The Manitou Music Foundation turned 5 years old in September 2023! It’s been a good ride, despite the bumpy road the pandemic created for two of those years.
We are engrained into the Manitou Springs and the Old Colorado City communities. MMF is very much a community organization of musicians, music fans, workshop attendees, local government and nonprofits, music venue staff, business supporters, volunteers and board members.
The MACH Fund, The Manitou Springs Chamber of Commerce, the Manitou Springs Community Foundation and the OCC Partnership deserve special mention for their support of our music culture! Together, we have been able to coordinate, enhance and support the art of music in our community.
This area has a long history of being enriched by the sounds of music, from the early days of Hiawatha Gardens to the decades of multiple clubs, festivals and buskers.
Today, we are grateful for Lulu’s Downstairs, Front Range Barbeque, the Armadillo Ranch, Trails End Taproom, Kinfolks, Buffalo Lodge, the Townhouse, Summa, the Manitou Winery, Cucuru, Jives and the Manitou Art Center for frequent opportunities to enjoy our amazing local talent!
We are also grateful for live outdoor music on the library lawn, the Summer Concert Series, the Heritage Center Brewfest, Manitou Springs Colorado Wine Fest, the Spa Building Balcony and Commonwheel Labor Day Arts Festival.
Express gratitude to our local musicians
Let’s be sure to express gratitude to our local musicians for their performances! They may make it look easy to entertain us, but our friends put in years of crafting and hard work to produce the artistry they share with us regularly.
I would like to list them all here as I did our venues, but our musicians are so numerous that it’s astonishing for our music community to be so fortunate! Please remember to thank them in person, tip them and support the venues that hire them.
As we look ahead to 2024, MMF will continue to produce our Live Music Listing weekly report. You can find it every Tuesday on our Facebook page, our website (www.manitoumusicfoundation.org) or in your inbox if you subscribe (sign up by emailing ManitouMusicFoundation@gmail.com).
We are refining our personal membership program and expanding our business membership program. Many thanks for your donations to all of our members and our current business members: Front Range Barbeque, The Loop, Kinfolks, Jack’s Liquors, Marcus Electric, Goat Patch Brewing, Armadillo Ranch, Tidal Breeze Jazz, Buffalo Lodge and Lulu’s.
We’re also expanding our volunteer program. Many thanks to the many volunteers who have helped with social media, events, logistics and sharing the good news of our music culture. We hope to tap our local volunteers to expand our music education programs into more demographics of the community. If you would like to volunteer, please email us at the above address.
Since our founding in 2018, the MMF Board of Directors has been essential to steering the ship, through our growing pains and successes, the stormy waters of 2020 and 2021 and into more tame, post-pandemic seas.
As founder and president, I am so grateful for the two dozen board members who have served MMF and our community. Two of our board members term-out at the end of this month. If you feel you can contribute, please email us.
I am also planning to transition off the board of directors by September 2024. I am confident that the community will take the helm and continue the mission of being a catalyst for one of the finest communities of musicians and their supporters anywhere.