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 “Light Up Denver's Chinatown,” through grantee Colorado Asian Pacific United.
Learn more about Colorado Asian Pacific United and how they share Asian American stories through exhibitions, oral histories, art, place-making, documentaries, and more!
Tell us about your organization
Colorado Asian Pacific United’s mission is to unearth, preserve, and celebrate local Asian & Pacific Islander histories. We are led by our community and value co-creation in everything we do.
At our core we are a storytelling organization, and our work includes multi-modal ways of remembering and story sharing including: exhibitions, oral histories, art, place-making, documentaries, and more.
In the future, CAPU hopes to start the first AANHPI culture & history museum in the Rocky Mountain Region, and reactivate the alleyway that used to be Denver’s Chinatown.
As one of our volunteers and family historians, Linda Lung, puts it, "For too long, our stories have been hidden, ignored, or marginalized. Telling these stories recognizes the shared history and places value on our contributions as a vibrant and thriving community and to fight ignorance, hate and violence against the AANHPI community."
Tell us about your first project that will utilize your Arts in Society Colorado Arts Grant
Denver was once home to the biggest Chinatown in the interior West, located downtown and centering around an alley connecting several blocks where Union Station, Coors Field, and 16th St Mall are currently located.
This ethnic enclave thrived until the Anti-Chinese Race Riot of 1880 and subsequent waves of racial discrimination pushed the Chinese residents out.
CAPU’s Arts in Society grant project, “Light Up Denver’s Chinatown,” aims to bring it back.
“Light Up Denver’s Chinatown” supports one of CAPU’s pillar goals to reactivate the alleyway that used to be Denver’s Chinatown as a pan-Asian arts, culture, and business district.
When we talk about the history of the Chinatown during our walking tours, at conferences, or among friends, we are regularly met with surprise. Most folks, even lifelong Denverites, are not aware that there used to be a vibrant Chinatown downtown.
The alleyway (16th St between Wazee & Blake) that was the heart of Chinatown contains little evidence of its colorful roots such as architectural markers or generational businesses. Instead, it is primarily used for trash and deliveries, limiting public access.
In collaboration with the Sugar Block property owners, we hope to reimagine Denver’s Chinatown alleyway into a bustling, walkable, and culturally rich space that acknowledges the past while building toward a more inclusive future.
Our project will include many phases and installations including a Chinatown-inspired gateway arch, permanent exhibition installations, large-scale murals by AANHPI artists, overhead lantern lighting—designed to enhance both aesthetics and pedestrian safety.
Our Arts in Society project “Light Up Denver’s Chinatown” is the initial spark to inspire this reactivation. We will use the funds to continue planning for the installation of overhead lantern lighting, and conduct Community Design Workshops (CDW) in 2026 that will shape the new Chinatown.
These CDWs will be collaborative, hands-on planning sessions where community members work alongside designers, planners, artists, architects, or organizers. With support from local architects Ben Niamthet and Diem Tran (who have been deeply engaged with the Chinatown project from CAPU’s beginnings) we will enlist planners and artists from our network, to co-lead the workshops.
Each workshop will include listening sessions, creative visioning activities, and result in a community-informed design package that can be directly applied to the future Chinatown.
The support from Arts in Society allows us to put community at the center of the Chinatown reactivation, and invest in CAPU’s guiding value of co-creation.
“For too long, our stories have been hidden, ignored, or marginalized. Telling these stories recognizes the shared history and places value on our contributions as a vibrant and thriving community and to fight ignorance, hate and violence against the AANHPI community.”
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?
The support from our Arts in Society Colorado arts grant helps us share how the arts are key to community programming, and we hope to bring the same values to our other projects.
Colorado Asian Pacific United is dreaming big for 2026, we are growing all of our storytelling streams from Little Saigon to Asian Adoptees, Pacific Islanders, and Hmong Americans.
Keep an eye out this year for “There’s a Lane for Us” documentary community preview in Little Saigon, a travelling art exhibit showcasing Hmong storycloths as contemporary art in Broomfield, screenings of our Asian Adoptee film project, and the launch of our Denver Chinatown 4th grade curriculum for Colorado classrooms.
What was your experience like when applying for an Arts in Society grant? What tips would you share with artists looking to apply?
One of the unique features of the Arts in Society grant is the powerful network of changemakers it connects us to. It is inspiring to attend meetings with grantees across the state to see how folks are using creativity to transform their communities.
Our best advice in applying for the Arts in Society Colorado arts grant is to lead with authenticity. Develop your AiS project with your values in mind.
Strengthening your community through art is so rewarding!
Arts in Society Grantee Project Highlight: Globeville StoryWalk
Learn more about Sidewalk Poets and their Arts in Society project Globeville StoryWalk, a project that seeks to support residents in feeling seen and heard in their community, and to preserve the stories and authentic voice of a rapidly gentrifying area.
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.
