Boulder’s arts scene generates millions in economic activity and helps define the city. But high housing costs and commercial rents make it difficult for artists and arts businesses to stay here.
At a Sept. 15 arts and culture forum, candidates for Boulder mayor and city council discussed how to support artists, arts organizations and cultural spaces. All expressed support for the arts, though their answers offered more insight into their priorities than into how they would carry them out.
Create Boulder hosted the forum in partnership with the Boulder County Arts Alliance and the Boulder Chamber. Justin Veach, president of the Boulder County Arts Alliance and curator of public programs at the Longmont Museum, moderated.
Seventeen of the 19 candidates running for mayor and council attended, including all six mayoral candidates: Taishya Adams, Aaron Brockett, Jameson Goldstein, Lisa Ann Jacobs, Aquiles La Grave and Fred Smith. Brockett is the incumbent mayor; Adams serves on city council.
The participating council candidates were Benita Duran, Sam Fuqua, Rachel Rose Isaacson, Ryan Jamieson, Tina Marquis, David Martus, Scott Rendleman, Jamillah Richmond, Ryan Schuchard, Lynn Segal and Tara Winer. Marquis, Schuchard and Winer are incumbents. Jill Grano and Lee Gilbert were absent; Grano sent word that she was unavailable.
Veach said Boulder’s nonprofit arts and culture sector generated approximately $115 million in local economic activity, based on 2022 data. In April 2026, the city released the Boulder Arts Blueprint, a 10-year plan shaped by the input of about 2,000 community members. Voter-approved taxes also provide dedicated funding for arts and cultural projects.
The challenge, Veach said, is turning those plans and resources into support for Boulder’s creative community.
Deborah Malden, chair of Create Boulder and arts liaison to the Boulder Chamber, said she was encouraged that candidates recognized the need for cultural spaces and affordability, two challenges identified in the blueprint.
“One of our hopes for this forum,” Malden said, “was to find out which candidates seem committed to the work that’s already been done.”
“Will council move forward and make sure that the plans in place and the tools available are implemented?” she added.
With 17 candidates participating, there was little room for in-depth discussion. But their answers showed where they agreed, where they differed and which questions remained unanswered.
Five takeaways from the forum:
1. Housing affordability for artists received limited attention.
High living costs risk pricing artists out of Boulder, but only a few candidates directly addressed that concern during the forum. Richmond emphasized that support needs to reach individual artists as well as organizations.
“That looks like being able to have the resources and funding to support not only our organizations, but also our artists,” Richmond said. “Most of the artists that I know don’t live in Boulder.”
Fuqua called for preserving affordable spaces for artists. Martus addressed a related concern: the city rules and processes artists and small businesses must navigate to operate spaces downtown.
“We restrict people from being creative with the spaces that we’ve got,” Jamieson said. He expressed interest in allowing more flexibility in the use of existing space.
Toward the end of the forum, Isaacson, who identified herself as a working-class renter, drew attention to artists’ financial circumstances.
“Something I’m not hearing brought up at all … is that the average income from being an artist in Boulder is under $19,000. 44% of surveyed artists are reporting financial difficulty, and 80% of artists are having to work another job.”
2. An arts destination in the Civic Area drew unanimous support.
In a lightning round, candidates were asked whether they supported arts and culture serving as a central feature, alongside the Farmers Market, at the east end of the Civic Area. All 17 answered yes.
“The Civic Area is one of the most significant near-term opportunities we have to begin addressing the cultural infrastructure challenges, but more broadly to support our arts and culture ecosystem. That [consensus] was very exciting,” Malden said.
That agreement was on the broad concept; the question did not address specific facilities, programming or funding.
3. Candidates split on sending a downtown investment proposal to voters.
Another lightning-round question produced a wider range of responses: whether candidates would support sending a proposal for a downtown development authority, or DDA, to voters.
