Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center Organizational Mission
The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, a place to learn about, appreciate and practice the arts, is a catalyst for engaging experiences in education and the performing and visual arts that challenge and elevate the human spirit. With its school, theater and art museum, the Fine Art Center serves as a confluence for all the arts and is a destination of international stature helping all who enter its doors to realize and understand the best of the human experience.

History and Organizational Capacity
Since its opening in April, 1936, the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center has remained one of the few institutions in the country to provide facilities for the visual and performing arts under one roof. Overlooking the purple mountains' majesty of Pikes Peak, on land provided by Mrs. Spencer (Julie) Penrose, the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center was founded in 1936 by Alice Bemis Taylor, Elizabeth Sage Hare and Julie Penrose. The three women envisioned a wonderful space in which to house and display Mrs. Taylor's fabulous collection of treasures from the Native American and Hispanic southwest. With magnificent foresight, the they hired architect John Gaw Meem, who realized their vision and created a space that would be a destination to celebrate all of the arts - visual arts, performing arts, and arts education. Their formula was immensely successful - the Fine Arts Center opened at a time when the city's population was approximately forty thousand. During opening week, April 1936, five thousand people attended!

Today, the Fine Arts Center continues this grand tradition with its stunning art museum, performing arts theatre, and school of art. The beloved building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Meem was awarded the Fifth Pan American Prize of Architecture in 1940 for the building's design. The Fine Arts Center is often thought of as one of the top ten most significant buildings in Colorado, and has been continually recognized as an arts leader within the Pikes Peak region.

The FAC has over 6,500 members, receives 120,000 annual visitors, serves a regional population of over 500,000 and an annual tourist market of over four million. Over the past 69 years, the FAC has established itself as the premier arts and cultural organization in southern Colorado and will continue its tradition of excellence in the new century. The coming year is poised to be one of the most productive in our recent history, as we look at expand membership, target new segments of the Colorado Springs community, restore and renovate our galleries and public areas, bring cutting-edge technology and interactive educational programs into our galleries, and attract world-renown artists, lecturers, and exhibits.