18 exhibits, performances and arts happenings to look forward to in Fort Collins this year
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Looking to expand your mind, meander through a museum or treat your eardrums this year?
Fort Collins museums, arts organizations and performing arts venues are kicking off 2024 with plenty to plan for.
So head to an author panel, watch as Mexican folk artists bring a mystical creature to life, prepare for the reopening of a cultural hub or spend an evening with John Cusack this year. Here is more on those — and many other — art and cultural happenings coming to Fort Collins in 2024.
Big museum exhibits to plan for
When: March 11-31
Where: Fort Collins Museum of Discovery, 408 Mason Court
Meet a mystical being at The Fort Collins Museum of Discovery later this year as artists Óscar Becerra Mora and Rubén Mica return to the museum for a multiweek residency to create a monumental alebrije, or Mexican folk art sculpture of a fantastical creature. Inspired by local animals and pieced together with input and help from community members, the Alebrijes exhibit will be a collective work of art for Mora, Mica and Northern Colorado.
Henry Hargreaves: A Year of Killing
When: Jan. 26 through March 17
Where: Museum of Art Fort Collins, 201 S. College Ave.
Brooklyn-based artist and food photographer Henry Hargreaves recreates the last meals of Death Row inmates in this gripping and varied series.
When: April 5 through June 7
Where: Museum of Art Fort Collins
Museum of Art Fort Collins' signature "Masks" fundraiser and community art event will return this spring, showcasing the vast range of creativity and mediums used by local artists to transform 2024's crop of unadorned ceramic mask forms.
When: June 28 through Sept. 15
Where: Museum of Art Fort Collins
This exhibition will feature works from 2023 Rocky Mountain Triennial prize or honorable mention winners Suzanne Faris, Ted Laredo, Joanne Lefrak, Kimberly Noel, James Johnson and Moe Scance.
When: Oct. 4 through Jan. 5, 2025
Where: Museum of Art Fort Collins
Explore the in-between with Nepantla — an exhibition by Denver-based visual artist Tony Ortega designed to celebrate the intersectionality of Mexican, Indigenous and American cultures.
Skin: Living Armor, Evolving Identity
When: Oct. 12 through Jan. 6, 2025
When: Fort Collins Museum of Discovery
Go deep with this special exhibition centered around skin. "Skin: Living Armor, Evolving Identify" showcases the uniquely complex organ — think specimens showing its adaptive properties in animals — and touches on racism, prejudice and discrimination through the lenses of history and science.
When: Nov. 30 through Dec. 31
Where: Fort Collins Museum of Discovery
This thought-provoking exhibit is part community engagement project, part Smithsonian traveling exhibition. With "The Bias Inside Us," explore the science and history of bias as the exhibit seeks to create empathy and build a better understanding of implicit bias.
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Highlights from the Lincoln Center's season
It may be a new year, but Fort Collins' Lincoln Center is already well into its 2023-24 season, complete with Broadway productions, symphony performances, comedy shows, contemporary dance and, well, the list goes on. With dozens of performances yet to come in 2024, we asked the Fort Collins venue about some of its most-anticipated (and not-yet-sold-out) shows. Note: Tickets are selling fast for many of these performances. To check ticket availability, visit LCtix.com.
Jan. 24: MOMIX: Alice — The already imaginative dance company MOMIX falls down the rabbit hole with its take on Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland." Since MOMIX is known for using acrobatics, dance, miming, props and film in its productions, prepare yourself for a true experience.
Jan. 26: SNAP — In this mind-mending magic show, a trio of tricksters from award-winning South Korean illusionist group SNAP play with space and time as they mix sleight of hand and their Chaplin-esque vaudevillian comedy skills. As the first show on SNAP's North American tour, the Lincoln Center audience will get the first glimpse at this never-before-seen show.
Feb. 6: Vitamin String Quartet featuring the music of "Bridgerton" — If you're a fan of Netflix hit "Bridgerton," then you're no stranger to the classical crossovers of Vitamin String Quartet. While featured prominently in the show's first two seasons, the quartet has long been known for breathing new life into classical music with its covers of pop, rock and hip-hop hits.