A DDA would direct a portion of future tax revenue growth toward improvements downtown and on University Hill. Those investments could affect spaces used by arts organizations and businesses.
Segal and Adams answered no. Marquis, Richmond, Isaacson and Schuchard said they needed more information. Everyone else present answered yes.
The current council blocked the proposal from reaching the November ballot in a 4-4 vote in August. Brockett and Winer voted to advance it; Adams, Marquis and Schuchard voted against it.
At the forum, Marquis and Schuchard did not rule out supporting a future proposal. Candidates were asked whether voters should consider a DDA, rather than whether they supported a specific plan for spending its money.
4. Transparency came up throughout the discussion.
Candidates repeatedly returned to how the city explains its budget, tracks its priorities and accounts for dedicated funds. Isaacson said questions about transparency had surfaced at every forum she had attended.
The issue extends beyond the arts. This November, Boulder voters will consider a measure authorizing up to $400 million in borrowing, repaid through property taxes, to renovate or replace aging city facilities. The proposal has brought scrutiny of city spending and project costs into this year’s municipal election.
“We’ve been practically begging for more transparency on how our budget works, how our dedicated funds are spent, and why,” Isaacson said.
“One of the major themes that’s been emerging in this campaign season is a desire from the community for more transparency from city government,” Brockett said.
He pointed to the city council priority dashboard and said he would create a similar way for the public to track work on the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan, the city and county’s shared guide for growth, land use and community priorities over the next 20 years. Other candidates also called for public dashboards to track council priorities.
For residents following arts funding, those tools could make it easier to see whether spending matches the city’s stated goals.
Other candidates connected transparency to broader changes in city government. La Grave spoke about adjusting the city manager’s role and adding a city auditor. Goldstein and Rendleman also called for a city auditor.
5. Candidates offered fewer specifics on carrying out Boulder’s arts plan.
The city’s Arts Blueprint outlines goals for supporting artists, creative businesses and cultural life. The question running through the forum was what candidates would do to put those goals into practice.
Boulder also has dedicated arts funding. The Arts, Culture and Heritage Tax, approved by voters in 2023, directs half the revenue from a 0.15% sales and use tax to arts, culture and heritage through 2044. Separate Community, Culture, Resilience and Safety tax funding supports capital projects, including grants for arts nonprofits.
Candidates’ familiarity with the Arts Blueprint and the arts and culture sector varied. Few discussed a personal connection to the arts. Duran mentioned her decadeslong involvement in Colorado Creative Industries. Adams was the only candidate to reference her own artistic practice.
“I have navigated firsthand the challenges, but also the incredible strengths” of the city’s framework for arts programming, Adams said. She said her campaign has incorporated artistic expression through sewing, collage, music and dance.
Adams also cited her work on the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan. Schuchard and Brockett pointed to their involvement in supporting Community, Culture, Resilience and Safety tax measures.
Malden said she would be watching for candidates willing to carry the blueprint forward.
“Is there a commitment and a resolve to move forward on the plans that have been adopted to date?” she asked.
Interesting that incumbent city council candidates don’t feel they have enough information to make an informed decision on the DDA. They are right. They get the same broad overview as anyone tuning into council meetings. That’s the playbook. Keep council poorly informed and overwhelmed with hundreds of pages of boilerplate project memos every week, and just keep the ball rolling. Staff attempts to sell their preferred outcome rather than providing detailed information necessary for informed decision-making relevant to Boulder. In effect, city council works for staff since they are expected to move along their agendas efficiently so staff doesn’t face yet more obstacles and challenges.
Regarding the DDA, it is important that folks know only people in the following categories, i.e., those who stand to directly benefit, would be eligible to vote, if it is put on a future ballot:
“The eligible electors for a Boulder DDA vote include:
-Residents who live within the proposed DDA boundary.
-Property owners (or designated representatives for entities/organizations) owning real property within the boundary.
-Qualified commercial lessees / business tenants who lease space within the district.”