Smokebrush moving to Trestle Building

Smokebrush, the pioneering arts organization that was central in developing the Depot Arts District, is on the move again.

It plans to move from its roughly 1,000-square-foot gallery in the Mill Building at 218 West Colorado Ave. to a 3,000-square-foot storefront a block south in the Trestle Building.

The new name: Marmalade at Smokebrush.

“The mission stays the same,” said Don Goede, who was named executive director after Holly Parker stepped down in November. “But the vision will change a bit. ... Performance, workshops, classes, video, yoga, lectures, poetry, learning about nutrition, body and movement. We don’t want to limit ourselves by saying it’s going to be one thing and not another. … But at the same time we have to be realistic.”

Kat Tudor founded Smokebrush in 1992 as a theater at 235 S. Nevada Ave. She sold the building to the Independent newspaper, and in 2006, Smokebrush moved to a large space under the Colorado Avenue Bridge and became the hub of the small gallery district. But the economic downturn in the fall of 2008 sent Smokebrush to the smaller space in the Mill Building.

But with this new move, Smokebrush's staff doubles to four, including Tudor as programming director. Goede, who has extensive experience in magazines and publishing, will head a quarterly print magazine and website.

“It’s hard to put into words,” he said of the new direction. “But all the events, they (did) have one thread that always seemed to link everything. That was creativity.”

That’s one thing, Goede said, that isn’t changing.