Meet Sarah Hess | President of Evergreen Creative District

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sarah Hess and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sarah, where are your from? We’d love to hear about how your background has played a role in who you are today?
I am from New Orleans, which has a strong artistic culture, and by high school I was deeply invested in the arts. I saw how art created opportunity. You know Anthony Mackie? His hard work made him into Falcon. John Batiste played his horn on our school steps. Our conservatory had departments that were widely separated, and I wanted so badly to mix it all up – the dancers and the writers with the theater brats and the musicians. Why can’t opera singers cross into rock and still do their thing? It inspired me into the field of cultural development with an emphasis on collaboration.

When Hurricane Katrina hit, I was working on my PhD in Contemporary Indigenous Cultural Development. I rushed home to wade into the waters of reconstruction. After a year working in Master Planning, I turned my attention to finding a way to prioritize getting arts back into our broken public school system. With the help of a mentor and some angel investors, Creative Alliance of New Orleans was formed. CANO found a 100,000 sq. ft. school building that was in decent shape, teamed up with a volunteer construction crew that helped us get ADA compliant and mold free. The Louisiana state run education board gave us a two year lease and we moved 275 individual artists into free classrooms.

Our artists had two bargains in their contract – they had to work collaboratively and they had to teach any kid that took an interest. Soon, school buses were dropping off students to do everything from piano repair, lamp making, puppet and furniture building to painting, comic book making, instrument classes and film making. Our film crew went on to win an Academy Award for their short film “Beasts of the Southern Wild.”

It all came full circle when the Mardi Gras Indians gathered in our 1,000 seat auditorium of 1920’s grace. I cannot tell you how enchanting it was to feel the energy of our city’s roots in its truest form gather steam and explode. There was so much tension with the rebuilding effort that Super Sunday took on a whole new intensity. There was a need to exist – to say “we are still here” – and in New Orleans we said it loudly.

I never thought that I would leave New Orleans, with our house near Jazz Fest and our close family. But our family also loved traveling and we loved Colorado best. A friend of ours said, “I was at a Red Rocks show and I went through this town called Evergreen and I think y’all would like it.” And we did! Creativity Lives Here!

Evergreen has existed as an arts enclave for 150 years. There is a bubbling of activity and synergy. So much is happening, and I know how important it is to foster the continuation of such energy. During the rebuilding effort in New Orleans we worked hard to be welcoming while demanding respect for our roots. My dissertation was an exploration of how Aboriginal people take new forms of cultural expression and make it their own. In New Orleans, a whole swath of humans moved in from out of town and adapted to the city while we actively maintained and nurtured culture.

So, here I am – a new Evergreener working to maintain and nurture the culture that already exists here. I may weave in a southern flavor from time to time, but what’s happening here is already great. The collaborative nature of the arts can lead to some tasty morsels. I’m happy to get cooking.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’ve always been so enchanted with the world around me. The sound of music through a dusted sunshine makes me want to dance, not perform. I wiggle in such a way that it communicates to those making the music that I appreciate them. It’s about giving the energy that inspires “ONE MORE SONG.”

When art sings to me across any medium, that connection to the artist is irreplaceable. I absorb art just to feel that moment that crosses space and time and brings me to love. The arch of a building, or the way it nestled in a landscape can make me stop in my tracks. Adoring a flower, treeline, mountain form or Alpine lake can be its own completion, and I also find there’s something about the way a human has built a cairn or marked a trail that catches my eye. My heart flutters when I can worship created beauty and I like to find ways to show my gratitude.

I love the Makers. I’ve worked in film, sound, and written word, but the subject is always those that make beauty in the world. Having a family is the ultimate in nurturing makers. Each being in our household is a wonder as we each find what brings us joy and make a daily choice to wander closer to that joy,

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
ECD’s website – evergreencreativedistrict.org – has all the goods for all the people interested in anything creative. It’s driven by the Creatives – all members can post their events. The Evergreen Creative District website is a rocket ship of a URL created by Evergreen Web Design. Our organization is task force driven, so folks can do what they are passionate about. We have everything from a Festival Task Force working to get all the area festivals coordinated to an education task force activating our next generation. If you have an event or passion we can give you publicity and teammates.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Jeanne Nathan is my NOLA mentor. She brought me into her home and office, teamed me up with her artist husband, Bob Tannen, and we did some wild things together – from art making to art space making. Because I could write, she introduced me to grant writing and with her guidance I wrote a successful application for the Downtown Development. District. Louisiana gives Creative Districts a pass on sales tax in recognition that the work of Creatives brings in dollars in many other ways. Without the things that Creatives make, the arts would collapse and our culture would be unsustainable. Creative Districts actively work to sustain and nurture arts into the future.

Ron Isaacson saw that I am a Creative when I first arrived in Evergreen. As an Arts Advocate, I lift anything I can to make passage for our Creatives easier. He asked me to be a part of the Evergreen Creative District and our partnership grew. As the Executive Director of ECD, we support one another’s strengths and motivate one another to keep the momentum. Our Board is full of active participants in the arts, and we really see what everyone has to offer, what might be needed, and how to work together to bridge gaps.

ECD’s Board is amazing. It’s all bootstraps and shoestrings and mountain mentality. It’s like a barn-raising, or maybe more accurately one of those weird improv machines that we build by moving and making noise together. We get hair-brained ideas, like Mountain Jazz Month. How do we spotlight all our local jazz musicians? Can we do that and get venues working together? Can promotions be coordinated efforts to demonstrate how cross-pollination works better than competition? We’ve got events happening all over Unincorporated Jeffco that shows how synergy takes hold. Come to our kickoff concert on July 9th at the Evergreen Lake with the 18 piece Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra. See what a big sound the ECD Board members make when we put our backs into the work and lift one another together.

Website: https://www.evergreencreativedistrict.org