Get ready to paint the town with creativity, folks. Boulder Arts Week is fast approaching, and it's bringing a fresh splash of color to Boulder's already vibrant art scene. This celebration, running from April 4th to 12th, is a big deal for local artists, nonprofits, businesses, and galleries; essentially, anyone in Boulder who's making the community a little brighter through their artistic endeavors. There's a palette of activities to choose from, including mural tours, theater antics, dance grooves, and literary lounges spread out across the city.

New on the lineup this year is the Boulder Arts Week Awards, funded by the Community Vitality Department's Office of Arts and Culture, which is quite a mouthful but essentially means they're giving out cash to top arts contributors. Each winner will be walking away with a cool $1,000, which they can pocket or pass along to an arts organization. It's a way for the city to say, "Hey, nice job," and encourage more artsy stuff to happen, according to the City of Boulder.

The awards themselves are a diverse bunch, ranging from the Champion of Champions Award, saluting businesses that back the arts big time, to the Artivist Award for those meshing art with social and climate justice. They've also got the Uncharted Territory Award for pioneers in creativity and the Bright Future Award nodding to a promising student artist. Plus, there's the Boulder Buzz Award, the people's choice for the best slice of Boulder Arts Week, open for nominations during the event itself.

Boulder Mayor Aaron Brockett highlights the importance of arts in addressing some big-ticket items like climate adaptation, equity, and diversity, stating, "the arts play a critical role in advancing our city’s key community priorities," as reported by the City of Boulder. Boulder Arts Week is a joint effort from the Boulder County Arts Alliance, Boulder Chamber of Commerce, City of Boulder Community Vitality Department, Create Boulder, and other culture mavens around town.