A cultural review: Colorado Springs area is more diverse than you might think | Linda Weise | Arts & Entertainment

I am honoured to have been invited to submit a monthly article about arts and culture in our region and communities by my friends at The Gazette.

For the purposes of these contributions, I have asked that they focus solely on the broader of the two: culture. For too long, I have been confronted with the distractions of conversation that occur when the two are lumped together, “arts and culture.”

The arts, as most of us know them, are an effect of culture, and if we really paid attention to culture, in the most thoughtful sense of the word, we could tie them together. But alas, most of us have been educated as if they were separate – and the “arts” are somehow part of something inaccessible to most and at their best, certainly inexplicable. Together, they are completely overused to excess. Culture is so much more than just the creative artistic component, as important and relevant as that is.

I think I can say all this because I am, by training, a classical musician, pianist and opera performer. Apart from that, my life’s journey has led me to provide access to the arts and to understand “culture”. There’s that word again.

Culture is arguably one of the most misunderstood words in our vocabulary. We sometimes think of culture as something noble, like going to a symphony orchestra concert, or as something as accessible as a garden club or Harley Davidson owners.

During my formative years, primarily through arts education and performance experiences and training, I came to understand culture as an ethereal place where people occupied a space – their philosophies, their values, their clothing, their heritage, their work, their attitudes and, most importantly, though sometimes forgotten, their origins.

The privilege of being able to share artistic expressions and conversations with people in this space has given rise to a trust, understanding, and tolerance that has been an integral part of my evolution as a human being. I am very grateful for that and do not take it for granted. I will forever be grateful to my parents for pushing me in this direction. I never really thought about where people came from or what they looked like – they just were who they were and were always interesting. I was always curious about what they brought to the world.

Merriam-Webster defines culture as “the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group.” It also defines culture as “the characteristic features of everyday existence (such as entertainment or a way of life) shared by people in a place or time.” Furthermore, culture is “the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterize an institution or organization.”

There are obvious reasons why these definitions have been used and understood by most people when thinking about culture, especially when we associate arts and culture. After much thought and for the purposes of this conversation, I decided to move on to another definition of the word culture: “to develop in a prepared environment.”

So let’s start there: what does culture look like in Colorado Springs, our little corner of the globe, “our prepared place.” I am inspired to say that we have developed a magnificent culture at the foot of the beautiful mountain, our Tava, our Pikes Peak, and our culture is more diverse than you might think. We have a rich garden of cultures: Western heritage, military, wellness, education, arts, agriculture (and food), creative entrepreneurship, and faith. Together, these are our cultural pillars and we continue to cultivate them in our prepared place, the place we call home, Colorado Springs and the Pikes Peak region. The more we explore and discuss what lies behind each of these pillars, the richer our culture becomes and the stronger our lives become.

I am delighted to share this conversation with Gazette readers. Each month, I will bring you meaningful interviews with diverse individuals, “cultural beacons” from across the region who exemplify the attitudes, values ​​and practices of these various cultural pillars mentioned above. These individuals are not the usual suspects. These cultural beacons are committed to bringing the most varied and rich experiences to our collective culture.

They will open our eyes to the cultural landscape around us. I hope these conversations will provide us with the context and curiosity that will allow us to want to know more about who we are together – as different as we are – and to celebrate, honor, and understand each other a little more than we would today.

See you in September for the first cultural flagship interview.