GREELEY — The Greeley Art Alley project, a collaboration between the city of Greeley Art Commission, the Greeley Creative District and the Downtown Development Authority, has received the DCI Governor’s Award for Excellence. 

The award came during a virtual conference event last week hosted by Downtown Colorado Inc. 

The award recognizes excellence in the creation and renewal of public space that encourages a sense of place where the improvements enhance the urban design, physical function or economic viability of a downtown and its community. 

Greeley’s project began in 2014 with Armando Silva chosen as the lead artist for this multi-year effort. “Music” was chosen as the theme for the art. Now complete, Art Alley — located between Eighth and Ninth avenues and streets — includes almost 20 pieces by a dozen area artists. The DDA had festoon lighting installed and improved the lighting in the walk-through. In 2018 the DDA contracted with Alt Ethos to install an interactive musical “hopscotch” art installation in the walk-through.

“Hardly a day goes by now when you don’t see people out there with photographers. We’ve seen wedding pictures, senior portraits, band pictures and have had at least two or three music videos filmed using the alley as a backdrop,” said Alison Hamling, director of experience with the DDA, in a written statement. “When the ’Let’s Roam’ scavenger hunt company chose Greeley as a destination, it used the art alley and walk-through for the entire second half of the scavenger hunt, guiding hunters to find special details within the art pieces.”

“The collaborative relationship between the city, the DDA, and the creative district has been the strongest factor in transforming the visual appeal of our downtown environment,” said Jason Evenson, Greeley’s manager of cultural affairs.

Other area winners during last week’s event were The Mill in Windsor, The Foundry in Loveland and the Poudre Garage in Fort Collins. 

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