be walking by of the many parks in Colorado Springs that activate their stage for activity. The Acacia Park Bandshell potential renovation is a great example of that in the heart of Colorado Springs, seeing those activated throughout the longest summer concert series in a very long time, and it's not necessarily just an invitation into a gallery. It's buying a ticket, going to a theatrical production.
Luke Harper Prince:It's going to a historical museum and understanding where the shoulders we stand on came from. You know, everybody got to where we are standing on the shoulders of those before us, right? So it's understanding our own past, and to do that, you just have to go experience it for for yourself, and it's you don't have to wait to be invited into the space.
Carly Ries:Well, you guys, speaking of experiencing things for yourself, it's shameless plug time. Let's talk about Stronger Together, the exhibit and the mixer. Tell us everything, all the details.
Angela Seals:This is such a neat project. It's one of the centerpieces of our twentieth anniversary. We worked with Cottonwood Center for the Arts, and it was underwritten by Herman Timmons, great friend of the arts here in our region. And we commit we have in the Stronger Together exhibit work by 21 artists honoring 34 arts organizations that have been important in the story of our community, and it all came together into one really diverse, really fun show where the artists got to know the organizations, the organizations got to know the artists, and at the end of the exhibit in December, all of that artwork is purchased from the artists and given to the arts organizations that they honor. So it's like in its interweaving of its design, it symbolizes what copper does, is stand at the center and weave us all together in our creative economy and our creative identity.
Angela Seals:So it's, opened at Kaufman Center for the Arts on September 4. On October 4, it opens at the Cultural Office through the rest of the year. So that afternoon from one to four, we're having an open house. We would love for people to come and visit the cultural office to see stronger together and also to see your cultural office. It's gonna be so much fun with so many community members, artists.
Angela Seals:There's even gonna be an ice cream truck.
Carly Ries:We know how to party.
Lauren Ferrara:So now okay. We every every week, we do a pick of the week. We wanna hear your pick of the week, but let's go ahead and make it a pick of the month. What are you guys most excited about? What are how are you spending
Angela Seals:arts month? This is always a hard question for cultural office folks because we know there are always over 200 events during arts month in thirty one days, and so there's so much out there that we want people to explore and try. I would highlight that the Colorado Springs Philharmonic is opening their one hundredth season. And so their centennial season kicks off, and has concerts all through arts month. Such a major historic event in our arts community.
Angela Seals:So I hope people come out and enjoy that. Rocky Mountain Women's Film Festival is the longest running film fest in North America for women filmmakers. Such an absolute gem in our crown. We should all be there in mid October, middle of arts month, right in the heart of it, for Rocky Mountain Women's Film. And there's nothing better than our first Friday.
Angela Seals:First Friday of October is a particularly special one. It has this really magical energy, and that's something you can do in any of the 60 galleries across the region, but particularly downtown, Old Colorado City, and Manitou Springs.
Luke Harper Prince:Alright. This coming month, there's so many activities. There's events, and there's a lot of art being showcased for the very first time and experienced for the very first time, and I want to intentionally seek out the things that I've not experienced yet. Just looking at peakradar.com, a shameless plug, there's so many things, whether they're an event or a gallery, that I've not personally experienced yet, And I want to do that and to intentionally seek out the ones that I wouldn't see otherwise. So find something, put time on my calendar to do just that.
Luke Harper Prince:Not my routine. I've got a First Friday routine I do, right? There's my favorite spots I love, and there's nothing shameful about that. However, I think the call for me during Arts Month is to find the ones that I've not experienced yet so I can broaden my understanding of how great this culture is in Colorado Springs.
Lauren Ferrara:Okay. I have pics of the week too. Do I get to go? You get to
Carly Ries:go first, and then I have one.
Lauren Ferrara:Okay. Well, now I wanna hear yours first. Nope. Okay. Okay.
Lauren Ferrara:Alright. I have two. So I find and this is arts related. So my go to like like, we all have our first Friday routines. My go to always go to surface gallery, which I love, but I checked out Orrick Gallery the other day.
