The Cultural Office of the Pikes Peak Region (COPPeR) is a certified

nonprofit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

arts organization located in downtown

Colorado Springs Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

and serving

El Paso El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the seat of El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the 23rd-largest city in the U.S., the s ...

and Teller counties. In February 2014, Andy Vick replaced Christina McGrath as COPPeR's executive director. COPPeR receives funding from the city of Colorado Springs and from various

grants Grant or Grants may refer to: Places *Grant County (disambiguation) Australia * Grant, Queensland, a locality in the Barcaldine Region, Queensland, Australia United Kingdom *Castle Grant United States * Grant, Alabama *Grant, Inyo County, C ...

. It acts as an umbrella artistic service, "the lead entity for centralizing and coordinating information about cultural services in the Pikes Peak region of Colorado." COPPeR conceptualizes itself as an adhesive that unifies the greater arts community to make arts and culture more dynamic and powerful than any one organization. COPPeR invites and engages residents and visitors to draw them into the local arts scene; it advocates for all of the arts; and it builds the cultural community to create a regional brand. COPPeR is one of more than 200 nonprofit arts organizations that generate about US$100 million every year in the Colorado Springs area.Arts groups release city's first cultural plan , cultural, city, point - Entertainment - Colorado Springs Gazette, CO
/ref> Out of 276 metropolitan areas ranked according to their arts businesses per capita, Colorado Springs is in the top 15 percent. In September 2010, partly inspired by Dream City Vision 2020, COPPeR released a 10-year cultural plan in for the Pikes Peak region.

PeakRadar website

In 2007, a study by the

Colorado Council on the Arts The Colorado Council on the Arts was an agency of the state government of Colorado, responsible for the promotion of the arts. In July 2010, the Council on the Arts and Art in Public Places programs merged to become Colorado's Creative Industries D ...

placed creative industries as the fifth largest sector of the Colorado state budget.STATE OF THE ARTS: Overview - Not everyone's singing the blues , arts, theater, drew - Entertainment - Colorado Springs Gazette, CO
/ref> In 2009, the Council had to cut a fourth of the state arts budget, and arts organizations in El Paso and Teller counties received $90,400 instead of the $183,490 they had gotten in 2008. The local

convention and visitor bureau A destination marketing organization (DMO) is an Organization, organisation which promotes a location as an attractive travel destination. DMOs are known as tourist boards, tourism authorities or "Convention and Visitors Bureaux". They primarily ex ...

began to concentrate more on culture in the

Pikes Peak Pikes Peak is the List of mountain ranges of Colorado#Mountain ranges, highest summit of the southern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, in North America. The Ultra-prominent peak, ultra-prominent fourteener is located in Pike National Forest ...

region. When the Colorado Tourism Office awarded the local tourism office with a grant of $15,000, the local office matched $7,5000 to give to COPPeR. COPPeR used this funding to create the cultural events website at PeakRadar.com. The website become COPPeR's central tool for supporting and promoting the arts. It now serves as a guide to arts and cultural events throughout the Colorado Springs area, including Teller and El Paso counties. PeakRadar provides event listings, directories, classifieds, and artist profiles.

Partnerships and projects

COPPeR partners with

Americans for the Arts Americans for the Arts is a nonprofit organization whose primary focus is advancing the arts in the United States. With offices in Washington, D.C., and New York City, with more than 50 years of service. Americans for the Arts is dedicated to rep ...

(AFTA), described as "the nation's leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts in America," to conduct arts-related research, development, programs, and services. Specifically, COPPeR has participated in a large-scale local arts index of resources and assets to be compared with the resources and assets of other similarly-sized cities. AFTA plans to compile all this data to make comparisons across cities and determine how arts programs and budgets can be improved. COPPeR has also surveyed attendees at various arts events as part of an AFTA-based study of the economic impact of arts events on their surrounding community. In addition to partnering with AFTA, COPPeR also works with various programs in the city of Colorado Springs, including the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce, the Pikes Peak Poet Laureate Project, and the Quality of Life Indicators Project, conducted through the

United Way of America United Way is an international network of over 1,800 local nonprofit fundraising affiliates. United Way was the largest nonprofit organization in the United States by donations from the public, prior to 2016. United Way organizations raise funds ...

. COPPeR and PeakRadar events are regularly featured in local newspapers

The Gazette The Gazette (stylized as the GazettE), formerly known as , is a Japanese visual kei Rock music, rock band, formed in Kanagawa Prefecture, Kanagawa in early 2002.''Shoxx'' Vol 106 June 2007 pg 40-45 The band is currently signed to Sony Music Recor ...

and the ''Colorado Springs Business Journal''. COPPeR has media partnerships with regional radio stations

KRCC KRCC (91.5 MHz) is a public radio station in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It is owned by Colorado College and operated by Colorado Public Radio. KRCC broadcasts non-commercial News/Talk programming, mostly from National Public Radio (NPR) and ...

and KCME. It also works closely with the

Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College (FAC) is an arts center located just north of downtown Colorado Springs, Colorado. Located on the same city block are the American Numismatic Association and part of the campus of Colorado ...

and the Bee Vradenburg Foundation focused on sustaining arts in the region.

Reaction to recession

Lasting effects from the

Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At ...

led many arts communities, notably that of

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

to cut funding for the arts.Kansas Cuts Public Funding For The Arts : NPR
/ref> In response, arts communities like that of Colorado Springs have made efforts to demonstrate the importance of the arts in education, publicity, marketing, tourism, and regional branding. COPPeR provides a forum for artists and arts organizations to band together in advocating for the arts.

References

{{Colorado Springs Organizations based in Colorado Springs, Colorado