RedLine is a proud partner and administrator of the Arts in Society grant. Funded through a cohort of Colorado foundations and government agencies, this collaborative program provides grants to both individuals and organizations that use art as a vehicle to promote social justice and community welfare.
We love highlighting our Arts in Society (AiS) grant recipients and all the unique and impactful projects made possible by their grant.
We’re excited continue this series by highlighting 2025 Arts in Society project “Bringing Art and Culture into Pueblo's Public Transportation Stops,” through grantee The Pueblo Department of Public Environment (PDPHE)!
Learn more about PDPHE and how they uphold their mission to promote and protect the health and environment of Pueblo County.
Tell us about your organization
PDPHE was established in 1952 through a partnership with the City and County of Pueblo. Initially, focused on communicable diseases, PDPHE expanded to address chronic disease and environmental health as community needs evolved.
PDPHE’s mission is to promote and protect the health and environment of Pueblo County. Its vision is to achieve a thriving, healthy, and safe community for all.
To accomplish this, PDPHE capitalizes on a common role of being a neutral convener of partners to conduct a joint Community Health Assessment (CHA) with four other Pueblo health systems and implement a current data-driven Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) annually.
The 2024 joint CHA found mental health and risky behaviors/substance use as the community’s top health priorities to focus on for the 2025-2028 CHIP. Similarly, PDPHE’s 2024-2026 Strategic Plan focuses on leveraging existing services and increasing effective reach.
CHA and Strategic Plan priorities have developed into community-level strategies, including a range of prevention efforts, education, and services, such as the cross-sector community coalition facilitated using the Communities That Care (CTC) model for the last ten years.
Additionally, PDPHE’s strong history of working at all levels of the socioecological model poises PDPHE to address efforts from enforcement, clinical services, health promotion, disease prevention, systems change, and community empowerment.
Tell us about your first project that will utilize your Arts in Society Colorado Arts Grant
Our project “Bringing Art & Culture into Pueblo’s Public Transportation Stops,” supported by the Arts in Society Colorado arts grant, furthers our effort to transform four bus stop shelters into vibrant, welcoming community spaces that reflect the neighborhoods they serve.
This project is about more than public art; it’s about belonging. It’s an invitation for residents to see their culture, history, and everyday stories honored in the places they move through most.
This project is designed to increase public transportation use as a pathway to connection, helping residents and young people more easily access prosocial activities, community events, and positive spaces.
By strengthening transit as a welcoming, visible resource, we’re supporting prevention efforts that reduce youth substance use by increasing opportunities for safe, healthy connection and engagement.
As one community project partner shared, we’re “excited to see the Arts in Society grant utilized in neighborhoods in Pueblo for bus stop beautification” and, just as importantly, to use this work to “engage the community and local artists to see how they view and connect to those neighborhoods they live and spend time in.” Each bus stop will become a community canvas, a place where public space communicates identity, pride, and care.
Another partner described how this project will “unite four Pueblo neighborhood communities with local artists to design and create an art installation that represents that particular neighborhood,” with pieces “located in the bus stop shelters with the goal of inspiring community pride and encouraging increased public transportation use.”
Through community engagement and artist-led design, we’re creating art that feels rooted, relevant, and truly Pueblo, built with community voice at the center.
What’s next in the pipeline for your organization? What other projects are you dreaming up for next year, and how will your Arts in Society grant help to support these efforts?
We are focused on deepening engagement and building momentum around community-led public art and prevention-focused transportation work to help young people access prosocial opportunities safely.
Alongside this bus stop beautification effort, we’re actively building out our Safe Ride Project, and we currently have funding to create a program that helps youth get home safely if they’ve engaged in risky behavior, so they don’t get behind the wheel. This work is rooted in a simple goal: reduce harm by making the safer choice the easier choice.
We are also preparing to pilot a Bus Stopwatch program to increase the feeling of safety around using public transportation, especially for youth and families. Our hope is to pilot this safety work at the same four bus stops being beautified through the Arts in Society Colorado arts grant, pairing physical transformation (beauty, pride, belonging) with practical supports that make transit feel safer and more welcoming.
Together, these efforts reinforce one another: the art draws people in, the safety strategies build trust, and transit becomes a stronger bridge to connection and healthy community life.
This spring, our immediate next step is continuing to gather input that ensures each bus stop design genuinely reflects the people who live nearby. As one coalition member explained, we will “continue to gather invaluable community feedback and input regarding ideas and hopes for the bus stop art installation.”
That feedback will directly guide artist selection, design direction, and how we activate the spaces beyond the mural itself. The Arts in Society grant supports these efforts by giving us the capacity to do this work the right way, thoughtfully, collaboratively, and with respect for artists’ labor.
We will “search for and commission four local artists that align well with those community visions,” and we’re grateful that the grant “will allow us to compensate the four artists for their hard work and dedication to our Bus Beautification Project.”
More broadly, the Arts in Society Colorado art grant funding helps us explore community needs, build partnerships, and test new approaches, so we can keep bringing art to the people of Pueblo in ways that are inclusive, visible, and lasting.
What was your experience like when applying for an Arts in Society grant? What tips would you share with artists looking to apply?
Applying for the Arts in Society grant program was straightforward and accessible. Oftentimes, governmental entities are ineligible to apply to smaller, community project-based proposals, so having the opportunity to submit an application was rare and filled an existing gap in the local arts, culture, and infrastructure.
Having a two-part application allowed the application key staff to prioritize capacity and develop a strategy for the timing of various programs and pending funding applications. This structure of a Request for Proposals (RFP) ensures that projects align closely with the grantor’s vision and mission, and later result in strong and successful implementation.
Both parts of the application had semi-lengthy narrative questions and asked for some details of the proposal project to be determined before submission. This was unexpected, though thankfully, efforts around PDPHE’s project had been developing over several years of community partner strategizing.
The application questions also asked for specifics on the project design, selection and engagement process, and evaluation criteria. Thankfully, PDPHE has the continued resources to leverage grant writing capacity internal to the agency, which made the two-part application requirements not as heavy of a lift.
For smaller agencies, nonprofits, or individual artists, this may be an aspect of the application process to prepare for.
Arts in Society Grantee Project Highlight: Light Up Denver's Chinatown
Meet 2025 Arts in Society grantee Colorado Asian Pacific United! Learn how their project “Light Up Denver's Chinatown” aims to reactivate the alleyway that used to be Denver’s Chinatown as a pan-Asian arts, culture, and business district.
Administered by RedLine and funded through a cohort of Colorado foundations and government agencies, Arts in Society is a grant program supporting cross-sector work through the arts across Colorado.
