Press Room

Bohemian Fund makes grants to organizations that build equity into their work in three areas:

• Ensuring all youth thrive.
• Promoting economic stability and mobility.
• Cultivating a vibrant, engaged, and connected community.

The fund supports organizations that value diversity and inclusion, foster belonging and strive to advance equity. Since 2021, Bohemian Fund has awarded nearly $2 million to organizations working within the Poudre School District boundary. Last month, more than 40 organizations received Bohemian Fund grants totaling $620,000. Highlights of grantees’ work include:

• Alianza NORCO, a grassroots nonprofit, works alongside immigrants to create integration services. Programs include immigration legal services, navigation services and immigration-related advocacy.
• The Colorado Poverty Law Project works to prevent homelessness through legal representation, education and advocacy. The project provides legal advice, counseling and related services to low-income individuals facing housing insecurity.
• Colorado State University’s Department of Ethnic Studies ISTAR program provides support for Native American youth and their families. The program offers a K-8th grade summer camp, as well as community nights and cultural activities. This work builds relationships that foster belonging and help participants to be a source of strength and support for each other.

Nonprofits can attend a workshop to learn more about how to make a grant request. Workshops will take place Jan. 25, 26 and 31. Register at bohemianfoundation.org/bohemian-fund/workshops-applicant-support. A group of community reviewers and Bohemian Foundation staff selects applicants for awards.

Click here to view the full list of 2020-2021 Give Next grant recipients.

Bohemian Foundation is a private family foundation established in 2001. Based in Fort Collins, Colorado, Bohemian Foundation supports local, national and global efforts to build strong communities.

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The program is looking for diversity in artwork styles and concepts, with a preference for emerging artists and new and exciting ideas. Selected artists will receive an honorarium of $1,000. To apply, artists must submit a letter of intent and concept rendering. The 2023 application deadline is Feb. 28 before 4 p.m. MST. A City of Fort Collins Art in Public Places committee selects artists each year. For further information and to apply, visit fcgov.com/art-calls.

The program will offer two virtual sessions to provide resources for potential applicants. During the first session, potential applicants will hear a presentation about the application process and will have opportunities to ask questions. The second set of virtual sessions are one-on-one meetings during which program staff will work with artists to review their applications and answer questions. Neither session is required in order to apply.

Virtual Presentation and Q&A

• Feb. 8, 6:30-7:30 p.m.
• More at: fcgov.com/pianos
• This virtual session will include a presentation at 6:30 p.m. about the application and review process. Program staff will be available to answer questions at the end of the session.

One-On-One Meetings with Program Staff

• Feb. 22, 2-6:30 p.m., by appointment
• More at: fcgov.com/pianos
• Staff will be available to meet with applicants one-on-one for up to 30 minutes to review applications and make application recommendations. Staff also will be available to provide general information for applicants who were unable to attend the first information session.

About Pianos About Town

Pianos About Town is a public art initiative that provides paid work to local visual artists, gives the public the opportunity to observe these artists work in real time, showcases the work of artists throughout town, and brings opportunities for spontaneous musical expression to the streets of Fort Collins.

The original inspiration for Pianos About Town comes from British artist Luke Jerram, who created a 60-piano installation that toured the world, stopping in New York City in June 2010. Pianos About Town also was inspired by a similar project on Denver’s 16th Street Mall. The first pianos were placed in Downtown Fort Collins in 2010.

Pianos come from donations made by community members looking for a new home for their used instruments. Pianos are picked up, free of charge, from their previous homes and brought to a storage area where they are cleaned, tuned, prepped for painting, and readied for the outside elements. After that, the painting begins. Each selected local artist spends approximately two weeks painting their piano in downtown Fort Collins, outdoors in a public location when weather permits. Once painted, each finished piano enters into rotation at Pianos About Town locations throughout Fort Collins. Area businesses play a key role in the success of the project by “adopting” the painted pianos and covering them during inclement weather.

Pianos About Town is a collaboration among the City of Fort Collins Art in Public Places Program, the Downtown Development Authority and Bohemian Foundation.

Follow Pianos About Town on Facebook, Instagram, and new this year, TikTok.

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This spring, 39 organizations received grants totaling $600,000. Highlights include:

• Alliance for Suicide Prevention of Larimer County recognized there was a gap in addressing the increasing suicide rates among 18-24-year-old young adults. Their new program explores the specific needs of 18-24-year-olds in Fort Collins not enrolled in post-secondary education. It provides suicide prevention resources, social events and peer support groups.
• Cultural Enrichment Center of Fort Collins serves Black youth in Fort Collins and provides a space where youth feel belonging. The organization’s programming reflects students’ voices and input. This student-centered model supports culturally relevant learning skills and helps students direct their own education and development.
• Little Shop of Physics hosts mini hands-on science festivals in lower income communities, in partnership with Housing Catalyst. These events aim to make science accessible to everyone in their home communities by removing barriers of cost, language, timing and transportation for families.

Find out how to make a grant request during a workshop Aug 10, 16, and 18. Register at BohemianFoundation.org/bohemian-fund/workshops-applicant-support. A group of community reviewers and Bohemian Foundation staff selects applicants for awards.

Click here to view the full list of organizations that received grants this spring.

About Bohemian Foundation

Bohemian Foundation is a private family foundation established in 2001. Based in Fort Collins, Colorado, Bohemian Foundation supports local, national and global efforts to build strong communities.

