Phillips County Art Council Connects Cultures through Dance, Art, Gardens and Education
By Rose Fredrick

Between the agricultural fields and the homes of Colorado’s farthest northeast county lies a divide; a cultural gap that one small arts council is diligently working to stitch together with dance, paint, and a lot of good earth. The volunteer run Phillips County Arts Council (PCAC) members know that art is the universal language that brings a community together and, to that end, they support groups within their community that bridge diverse populations to create deeper understanding.

One such group, the Paquimé Dancers started by Cecilia Marquez when she was just a sophomore in high school, teaches children the traditional dances of Mexico. The name, Paquimé (pronounced pah-KEE-may) means ‘big house’ and in this case suggests that there is room for everyone in the community to share under one roof – or on one stage – as the case may be. The dancers range in age from four to 15 and spend nearly eight months learning choreographed dances that are performed in a production at the end of summer. Last year, Cecilia’s sister Alma, a professional dancer living, working and studying at university in Mexico, spent an intensive three months with the children choreographing the dances they performed at last year’s festival, which started with an authentic Mexican feast and culminated in a dance extravaganza.

Though Cecilia started the group as a way to celebrate her proud heritage and help other Mexican American children understand their culture, Dorothy Ortner, Administrative Assistant of the PCAC says that more Caucasians are beginning to join in the fun. She explained, “We have authentic costumes that mothers or seamstresses have made; it really is a very professional production. And, as you know, it goes way beyond the children, because if they come then so do the parents and aunties and uncles and so forth.”
 
In keeping with their mission to enable their multi-cultural community to promote, share and celebrate the arts, the PCAC has also devised ways to partner with county agencies, businesses and other organizations. One such effort banded together the many art guilds that are scattered throughout the neighboring counties, including some in Nebraska, to hold a major exhibition of the visual arts. Ortner explained that from about 1960 through the 1990s, the members of the art guilds would meet monthly and have regular exhibitions. However, as they aged and some of the husbands passed away, there was no one to help do the heavy lifting for the shows so the groups disbanded. That’s where the PCAC stepped in. Now the exhibition includes artists of all ages working in all mediums from painting and sculpting to photography. Ortner said, “We want to engage as many people as possible in the arts.”

For those not as interested in dance or paint, the PCAC found a way to get people with green thumbs involved by organizing a community garden on land lent to them by a generous Council member. They also got the town of Holyoke to pick up the tab on water and utilities. What started last year as six plots has grown to 20, with a number of spaces going to mothers in the federal program WIC (Women, Infants, Children). Ortner said, “Our member Linda Langelo went to social services and said, ‘Look, this is a way to get people to have absolutely delicious food that they can raise and learn how to grow, and teach the children.” The organization agreed and has helped put together a group of women who will share garden duties this summer. The gardeners will even have the chance to sell their produce at a local Farmer’s Market. The community garden will also be a featured stop along the “Parade of Home Gardens” route, an annual tour sponsored by the PCAC that goes from one end of the county to the other.

The other major program PCAC uses to create harmony and understanding within their community is called “Art Where You Art”, which sends artist/educators into the two main towns in Phillips County, Holyoke and Haxtun, to teach art. “We put a limit of 15 students,” said Ortner of the five four-week classes in each town, one class for youth and one class for Seniors living in assisted living facilities, “One woman worked with an intensive English as a second language summer camp so those participants had three very long art lessons that incorporated learning English.” And, just to prove that you are never too young or old to learn, she added, “We had people of all ages from children to a 93 year old man. So we really did work with people from three to 93!”

Perhaps the true success of the program is best reflected in the faces in the audiences. Ortner said, “Since 1991 it has become more acceptable within the Caucasian community as they saw people really wanting to learn English and, I would say the attitude has been much more positive to people who are different. I wouldn’t say the majority of people come and join, but it’s growing. I think people are tired of the nonsense of being separate.”