For over three decades, the Colorado Business Committee for the Arts (CBCA) has conducted biennial studies on the economic impact of cultural organizations in the Denver metro area, covering nearly 300 institutions across seven counties. Previous reports in 2021 and 2023 confirmed that the sector had not yet recovered to pre-pandemic levels. However, the 2025 findings present a more nuanced picture of recovery and transformation.
While funding patterns have become uneven—especially with the expiration of pandemic-related relief—the enthusiasm of individual donors has grown. Employment in the cultural sector has rebounded, reaching a record high of 14,466 jobs in 2024. The overall economic impact of the arts in the region reached $3.1 billion, marking a 36% increase compared to 2019. This figure includes direct spending on tickets, staff salaries, and concessions, as well as indirect expenditures such as dining and transportation linked to cultural events.
Audience spending has surpassed 2019 levels, though attendance remains slightly below peak, with approximately 14.5 million visits recorded in 2024—down from over 15 million in 2019. After a surge in 2022 driven by pent-up demand, ticket prices rose sharply, contributing to what some economists dubbed “funflation.” By late 2023, this trend began to ease, and recent data from Deloitte Consulting suggests that rising event costs continue to limit full recovery in attendance.
In response, several organizations are expanding access. The Museums for All Initiative now includes 23 Colorado institutions offering discounted or free admission to SNAP recipients, up from eight in 2019. The Arvada Center introduced $10 tickets for mainstage productions and $6 for youth programs for SNAP beneficiaries. The initiative attracted 169 attendees during its spring trial and has already sold 512 discounted tickets for the 2025–26 season.
Sarah Kolb, the Arvada Center’s communications director, emphasized the importance of removing financial barriers, noting that such programs allow families to engage in meaningful cultural experiences. Nearly 50 cultural venues across Colorado now offer similar discounts.
Funding sources have shifted significantly. Federal support dropped by 89% between 2023 and 2025, largely due to the end of emergency grants. However, private philanthropy has filled the gap: individual donations rose by 10.7%, and foundation contributions increased by 36.4%. This shift underscores growing reliance on local support, especially after proposed federal budget cuts eliminated funding for the National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities.
The Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD), established in 1988, continues to fund all 285 organizations in the study. These range from small volunteer-run groups to major institutions like the Denver Art Museum and the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.
Meanwhile, Fresca Foods, a Colorado-based natural snacks manufacturer founded in 1993, was acquired by Spain’s Cerealto, marking a strategic entry into the U.S. market. Though Fresca does not sell under its own brand, it produces organic snacks for major food companies and emerging brands. With annual revenues of $111 million, it now accounts for 20% of Cerealto’s sales. The partnership aims to expand production capacity, enter high-growth snack categories, and strengthen Fresca’s domestic presence.
The healthy snacks market, valued at $31.9 billion in 2024, is projected to reach $54.61 billion by 2033. Colorado, particularly Boulder, remains a hub for organic food innovation, home to brands like Justin’s and Horizon Organic. Kristine Carey of Naturally Colorado praised the investment as evidence of the state’s mature and globally recognized natural products industry.
Other developments include Entegris opening a $600 million semiconductor materials plant in Colorado Springs, supported by up to $77 million from the federal CHIPS and Science Act. The facility, which will eventually employ 500 people, produces FOUPs critical to semiconductor purity. Denver also recovered $2.3 million in unpaid wages for 7,200 workers, a record under its wage-theft enforcement program.
These trends highlight resilience in Colorado’s cultural and economic landscape, even amid shifting funding models and rising costs.
