Museum of Friends getting second wind

by Bill Knowles
WALSENBURG — With the reputation as a premier museum of contemporary art up and down the Front Range from Denver to Trinidad, the Museum of Friends has begun a capital improvement program (CIP) to further enhance the experience of visitors from all over the state.
While awaiting the anticipated announcement by History Colorado, which will list the building MOF is housed in on the Colorado State Historic Registry in January, the museum is moving towards realizing some of its goals.
One goal is to put together a total of $25,000 in matching funds to secure grants from the USDA, the Gates Family Foundation, and the El Pomar Foundation.  With these grants, the museum will be able to complete the CIP for the museum building.  The MOF board of directors has already approved $8,000 of the total needed for matching funds, leaving $17,000 to be raised from the membership drive already in progress. 
The five year CIP will build the capacity of the physical plant, enhance its space, make it ADA compliant and more visitor friendly with an elevator from the ground floor to the second floor, as well as the installation of a major stairway connecting the two floors. 
The ground floor is where large item art displays and showings of visiting artists are staged, along with the gift shop and the “Made in Walsenburg” area where local artists can sell their creations.  The second floor is where the museum hosts its permanent collection of contemporary art and the Hawaiian exhibit.
With a listing on the State Historic Registry, the museum will be able to apply for tax credits under HB 14-1311 which is set to expire in 2019.  The credits originate from the State Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) and will make it possible for the museum to apply for a grant from the King Foundation for job creation.  According to Maria Cocchiarelli-Berger, a co-founder of the museum, ten jobs could be created with the grant.
The Museum of Friends has established itself in the Walsenburg area for the past ten years and has participated in the life of the city over that time.  It has become a part of downtown revitalization, where its Art Lab students have built, decorated, and painted colorful planter boxes placed on Main Street. They have offered Friday Art Lab for pre-school through high school level participants from May 2014 thru November 2015.
Their offerings have included several film series, historical tours of the area with the Huerfano County Historical and Pueblo Archaeology and Historical Society, lectures, and a detailed presentation of Drop City during its 50th anniversary.  This has prompted at least two publications from outside Huerfano County, the Pueblo Chieftain and the fall issue of Modern in Denver magazine, to run articles that drew in many visitors from out of town to Walsenburg. 
A museum as diverse as the Museum of Friends enhances the quality of life for the Walsenburg area.  That quality of life enhancement is one factor that business look for when considering a relocation or a start-up, in the area.