Sundance Film Festival

In the fall of 1858, Nebraska prospectors struck gold in the mountains west of Boulder near present-day Gold Hill, staking their claim along Boulder Creek. In November 1871, the City of Boulder was incorporated as a base camp to service the miners in the hills.

A progressive city from the start, Boulder landed the State University in 1874 and attracted the Chautauqua Institution and Dr. John Kellogg’s Health Sanitarium in the 1890s. In the 1920s and 30s, downtown Boulder became the County seat for retail, banking, and office. Science, technology, and the National Labs arrived in the 1950s and 60s. The Hippies and their counter-culture movement arrived in the 1960s. The 70s brought the Pearl Street Mall, transforming downtown Boulder into a dining and entertainment center.

But, once again, Boulder faces deep challenges. Crime, drug use, mental illness, homelessness, traffic, and office vacancies continue to rise. Visiting downtown and strolling along Boulder Creek feels unsafe, requiring Boulder to pull another rabbit out of its hat to reinvent itself.

Enter the Sundance Film Festival. Under the leadership of Governor Jared Polis, Colorado has issued $475M in bonds to house the Sundance Institute in the historic Stanley Hotel in Estes Park. Last week, it approved a $34M tax Incentive for Film Festivals.  Boulder has a real shot at landing the world’s fifth-largest film festival, catalyzing tremendous economic and cultural impact in Boulder.

Even a successful eleven-day-a-year festival won’t catapult Boulder to its next phase of growth as it deals with the ongoing challenges of street crime and an excess of office vacancies. Instead, Sundance can function as the spark to light the fire under Fredrick Law Olmstead’s 115-year-old vision of creating a Central Park on par with New York’s while providing a potential home for a decades-old proposition to build a Performing and Cultural Arts Center in this 27-acre Civic Area.

As a young man, I played a small role in the design and development of the Pearl Street Mall and witnessed that, once aligned, Boulderites can make miracles happen. I am confident Boulder can land Sundance and build a world-renowned Performing Arts Center in the heart of the city along Boulder Creek, where Boulder’s story began.

— Sina.