Dot Days Calendar

Thanks to everyone for a successful first iteration of Dot Days! We had a great mix of community members, staff, students, and faculty, plus lots of community partners who made this a wonderful experience. Over the course of the festival we had 1017 participants (note: many people attended multiple events and were thus counted more than once)!

We will be starting next year's planning soon. If you have suggestions, if your organization would like to participate, or if you would like to help organize, please contact Dr. Kimbra Smith (ksmith5@uccs.edu). 

Thank you all once again!

• 5:00 pm Simulacra Gallery Exhibit @GOCA (Ent Center)
• 6:00 pm Dornith Doherty Artist Talk @Chapman Theatre (Ent Center)
• 7:15 pm Gallery event: Our Place in Nature @Heller
• 8 pm Outdoor Movie Night: Undammed (2024; 17 min) @Heller (with Rocky Mountain Women's Film)

• 5:00 pm Researcher tables in lobby
• 5:30 pm Philosophy in the City talk by Dr. Jordan Kokot: What do we mean by nature?
• 6:30 pm Reception/Meet the Researchers

• 9:30 am-2:30 pm Volunteer opportunities 
• 12-2 pm No Cost Grocery (sign-up begins at 9 am)
• 12:30-6:30 pm The Truth About 250/150 visiting exhibit 
• 4:00 pm Garden and composting tours
• 4:30-7 pm Local food trucks available
• 5:15 pm Workshop: Out of Synch? with artist Dornith Doherty
• 6:45 pm Cooking demonstration: Local and Delicious: Cooking with What's Growing with Chef Felicia Embry of Thelma Lou's Innersoul Food
• 7:30 pm Screening/discussion of A Bigger World and Not Aliens (Youth Documentary Academy; discussion with filmmakers Devani Gayadin and Mridul Govind led by Pikes Peak Poet Laureate Ashley Cornelius)

• Explore the museum's exhibits throughout the day
• 11:30 am-5:30 pm The Truth About 250/150 visiting exhibit on South Lawn
• 4:00-7:00 pm Art-making stations throughout the museum presented by artists featured in the museum's 50% of the Story: Women Expressing Creativity exhibit:
  • Lupita Carrasco: “Sketch to Remember” - An exercise in documenting moments and memories of interest with assorted art supplies
  • Ramona Lapsley: Styrofoam Print Project
• 5:30 pm Food Forest workshop with permaculturist Kelly Bull
• 7:00 pm Screening & discussion of The Spectacular Quiet and Grasping at Stars 
  (Youth Documentary Academy; discussion with filmmakers Lillian Lugo and Sierra Buah, led by Pikes Peak Poet Laureate Ashley Cornelius)
  

• 3:30-7:30 pm Citizen Science Labs: Making Scents of Nature 
  • 3:30 pm Park tour and wild harvest 
  • 4:30 pm Start essential oil distillation (guided by Laura Huth of Rootfoot)
  • 5:30 pm Biochar / Hügelkultur workshop 
  • 6:30 pm Animal Continuum activities & discussion
  • 7:00 pm Essential oil collection, meditation and intention setting 
• 7:30-9:00 pm Dinner and Coyoetry Special Edition: “Our Place in Nature” Open Mic 

• The Truth About 250/150 visiting exhibit all day long
• 10:00 am Adult workshops (Yoga with Dr. Andrea Baker (Communication); Deep Listening Hike with Dr. Dylan Harris (Geography * Environmental Studies); Colorado Constitution at 150 with Dr. Josh Vandiver (Political Science))
• 10:00 am Activities for kids (Beading with Recycled Glass with Dr. Abby Ferber (Sociology and WEST); Making Leaf Paper and Bookbinding with Mia Alvarado of Brave Irene's)
• 10:00 am Nature Photography Workshop with photographer and videographer Clay Bowen/11:00am Community Curation workshop with Rhonda Goodman-Gaghan (Heller Curator)
• 12:00 pm Flintknapping demonstration with Dr. Colin Wren (Anthropology)
• 12:30 pm Picnic lunch 
• 1:30-4:30 pm Interactive campus tours: meet UCCS researchers and students, play games, see research and creative work, win prizes! 
• 5:00 pm Picnic dinner/Community Conversations: Local Ecologies and Interconnections
• 6:00 pm Outdoor concert
  • ANTI-BORDERLANDS for Field Orchestra and Dancers by VAPA Music faculty Jon Forshee, with accompanying dance performances by Dr. Rosely Conz (VAPA Dance) and students
  • ła’ts’áadah by Raven Chacon, performed by community violinist Martha Muhleisen
  • World premiere of Songdream with Birds by Dr. Yiheng Yvonne Wu (VAPA Music)
  • Responding to the Waves by Katherine Balch, performed by community violinist Martha Muhleisen

• 2:00-4:00 pm Adult workshops (The Stories Trees Tell: Tree Ring History with Dr. Christine Biermann (Geography & Environmental Studies); Medieval Ink-making with Dr. Danielle Allor (English))
• 2:00-4:00 pm Activities for children (Interconnections with Anthropology graduate Ella Love)
• 4:30 pm Community-curated gallery opening, tours of Heller Center
• 5:30 pm Local Soundscapes live performance with Iddo Aharony (Colorado College), Ben Kinsley (UCCS VAPA Visual Art), and Andrew Weathers (Pueblo-based intermedia artist and upcoming Heller Fellow)
• 6:00 pm Local Foods Feast
• 6:30 pm Community Conversations: Connected Futures