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Give Next is a school-based program that uses grantmaking as a tool to shift power to youth, build understanding of complex social issues and connect youth to each other and their community. Through the program, local businesses, foundations and individuals become classroom donors by providing each school with $5,000 to award to Larimer County nonprofits. Students work together to identify community needs, choose a focus area, create a mission statement, research nonprofits, review grant applications and make funding decisions. In addition, they organize their own fundraisers to increase their grantmaking capacity. In celebration of Give Next’s 10th anniversary this year, Alpine Bank sponsored a $10,000 student fundraising match. Students surpassed the challenge, raising a record $11,725—bringing total student fundraising to $21,725.

Dozens of Larimer County nonprofits will benefit from the funds. The Alliance for Suicide Prevention received grants from six classrooms, totaling more than $12,000. In part, the funds will support their Youth Advisory Council. The council is comprised of youth volunteers who review the nonprofit’s peer-focused activities. They provide feedback and guidance to ensure programs are tailored for and well received by youth in the community. This resonated with Give Next students, who recognize the importance of amplifying youth voices to prevent suicides.

“Mental health is a very pressing issue that we face every day with the suicide rates amongst teens growing,” said Cooper McGrew, Give Next participant from Boltz Middle School. “Even though there are support groups out there, kids still struggle reaching out and feeling heard. We need to create a society in which [youth] voices are raised up and truly listened to before it is too late.” Boltz Middle School donated $3,600 of their grant money to the Alliance for Suicide Prevention.

Since 2012, students have awarded over three quarters of a million dollars to more than 100 nonprofits in the community through Give Next. More than $100,000 of that has come directly from student-led fundraising efforts.

For more information about Give Next, visit givenextnoco.org.

Click here to view the full list of 2021-2022 Give Next grant recipients.

About Bohemian Foundation

Bohemian Foundation provides management support for Give Next. Bohemian Foundation is a private family foundation established in 2001. Based in Fort Collins, Colorado, Bohemian Foundation supports local, national and global efforts to build strong communities.

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Local artists selected to paint pianos in 2022 are Becca Black, Hannah Call, CM Canino, Ciera Dykstra, Monika Lea Jones, Athena Koss, Cheng Li, Holly McQuinn, Kris Barz Mendonça, Rachael Pitchford, Makari Roehrkasse, Snail Candy Arts, and Aerica Raven Van Dorn.

“We’re excited to welcome our returning and many new artists to this program,” said Ellen Martin, Visual Arts Administrator for the City of Fort Collins. “We received a record number of applications this year and are pleased with the diversity of styles and artist experience selected as part of the City of Fort Collins’ RFP process.”

Outdoor summer painting will start May 11 at the Art in Action tent on the south side of Fort Collins’ Old Town Square.

New Artist Profile: Kris Barz Mendonça, “The Universe in a Piano Shell”

Kris Barz Mendonça is a first-time artist with the Pianos About Town program. Mendonça says the pianos were one of the first things he noticed when he moved to Fort Collins from Brazil.

“I feel connected to the initiative of the Pianos About Town project because art in public spaces is one of the ways you can make urban areas more community oriented,” said Mendonça. “At the same time, art can be visually appealing or thought provoking, being able to make people learn about our past or wonder about the future of society.” Mendonça uses a lighthearted colorful style, friendly characters and storytelling to explore a range of topics.

Mendonça will paint “The Universe in a Piano Shell,” a concept that explores the human desire to explore the universe. Mendonça will use a comic-inspired style and narrative to depict Fort Collins and the universe.

Mendonça concept image:

The Universe in a Piano Shell by Kris Barz Mendonça

New Artist Profile: Cheng Li, “Whimsical Music Machine”

Cheng Li learned to play piano as a young child.

“I remember riding my little sky-blue bike down to my piano teacher’s house for my weekly piano lessons.” said Li. “From then on, music has been the one constant in my life. When I moved overseas from Japan to the U.S. and lost my spoken language, music was the one language that stayed with me. Music was there for me when I felt lost without my voice.”

“This project called out to me because it married two of my passions: music and art,” said Li. “When I was designing this piece, my focus was to create an inviting and fun design to attract people to play the piano. Whether a new player, a seasoned player, or just a passerby, I want to share my love of music and art with them through this project.”

Li also played a painted piano on her first visit to Fort Collins.

“I spotted a painted piano and sat down to play,” said Li. “In that moment, playing on the beautiful piano under the dappled shade of an aged tree, I felt at home in this new place. I hope that through my art, I can help create a similar magical moment for someone else strolling through the town.”

Li will paint “Whimsical Music Machine,” a concept that reimagines the internal mechanisms of a piano. Instead of strings and hammers, this piano is powered by gears and pipes. The whimsical musical machine grows rainbows and plants, and the world is inhabited by colorful creatures who call the piano their home.

Li concept image:

Whimsical Music Machine by Cheng Li

About Pianos About Town

Pianos About Town brings local art and spontaneous music to the streets of Fort Collins. Pianos About Town started in 2010 as a collaboration among Bohemian Foundation, the City of Fort Collins Art in Public Places program and the Fort Collins Downtown Development Authority. Community members watch as local artists transform donated pianos into public art. In 2018, the program celebrated its 100th painted piano.

Scattered among 20 locations across town in the summer, and six locations in the winter, the completed pianos offer surprise interruptions of color and music across Fort Collins. The whimsical pianos beckon to passersby and invite them to make and listen to music together.

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