Awards honor places art and business meet

Art. Business. Too often they don’t go together.

On Wednesday, though, Chamber of Colorado Springs and the Cultural Office of the Pikes Peak Region honored 15 businesses and business leaders for their efforts to synthesize, celebrate and nurture both.

“We created the awards to thank the business that provided much needed support to the arts and to show people that might not be aware of the creative talent that we have in the region,” said Bettina Swigger, executive director of COPPeR.

It’s the second year for the event, which gathered nominations from the community over 10-weeks this summer. A jury from both communities picked the winners in three categories.

The Creative Workspace Award acknowledges businesses that integrate the arts into a workaday world. Nominated with Hillside Gardens, Kaiser Permanente and Nosh, Shuga’s Restaurant and Bar took the award.

Philanthropy Award nominees were the Boeing Company, Classic Companies, the Colorado Springs Independent, the Space Foundation and Gazette Charities, which won that award.

The Business Leader in the Arts category read like a rundown of the arts-business movers and shakers. They were Ron Brasch, Rhonda Conn-Parent, Phil Kendall, Chuck Murphy and John Street.

“It was a very, very difficult competition,” said Swigger. “There were really strong recommendations and really some fantastic people who kept the creative engine running in the community.”

Kendall received the award.

“Emotionally, spiritually, the arts are so extraordinary,” said Kendall, a longtime Colorado Spring Philharmonic supporter who was instrumental in creating the Pikes Peak Center and the Bee Vradenberg Foundation. “I think it does so much to bring the community together. We need that today in lots of ways. — city to nation to world.”