Kendall Smith was awarded for his music community leadership

Smith won the PNC Bank Cultural Leadership Award at the recent CBCA Business for the Arts Awards

Ali Longwell //March 17, 2020//

Kendall Smith was awarded for his music community leadership

Smith won the PNC Bank Cultural Leadership Award at the recent CBCA Business for the Arts Awards

Ali Longwell //March 17, 2020//

Kendall Smith, the manager of partnerships and events at Colorado Public Radio, was recently honored by the Colorado Business Committee for the Arts (CBCA) with its PNC Bank Cultural Leadership Award at the Business for the Arts Awards on March 10. The award recognizes a graduate of CBCA’s Leadership Arts program who has made an impact on arts and culture in Colorado. 

Smith initially joined the CBCA Leadership Arts program when he was tasked with managing The Underground Music Showcase for The Denver Post Foundation in 2009/2010. The showcase is a multi-day, multi-venue music festival that started in 2008 and has continued each year on South Broadway. At the time, Smith had no prior experience managing a music festival and looked to the Leadership Arts program to learn how to build partnerships and host such events.

Under his leadership, Smith was able to grow the festival with buy-in from local businesses and neighbors. “It’s Christmas in July for the local businesses,” says Smith of the South Broadway business community and the Underground Music Showcase. 

With the success of the festival under his belt, Smith has leveraged his expertise to help build events such as the Englewood Block Party, and help other creative industry leaders succeed at the CBCA Leadership Arts program. 

The CBCA program has been around for 20 years and is a nine-month program that equips and inspires those who are interested in being effective nonprofit board members and art advocates. Over the past two decades, more than 850 individuals have graduated from the program, resulting in an extensive and supportive alumni network. 

Learn more about Kendall Smith and his award-winning work below:

To learn more about the CBCA Business for the Arts Awards and to meet the other 2020 honorees, click here