Lauren Ferrara:I had not been there. Holy smokes. That's why I went for the last first Friday. I hit both of them, and they just had the coolest exhibit, coolest artists, amazing community there. Like, I just went by myself and just chatted with all kinds of people.
Lauren Ferrara:It was just, like, super fun. And then if people are listening today so I went to Tall Pines Pottery, which is this little cute pottery studio for the next twenty four hours. It is in the back of the sluice, like Story Coffee on the West Side. All the artists are moving. They are having a massive sale on pottery.
Lauren Ferrara:Doesn't ceramic, like, a coffee mug that somebody actually made? Doesn't it feel so much better in your hands?
Carly Ries:It does. Like, even if your kids do it.
Lauren Ferrara:There's something special about it. Especially if your kids do it.
Carly Ries:Yeah. Sometimes I don't drink out of the ones my kids make, but I use it as artwork. Okay.
Lauren Ferrara:So we have a
Carly Ries:whole pottery wall. In case. Yes. Okay. You know what's so funny?
Carly Ries:I'm such a people pleaser that when I just shut you down and said no, I felt bad. Jericho. I know. I was like, that's gonna stick with me unless I think something to you. I'm sorry.
Carly Ries:I I did not take any of that. I was like, okay. I'll go. Okay. Well, I would have ruminated on that for the next hour, so thanks for telling me.
Carly Ries:I obviously have to give a shout out to Yobell and Gallery, you guys. We are doing our hundredth episode interviewing here. They gave us beverages for the hundredth episode. I bought a shirt that I Cute little shirt. It's a cutest shirt.
Carly Ries:I wanna put it on Instagram so that everybody can see it. And I wanna give them a shout out because not only is it Arts Month, it is also Fair Trade Month Wow. Which is everything in their store. That's cool. And you guys, speaking of First Friday, they have an awesome First Friday here, but they are just the nicest people.
Carly Ries:I was joking. We've been Instagram messaging buddies for, like, a year. Yeah. And now you're real life And now we're real life friends. Yeah.
Carly Ries:I if they can hear me right now, we're real life
Lauren Ferrara:friends. It's happening. So I am making, like, a concerted effort this year to buy real things from real people and not just buy it on Amazon. Like, whether it's a a mug or a shirt, but, like, something and teach this to my kids too. Like, let's invest our money where, like, somebody makes that money and not just a corporation.
Lauren Ferrara:So, yeah, that's you can feel really good about shopping at UOBL.
Carly Ries:Yeah. Exactly. It it's just so great. So cute stuff. The cutest.
Carly Ries:Colorado Springs T shirt. And I don't know if you guys follow them on Instagram, but they just got a ton of denim too, and it's really cute downstairs. Anyway, I've been a fan from afar forever. We had a we had a an interview with Heidi, gosh, a year ago now in the Lookup Gallery, and she's a great place. So that's that's my pick of the week.
Lauren Ferrara:Okay. Now I feel like we have to say more about Heidi because she fits very well into to Arts Month. She does the Ikebana. Ikebana. I can never say it right.
Lauren Ferrara:But, like, the Japanese floral arranging, and it's super cool.
Carly Ries:All the artists here are super cool. Check it out. But you guys, thank you so much for coming on the show today. This has been so fun. We could talk to you every day for the next thirty thirty one days.
Angela Seals:Thank you so much for having us and for being a content being content creator. You, in fact, are part of the creative economy and part of the creative community yourselves because you're you're storytellers, and you're part of the multimedia segment of the creative economy. So thank you both for using your platform to celebrate these parts of our community, and we hope we'll see all your listeners out during arts month this fall.
Luke Harper Prince:It's art month.
Carly Ries:Yeah. And listeners, as always, thank you so much for tuning in. We would love that five star review. It helps us spread the word to other Colorado Springs locals. Share this episode with
Lauren Ferrara:a friend, and Carly is such a people pleaser, so she needs this validation from you guys.
Carly Ries:Yeah. It's actually just an ego buy. It's just an ego boost if we're being honest, but I've heard it also helps spread the word. Share this episode with a friend, especially one that you think would be super interested in arts month, and subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast platform, especially Apple or Spotify. And we'll see you next week on Springs and Things.