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What’s Working: Even in this economy, the show must go on in Colorado
Quick links: Affordable arts | Arts economic growth and losses | Fresca Foods gains majority investor | Colorado Springs new chipmaking plant | Take the reader poll | More Colorado economy news n nFor more than three decades, the Colorado Business Committee for the Arts has published an Economic Impact Study of Metro Denver Culture every other year, offering a deep dive into nearly 300 cultural organizations in Denver and its six surrounding counties. n nThe past two reports contained the same looming question: Have we bounced back to pre-pandemic levels? n nIn 2021 and 2023, the reports offered a pretty straightforward answer: Nope. But the 2025 report, released Thursday, is more of a mixed bag. n nFor one, funding for the arts is all over the place, with pandemic-era relief funds expired or run dry, but individual donors are feeling more inspired than ever to give to their local arts organizations. n nJobs have bounced back and so has overall economic impact. Audience spending is exceeding its 2019 levels, even if attendance to in-person events is still down, at around 14.5 million in 2024. n nIn 2019 more than 15 million people went to concerts, ballets, plays and other performances in the seven-county metro area, which includes Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas and Jefferson counties. (For reference, the combined attendance to home games of the Rockies, Broncos, Nuggets, Avalanche and Rapids in 2024 was just shy of 5 million.) n nAfter plummeting in 2020, attendance shot back up to nearly 13 million by 2022 during a post-pandemic fervor that drove up demand for live events, and with it, skyrocketed ticket prices. The average ticket price for movies, theaters and concerts climbed more in the two years that venues were reopened after the pandemic — from 2021-23 — than they had in the five years leading up to it. n nSetting aside the fact that Taylor Swift’s record-breaking “Era’s” tour began in early 2023, a cultural event that nearly created its own economy, the effect of “funflation,” as some economists were calling it, started to deflate by the end of summer 2023. n nSo while venues across the country have more recently reported attendance that meets or exceeds pre-pandemic rates, “recent research by Deloitte Consulting indicates that the return has been tempered by the rising costs of attending these events,” the CBCA report notes. n nMaking the arts more affordable n nSome arts organizations are taking notice. The Museums for All Initiative, which offers free or deeply discounted admission to museums for those who receive help from the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, counted 23 participating organizations in Colorado in 2024, compared with eight in 2019. n nEarlier this year, the Arvada Center started offering $10 tickets to theater productions, and $6 tickets to youth theater programs for SNAP recipients. n n“It just seems like such a great way to be able to offer something really concrete, to provide a way around what can be a barrier to access for the arts, which is ticket price,” said Sarah Kolb, director of communications and marketing for the Arvada Center. n nThe Arvada Center tested the $10 ticket program on two theater productions and one youth program during their spring season, “and people really showed up,” Kolb said. A total of 169 people across the three shows took advantage of the discounted tickets. n nSo far they’ve sold 512 SNAP-discounted tickets to shows in the 2025-26 theater season, which started in September. n n“I don’t want to make the assumption that those are people who would or wouldn’t have come to the show another way,” Kolb said. “But I think it’s really important that people know there’s a way they can do something meaningful with their kids, that they can introduce their kids to the arts, or can come enjoy a performance that will offer a moment of escapism.” n nThe Arvada Center is one of nearly 50 cultural centers that offer discounted admission to SNAP recipients around Colorado. n nWhere the arts are seeing economic growth and loss n nDespite ongoing ticketing woes — and general uncertainty about the economy — the overall economic impact of metro Denver’s cultural industry is higher than it was in 2019, according to the report. n n“Results from the study indicate record-breaking levels of economic activity and impact of SCFD-funded organizations in the Metro Denver region in 2024,” the report states. SCFD, the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District, is a special tax district formed by the state legislature in 1988. All of the 285 organizations involved in the study, which range from tiny, volunteer-run orgs to institutions like the Denver Art Museum and Denver Center for the Performing Arts, are funded in some part by SCFD. n nEconomic activity as the report defines it is an aggregate measure related to the cultural sector that includes direct spending, like tickets, concessions