What’s Working: San Luis Valley attracts young artists looking for a more affordable, creative Colorado

One of the more challenging places to make a living in Colorado is in the San Luis Valley. While relatively affordable, this southern rural region is also among the poorest, with Costilla, Alamosa and Saguache among counties in the state with the highest poverty rates.

Perhaps that’s why young artists are attracted to the area. Jobs don’t pay as much as in other areas, but housing costs are lower, as is the cost of living. And there’s lots of room for creativity. That’s what attracted Madeleine Ahlborn, a 32-year-old painter, who moved to Monte Vista nine years ago. She just signed the papers to buy an 8,000-square-foot church for $100,000.

Her downpayment came from money her parents had saved up for her wedding and the seller showed unbelievable kindness by agreeing to finance her until she could come up with the remaining financing, she said. She did that last month when she received a Rural Women-Led Business Fund Loan through the First Southwest Community Fund, a non-profit partner of First Southwest Bank in Alamosa.

“I mean, there’s a reason they call us Mystic San Luis Valley,” Ahlborn said. She plans to transform the church into a community space for teaching and celebrating art.

The evidence is anecdotal, but more creatives are moving into the San Luis Valley, according to Liz Hensley, a business professor at nearby Adams State University and an Alamosa town councilwoman. In general, they’re young — in their 20s and 30s — middle class, educated and looking for a Colorado experience beyond ski towns or the Front Range. Del Norte, Saguache, Monte Vista have become prime relocation targets, she said.

“Ski towns and Denver are also super expensive and populated. What you still have in the San Luis Valley is fresh air, dark skies, a lot of space” and a newly formed arts district, which, Hensley added, “allows Alamosa to get a little bit of grant money to promote art, a huge part of our community.”

It helps that the San Luis Valley is also one of the least expensive regions in the state to inhabit. The median home price in Saguache, Rio Grande and Alamosa counties was under $350,000 in September, compared with $715,000 in Jefferson County, $642,000 in Chaffee County and $1.8 million in Eagle County, according to the National Association of Realtors.

The Economic Policy Institute reports the monthly cost of living for a family of four in Alamosa County is $6,422 versus $9,073 for the same size family living in Boulder County. And a quick Zilllow search turns up 35.2 acres of undeveloped land in a gated community 2.5 miles south of Del Norte for $88,000.

Where else artists are finding home

The San Luis Valley isn’t the only rural area young artists are eyeing as a less-expensive alternative to the Front Range or ski towns. A few others on our radar:

• Trinidad: This town of 8,335 people near the border with New Mexico has a healthy art scene coupled with a pretty kind economy for creatives. Museums, galleries and makers’ spaces populate “Corazón de Trinidad,” the town’s creative arts district. Word is you can buy a beautiful house for $100,000, and the cost of living for two adults with no kids is $3,909 per month, or $46,904 per year.
• Cortez: Lares Feliciano, the Art Grants Manager for Redline Contemporary Art Center in Denver, says one of her favorite new burgeoning arts communities is Cortez, an hour from Durango. The Cortez Public Arts Committee gives out seed grants for qualifying projects and the LOR Foundation office there recently supported a local gallery owner who wanted to give artists experiencing homelessness their own supplies and then host a show for their work called “No Fixed Abode.” Cost of living for one adult and one child? $4,489 per month and $53,867 per year.

• Joes: Located on the Eastern Plains about an hour from the Kansas border, Joes’ fixed artist community is tiny — just Maureen Hearty, a community organizer by training with deep roots in the nonprofit sector, her husband, who prefers not to be named, and, virtually, Hearty’s partner in the endeavor, Kirsten Stoltz, who’s intimately involved in the project but lives in Denver. Stoltz and Hearty are all about bridging art and agriculture. One way they broaden their community is by bringing outside artists in, through a fellowship, so they can make art about the land. There is very little here in terms of services, but if you like wind, endless skies and wide open possibilities for creation, the cost of living for two adults and one kid is $5,385 per month and $64,618 per year.

Tracy Ross | Reporter

COMING SOON: Sun reporter Tracy Ross will expand on the economic attractiveness of rural areas to young artists in a future story. Ross, who writes about rural Colorado, began reporting this piece in October after a chance encounter with artist and creator Madeline Ahlborn in Saguache’s 4th Street Diner & Bakery. Maddy, as she’s known, linked Ross to a tight community of women artists all living in the San Luis Valley.

