Our Values

Excellence in Art Exhibition and Art Education

The Firehouse holds itself to the highest standards of curatorial excellence.  We strive to present great art from contemporary artists creating in today’s world, whether local or national, from established to groundbreaking upstarts, from two-dimensional to room and mind expanding installations.  We inspire, celebrate, and support creatives within different mediums to encourage innovative exhibits and artistic endeavors. Our education programs are also held to these high standards and we foster creativity and free expression for all students.

Belonging to a Community

We build community through our programs, exhibits and actions, promoting open and active participation of our social base. For artistic communities, we provide a network of support for learning, collaboration and exhibition. We seek out and promote perspectives that expand our community’s understanding of each other. We believe the Firehouse is a place where people can see themselves with dignity and each other with empathy.

Open and Welcoming

We are a welcoming and uncensored space that celebrates diverse perspectives, promoting artistic opportunities across the cultural and economic spectrum. We foster conversations between different communities using art and culture as a bridge, stimulating new understandings and insights into our shared humanity.  The Firehouse believes that art and artists can play a powerful role in our communities both inside and outside the gallery walls, and we accept the controversies that may accompany thought provoking conversations.

Equity

Our purpose is to altruistically provide opportunities for art education and appreciation to everyone in the community in an equitable manner.

Collaborative

We create mutually beneficial, mission driven partnerships to amplify our impact and elevate the communities we serve. 

Action to Create Impact

We strive to be an agile organization that listens to the community’s changing needs. We commit to innovation even through the challenges associated with trying new things and will adapt our strategies as we learn.

Passion in our Identity and History

We are a driving force for creativity in Downtown Longmont and we commit to providing artistic excellence in a manner befitting a City creative cornerstone.  We value hard work, professionalism, accountability, creativity, and achievement and through these qualities make the Firehouse Art Center Longmont’s creative community hub.

Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion at the Firehouse Art Center

The Firehouse Art Center is committed to creating an inclusive space where all are recognized and heard, as well as a place for all to learn and engage in self-expression sparked by art.  We believe that Art has the power to promote mutual understanding and highlight our common humanity.   The Firehouse seeks to promote diversity in its many manifestations. These include but are not limited to race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, disability, and place of origin.

The Firehouse Art Center has adopted the following definitions of these principles, taken from the report compiled by the American Alliance of Museums’ Working Group on Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion.

Diversity is all the ways that people are different and the same at the individual and group levels. Even when people appear the same, they are different. Organizational diversity requires examining and questioning the makeup of a group to ensure that multiple perspectives are represented.

Accessibility is giving equitable access to everyone along the continuum of human ability and experience. Accessibility encompasses the broader meanings of compliance and refers to how organizations make space for the characteristics that each person brings.

Equity is the fair and just treatment of all members of a community. Equity requires commitment to strategic priorities, resources, respect, and civility, as well as ongoing action and assessment of progress toward achieving specified goals.

Inclusion refers to the intentional, ongoing effort to ensure that diverse individuals fully participate in all aspects of organizational work, including decision-making processes. It also refers to the ways that diverse participants are valued as respected members of an organization and/or community. While a truly “inclusive” group is necessarily diverse, a “diverse” group may or may not be “inclusive.”

Initiatives: Continuing the work

Firehouse Art Center Team and Board Training

The Firehouse Art Center supports consistent team/Board of Directors training to deepen understanding and enhance staff members’ abilities relating to diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion practices at the Firehouse Art Center.

Outreach Programs

Nonprofit organizations that work with underserved communities may request access to our outreach programs at no cost. An underserved community is one in which individuals lack basic access to arts programs due to factors such as geography, economic conditions, ethnic background, or disability. Please see our Educational Outreach Programs on our Education page for details.

No Fee Admission to the Gallery

In the spirit of FULL community engagement, the Firehouse Art Center offers free admission to our gallery spaces.

Spanish Language Classes and Gallery Text

QR codes in our Main Gallery connect guests to bilingual gallery information on our website.

Exhibiting Diverse Voices

We strive to be a platform for Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and artists in underrepresented groups in our exhibitions, and programs.  It is our goal to amplify the stories and voices of those historically underrepresented in galleries and museums. 

We welcome the community’s suggestions, questions and feedback to help us identify the work needed to evaluate systems, procedures, and hiring processes with DEAI goals in mind.  Please contact Elaine Waterman, Executive Director at elaine@firehouseart.org.