With more than 10,000 seats spread across 10 venues on 12 acres, the Denver Performing Arts Complex (DPAC) is the second-largest facility of its kind in the United States, after Lincoln Center in New York. It’s also near the top of the list when it comes to sustainability.
As DPAC’s largest tenant, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA) operates the Bonfils Theatre Complex, Garner Galleria Theatre and Newman Center for Theatre Education.
Sustainability was a focus as DCPA oversaw a $57 million renovation of the Helen Bonfils Theatre Complex between 2010 and 2022.
“Among the goals of the project were to reduce our footprint, overhaul AV systems and greatly improve our energy consumption,” says Glen Lucero, DCPA’s vice president of venue operations.
More recently, the DCPA has emphasized sustainability as a goal in its five-year strategic plan.
“We have a special focus on energy conservation to meet established energy targets for the facilities at downtown’s arts complex that we manage,” says Lucero. “This includes scoping opportunities to reduce our energy consumption, investment in capital improvements that yield savings, and partnering with vendors that make sustainability part of their mission.”
“We are also evaluating our environmental waste impact by offering two-stream solutions in all public spaces, as well as repurposing many production elements whenever possible. These practices have evolved over the years in alignment with the Energize Denver city ordinance and a movement within the theater industry to identify sustainable practices when presenting theater.”
The ethos extends to DCPA’s programming.
“The DCPA prides itself on being a partner and providing programming that resonates and is relevant to the community we live in,” says Lucero. “We continue to look for opportunities to showcase our work and commitment to Colorado’s values
In 2021/22, the Denver Center Theatre Company produced the world premiere of "Wild Fire" by Jennifer Kahkoska, an homage to firefighters who lost their lives in the East Troublesome Fire, the second-largest wildfire in the state’s history. The scale of the fire was the result of an unprecedented drought.
For the 2016/17 season, DCPA produced the world premiere of "Two Degrees" by Tira Palmquist, which warned about the devastating consequences of global warming if the average temperatures rise just 2 degrees Fahrenheit.
Lucero says even productions that don’t highlight sustainable issues as part of the script are often sustainable in terms of stagecraft.
“As a nonprofit organization, our Denver Center Theatre Company regularly reuses props, costumes and set pieces to save costs and reduce waste,” he explains. “Also, in select instances and according to design requirements, we have made sets out of reclaimed materials including the entire floor and backdrop for the world premiere of "Rattlesnake Kate" in our 2021/22 season.”
Denver Arts and Venues (DAV), which manages Buell Theatre, Ellie Caulkins Opera House and Boettcher Concert Hall, has also prioritized sustainability in recent years.
A 2022 project on the Buell Theatre’s façade, a massive glass curtain wall, involved improving energy efficiency by replacing single-pane glass with double-pane glass. “It was just losing heat and cold air like crazy,” says Katie Zarachowicz, DAV’s sustainability administrator.
The project made a big difference: The Buell’s electricity consumption in 2023 was down 38 percent from 2019.
“Now we’re realizing some of the energy savings from that upgrade,” says Zarachowicz. “It’s been kind of fun. It’s like, ‘Hey, you’re actually making an impact, you guys, your heads are in the right place, and here’s the data to actually support these decisions that you’ve made.”
Zarachowicz says she is working with Compost Colorado to haul away compostable material. Other vendors “weren’t really able to help us compost at the art complex because of the lower volume, but Compost Colorado is able to accept our compost,” says Zarachowicz. “That will hopefully increase our waste diversion numbers.” So will the implementation of reusable cups from r.World in summer 2024.
Looking ahead, Zarachowicz says there is plenty of room for improvement.
“We’re in the midst of doing energy performance audits, just knowing that we have to comply with the Energize Denver ordinance,” she says. “We’re still going through some of those recommendations and haven't decided on what those future upgrades might be for the next fiscal year and moving forward, but we’ve been working on that in conjunction with the Denver Climate Action team.”
DCPA is likewise looking to foster a more sustainable future at the venues it manages.
“Our next priority is to finalize the long-term mechanical solution for our facilities to support our energy goals, implement metric and data collection for waste diversion, and perform a waste audit of our production materials and repurposing opportunities,” says Lucero. “We will also establish data collection points and waste audits of our productions to measure our efforts against.”
“As a nonprofit organization, finding funding sources that match our sustainability program aspirations is always a challenge,” he adds. “We are working on ways to help our patrons see progress and participate in the end results. Hopefully, as our program grows, our work will resonate with folks who look to the DCPA as leaders in the theater space.”