Feb. 16: Black Opry Revue — After long being overlooked, Black artists' contributions to country, blues, folk and Americana music are getting a fresh look with this eye- and ear-opening performance. Experience a diversity of sounds with a traditional small group Southern "guitar pull," where five artists will take turns playing songs on the guitar. With country music performances relatively few and far between for the Lincoln Center, enjoy this rare musical treat.
March 22-24: Come From Away — In the week following the September 11 attacks, 38 planes carrying roughly 7,000 passengers were ordered to land unexpectedly, stranding them in the small Newfoundland town of Gander. The remarkably true — and little-known — story was immortalized in "Come From Away," a Broadway musical that takes on the tale of clashing cultures, high nerves and humanity.
April 10: Ledisi: The Good Life Tour — After 20 years on the music scene, one Grammy win (and 14 total nominations) and two nationally sold-out tours, jazz singer Ledisi is bringing her unparalleled vocals to The Lincoln Center stage on her latest tour, The Good Life.
April 11: An Evening with John Cusack — Many moons ago, Lloyd Dobler hoisted a boombox over his head and got the girl. In another good get more than 30 years later, The Lincoln Center officially nabbed John Cusack, who played Dobler in the classic 1989 hit "Say Anything," for its latest season. Cusack will be at the Fort Collins venue for a screening of "Say Anything," followed by a live conversation about his illustrious career and the making of the film.
May 11: Resplendent Rachmaninoff — The Fort Collins Symphony has been celebrating a century in the city and will be capping things off with this fifth and final signature concert of its special season. The concert will feature Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2, performed by pianist Zhu Wang and the Fort Collins Symphony. It will also include dances from Béla Bartók’s Dance Suite and a performance of Johannes Brahms’ Symphony No. 2.
June: Twelfth Night — While listed on The Lincoln Center's 2023-24 season, this OpenStage Theatre & Company production takes things off site and outdoors. As part of OpenStage's annual outdoor summertime productions, the local theater company will bring William Shakespeare's rambunctious story of hidden identifies and misplaced love to The Park at Columbine Health Systems with evening performances June 8, 14, 15 and 21.
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A celebration of literary arts
The Fort Collins Book Fest is back early this year, with its annual celebration of literature, literacy and social conversation set for Feb. 1-19. The free festival will include author talks, writing workshops, readings, book signings, panel discussions and kid, teen and creative activities. This year's headlining authors include Native American literary fiction writer Oscar Hokeah, whose debut novel, "Calling for a Blanket Dance," won last year's Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award and Uma Krishnaswami, whose work spans picture books, novels for young readers and her traditional story collection, "The Broken Tusk: Stories of the Hindu God Ganesha." For a full schedule of Book Fest events, visit focobookfest.org.
The return of a community arts hub
For the first time in years, light will once again stream through the historic windows of Fort Collins' Community Center for Creativity this summer. The center — which houses a public gallery and classroom and meeting spaces for the public and local arts community — is nearing the end of a yearslong renovation project, with hopes to reopen to the public in July, according to Jim McDonald, the city's former Cultural Services Director and manager of the project.
The Community Center for Creativity, located inside Fort Collins' historic Carnegie Library building, has been shuttered since the onset of COVID-19 in 2020, McDonald said. Since then, pre-planned improvements like the addition of a new elevator and roof and gutter upgrades started in 2021, and a larger renovation approved as part of the city's 2015 Community Capital Improvement Program were fast-tracked to start early last year.
As part of its renovation, the Carnegie Library's original windows have been restored and will open back up with the center this summer — marking the first time natural light will stream through the windows ever since they were boarded up years ago, McDonald said. The center's gallery space and two large meeting, or "flex," rooms have been renovated. A new, smaller "flex" room has been added to its lower level and a new staircase has been installed, with plans to open up reservations for the center's gallery and flex rooms in the second quarter of this year. McDonald said he's looking forward to open the Community Center for Creativity back up for public events, art shows, readings and meetings.
“We’re excited to see how the community, especially the creative community, wants to use this space," he said. "... Before COVID shut it down, it was very community based, and that’s how we’ll open it again. We want to create an inclusive, vibrant space that fosters a sense of community and belonging."
This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Fort Collins things to do: 18 exhibits, concerts and more in 2024