and staff payrolls, and indirect spending, like child care, transportation and dinner before a show. That total was $3.1 billion in 2024, a nearly 20% increase from 2022, and a whopping 36% increase over 2019. n nMeanwhile, jobs at cultural organizations showed year-over-year growth, hitting an all-time high of 14,466 total positions in the cultural sector. n nWithin those available roles, the number of part-time positions increased the most dramatically over two years between studies, although there were overall slightly fewer part-time positions than before the pandemic. Contracted and full-time positions have climbed steadily since 2019, both growing by about 12%, but contract positions make up the largest share of cultural jobs in metro Denver. n nAnd where the money comes from to pay all those contract workers and keep the lights on has shifted dramatically over the past six years. n nSince the last report came out in 2023, federal government funding for the arts dropped by 89%, mostly due to the loss of pandemic-era relief programs. n nBut arts organizations have always had close ties with private philanthropy, too. A 2023 study analyzed financial data for nearly 100,000 nonprofits and found that the arts in America are funded mostly through philanthropy and donations at all levels — from individual art lovers to major foundations. n nSo while federal money took a nosedive between the 2023 and 2025 CBCA reports, individual and foundation giving increased by 10.7% and 36.4%, respectively. The data does not include 2025 giving, which saw a major and urgent boost after the federal government canceled grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities, and wrote both out of the proposed federal budget. n n“I think one of the interesting responses I’ve seen is that there is this disruption and concern about the impact of funding on a national level,” Kolb, from the Arvada Center, said. “And I think it’s making people realize why it’s important to really show up for the local arts communities and artists, and all the things that are right around us.” n nDoubling down on granola n nFresca Foods is one of those Colorado success stories that launched in 1993 and is now a force in the natural foods industry. The company, which makes granola and other natural snacks, has grown to more than 450 employees, many who work at its manufacturing plant and warehouse spaces in Louisville and Aurora, respectively. n nAs of Tuesday, it’s now majority owned by Cerealto, a food manufacturer based in Spain. n nIf you’ve never heard of Fresca (no, not the citrus soda brand owned by Coca-Cola Company), the company will probably forgive you. n nThey don’t have their own consumer brand on store shelves. But they make organic and natural food snacks for “some of the world’s largest food companies as well as established and growing entrepreneurial brands,” CEO Brandon Viar said in an email. Contracts don’t let them share who those brands are. n nThe investment of an undisclosed amount gets Cerealto’s foot into the American market. Fresca’s own foot brought in about $111 million in annual revenues and will make up 20% of Cerealto’s sales. But this wasn’t about bringing Ceralto’s food to the U.S. It’s about Fresca. n n“Over the coming months, Fresca and Cerealto will collaborate on a joint growth plan that includes investing in new capacity, expanding in high-growth snacking categories, strengthening Fresca’s U.S. footprint, and developing new opportunities with customers,” Viar said. “The goal is to build a stronger, more international business for the long term.” n nThe healthy snacks market is no small organic potato. One market-research firm sized it at $31.9 billion last year and likely to reach $54.61 billion by 2033. And a longtime hub for organic food startups happens to be right in Boulder, the birthplace of brands like Justin’s, Bhakti Chai and Horizon Organic. n nWhile some of those big-name brands have new corporate owners, it’s still a treat for the local industry, according to Naturally Colorado, a nonprofit organization that focuses on nurturing “conscious growth.” n n“It’s a testament to the collaborative spirit and entrepreneurial energy that have made Colorado a hub for conscious food and beverage businesses,” Executive Director Kristine Carey said in an email. “Fresca Foods has long been part of Colorado’s vibrant natural and organic products ecosystem. … Investments like this highlight the strength and maturity of our state’s natural products industry and the national and global attention it continues to attract.” n nSun economy stories you may have missed n n➔ How much business did Tesla lose in Colorado from Elon Musk’s hard right turn? A lot, Yale researchers say, in Colorado and across the country, perhaps more than 1 million car sales. >> Read story n n➔ Budget pain hits local governments in Colorado as costs rise, funding shrinks and the federal shutdown drags on. Local governments across Colorado face budget deficits in 2026. Some are tapping their reserves to keep people fed as SNAP benefits