➔ Tell Tracy: What arts events, collaborations and innovations are happening in your corner of Colorado? Email Tracy Ross at tracy@coloradosun.com

Grants for creatives

There are a number of grants available for artists and supporting organizations. Several communities received the Colorado Community Revitalization Grant, which provided grants of up to $3 million to organizations revitalizing buildings or starting new construction. According to Colorado’s Office of Economic Development and International Trade, 58% of the projects were in rural areas, including a $500,000 grant to rebuild the historic Center Theater in Center. Here’s a map of projects statewide.

While the revitalization grant is no longer available, here are a few programs offered by the state’s economic development office:

• Folk and Traditional Arts Project provides $3,000 grants to individuals and organizations that celebrate Colorado’s cultural heritage through folk and traditional arts. Deadline to submit: Feb. 29. >> Details
• Colorado Creates Grant provides awards between $4,000 and $10,000 to communities and organizations. Applications open in March. >> Details

➔ Did you know? The state has more than two dozen official “Creative Districts” as part of its Colorado Creative Industries program. Certification provides marketing support, access to resources and $10,000. >> More

Section by Tamara Chuang | Business/Technology Reporter

Sun economy stories you may have missed

➔ The New York billionaire looking to change agriculture with Colorado farmland. After amassing hundreds of thousands of acres of land, Stefan Soloviev says he wants to move away from competition to help farmers’ bottom lines, Jason Blevins reports. >> Read

➔ Free tuition? State lawmakers are considering a free tuition guarantee for all low-income students. It may not cost as much as you’d think, Brian Eason reports. >> Read

➔ UCHealth and Pueblo’s Parkview Health System merger finalized. Why did they do it? Health reporter John Ingold explains. >> Read

➔ Premium access🔑: Why does the Polis administration keep undercutting the Medicaid committee? Sun politics reporters cover this and more in a recent edition of The Unaffiliated.>> Read

Take the poll: How did 2023 go?

The numbers are still trickling in so we’ll post a What’s Working look at the data when December results are updated. But how did it go for you? Take the poll (at cosun.co/WW2023):

Other working bits

➔ Most FAMLI requests are from new parents. Before Colorado’s new paid family leave program officially started Jan. 1, there was a backlog of workers applying for Family and Medical Leave Insurance. According to the state Department of Labor and Employment, 5,213 claims were filed with 3,606 approved by Dec. 31. The majority were to take care of new families. A few more nuggets about why people requested time off:

• 69.4% to bond with a new child.
• 23.8% to manage a serious health condition.
• 5.8% to assist a loved one facing a serious health condition.
• 0.78% are related to personal health and safety needs after sexual assault, domestic partner violence, harassment or stalking.
• 0.21% are related to a family member’s active duty military service.

Two virtual town halls (Spanish and English) are scheduled for Tuesday and Feb. 1 for workers and employers statewide who have FAMLI questions. >> Register

➔ Colorado worker deaths down in 2022. It may be 2024 but work-related deaths data lags and the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries just reported statistics for 2022. White men between the ages of 35 and 44 had the highest rate of deaths, with most in construction. Overall, work-related deaths in Colorado fell 7.3% to 89 in 2022, from the prior year. The top cause of fatalities was related to transportation, at 33; followed by injuries by a person or animal, 18; falls, slips or trips, at 15; exposure to harmful substances or environments, 13; and contact with objects or equipment, 12. >> More

Thanks for sticking with me for this week’s report. Remember to check out The Sun’s daily coverage online. As always, share your 2 cents on how the economy is keeping you down or helping you up at cosun.co/heyww. ~ tamara

Miss a column? Catch up:

• Colorado workers can start taking paid family leave Jan. 1
• Colorado’s labor force expanded as job growth slowed
• How a Colorado music festival is cracking down on ticket scalpers
• Colorado dodged a recession in 2023. But what about in 2024?
• What a Colorado town of 600 residents plans to do with a $500,000 grant to attract visitors
• It’s not always about GDP, especially in areas like northwestern Colorado

What’s Working is a Colorado Sun column about surviving in today’s economy. Email tamara@coloradosun.com with stories, tips or questions. Read the archive, ask a question at cosun.co/heyww and don’t miss the next one by signing up at coloradosun.com/getww.

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Correction: This story was updated at 8:22 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, to correct the spelling of Madeleine Ahlborn’s first name and her age.