Community Concert Hall Hosts Local and Global Talent

The Community Concert Hall brings international talent to the region and showcases local artists. Director Charles Leslie curates a lineup that balances renowned performers with homegrown talent. You are watching the "Local News Network" brought to you by FASTSIGNS. I'm Sadie Smith. Leslie works to introduce new artistic flavors to Durango.

Our mission is really to try to bring artists from outside the region so that we can introduce cultures and ideas to Durango that perhaps wouldn't happen otherwise. And our kind of guiding principle is that if we bring in an artist, it's an artist that wouldn't have come here otherwise. You know, we want to be the ones to introduce artists to the community that haven't been seen before, or ideas or cultures that folks have not had exposure to here.

Leslie brings a number of influential artists to Durango, which includes some big names.

Recently we just had our annual Jazz Fest and we featured an artist named Terence Blanchard who's a composer, also a trumpet player. He did a lot of the scores for Spike Lee movies.

The Community Concert Hall is also home to many local arts groups, like the San Juan Symphony and Music in the Mountains. Leslie works to balance these acts with artists from across the country.

A lot of that local art and local music is represented through our renters and our partners in the local community. And then we augment that with the touring artists from outside national/international artists.

The Community Concert Hall partnered with Alpine Bank to produce concerts in the park. The family-friendly concerts occur weekly throughout the summer at Buckley Park, with as many as 2,000 people attending.

Concerts in the park started almost 15 years ago, and the idea was to have a family-friendly experience so that everybody from the community could come, they could bring their kids, it was safe, you didn't have to pay for it. And we have families that come that say, you know, they couldn't afford to go to concerts, but this is their chance to get out and see music and have a place to bring their kids.

Concerts in the park will begin at June 26th and occur every Thursday until August 7th. Additional details on shows and tickets may be found on durangoconcerts.com. We're proud to present "Community Insights" powered by the Local News Network and sponsored by FASTSIGNS of Durango. The "Community Insights" mission fosters a stronger and more connected community in La Plata County and beyond. For more information about this and other stories, visit durangolocal.news. Thank you for watching this edition of "Community Insights." I'm Sadie Smith.