lapse. >> Read story n n➔ How Medicaid cuts will hurt Colorado families caring for adult children with disabilities. Parents caring for adult children with severe developmental disabilities want to know why their pay is being cut when they are saving taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars per year. >> Read story n n➔ Colorado job hunters are using AI. So are employers, scammers and even the state’s labor department. The job market in Colorado and around the country is pitting AI generators against AI filters and leaving real workers and hiring managers feeling trapped in the middle. >> Read story n n➔ Ethics complaints filed against Democratic state lawmakers who attended Vail retreat with lobbyists. The complaints were filed by Colorado Common Cause, a liberal-leaning nonprofit that advocates for an open government. >> Read story n n➔ UCHealth will directly receive taxpayer dollars in Estes Park merger. The health system will take over Estes Park Health and receive tax revenue via the Park Hospital District. >> Read story n nTake the poll: Thanksgiving plans? n nWith the federal government shutdown, tracking inflation and the cost of the Thanksgiving meal will be challenging this year. Can you help? Help us better understand how Coloradans are impacted by taking the What’s Working reader poll. Thanks in advance! n nTake the poll >> cosun.co/WWthanks2025 n nOther working bits n n➔ Another 150 federal workers file for unemployment this week. Colorado Department of Labor and Employment’s fed-worker daily unemployment tracker is now weekly. And so far this week, about 157 federal workers filed a first-time unemployment claim as of Nov. 5. Claims from federal workers since the government shutdown on Oct. 1 was 2,100 as of Wednesday. n nStatewide, fed-worker filings made up 14.3% of all first-time unemployment claims, which grew to 14,661 in October. Those on continued unemployment benefits also grew to 33,160 in the last week of the month, up 3.7% from the week earlier, according to the state labor department. n n➔ Chipmaker opens new Colorado Springs manufacturing plant. Nearly three years in the making, Entegris’ new 135,000-square-foot manufacturing plant opened Wednesday. Entegris earlier committed to investing $600 million into building a new plant and hiring 500 new workers. As of this week, about 100 people are working on site, but this is just phase one, according to a spokesperson. n nThe Massachusetts-based company makes semiconductor materials for clients like Intel and Samsung. Fittingly, it chose land that was once home to Hewlett Packard’s old computer disk drives factory. While Entegris already had operations in Colorado Springs, an added incentive was the Biden administration’s CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, which set aside $280 billion in taxpayer money to subsidize the return of semiconductor manufacturing to America. Entegris was granted up to $77 million last year. n nAt the new plant, workers will make Front-Opening-Unified Pods, or FOUPs, which “are essential for chip purity and yield,” the company said. The plant also marks “the return of Entegris’ FOUP manufacturing to the U.S. for the first time in decades.” n n➔ Denver Labor’s enforcement of wage-theft laws nets $2.3 million for workers. One of Denver’s higher profile public advocates of ordinary workers happens to be inside the city auditor’s office. The auditor’s labor investigators recovered $2.3 million in restitution for 7,200 workers in the city whose employers paid them less than minimum wage, violated sick-leave pay rules or made illegal pay deductions (see the cases). The amount and impacted workers were at record levels. n nPart of Denver Labor’s role is also to keep businesses up to date with the law changes, which companies may overlook, like the annual minimum wage increase for all businesses that operate in city limits. Heads up: Denver’s current minimum wage of $18.81 jumps to $19.29 on Jan. 1. >> Submit a wage complaint n nGot some economic news or business bits Coloradans should know? Tell us: cosun.co/heyww n nThanks for sticking with me for this week’s report. As always, share your 2 cents on how the economy is keeping you down or helping you up at cosun.co/heyww. ~ tamara n nMiss a column? Catch up: n nWhy Colorado Gives Day lasts 39 days. And it starts today. n nColorado businesses share gloomy forecast — and a bit of optimism n nRobocalls are declining in Colorado but still number in the millions n nTech companies still pick Denver area for same reasons n nHow Trump’s pick of Fort Collins as new USDA hub could impact Colorado n nA Colorado firm struggling to hire staff has no job openings — and that’s the new plan n nWhile AI and quantum were big attractions, Colorado Startup Week was about founders n nColorado Startup Week debuts in Front Range to reignite founder fever n nAging in Colorado is expensive. Here’s what’s being done about it n nWhat’s Working is a Colorado Sun column about surviving in today’s economy. 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