LEARNING LENSES
Why Montreal?
Our City Scout programs are structured around Learning Lenses: clearly defined areas of inquiry that connect the realities of our host city to the strategic challenges and opportunities facing downtown Denver. These lenses guide our site visits, conversations, and on-the-ground experiences, ensuring the program produces actionable insights that can inform decision making, investment, and collaboration when we return.
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Our Montreal program will be structured around the following Learning Lenses:
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Investing in the Cultural Ecosystem
Montreal has created an export of creativity by investing in a local ecosystem of artists, fabricators, and partners to bring public art and placemaking to life in city streets. This cultural ecosystem is so healthy that Montreal studios refer to each other as "co-petitors" vs competitors. How can we foster similar investment, partnership, and collaboration in downtown Denver?
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Expanding the Definition of Play
Access to play and culture can sometimes be impacted by our definition of each. Montreal has embraced play as part of their broader cultural infrastructure and created interdisciplinary partnerships to bring play to public spaces for all ages in new and exciting ways. How might Denver similarly prioritize play in public space in alignment with the goals of the 2024 Downtown Area Plan?​
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Downtown as a Venue
Montreal’s Quartier des Spectacles transformed a former red-light district into a premier public event and arts district, supported by flexible, state-of-the-art infrastructure and coordinated district services. Today, it hosts more than 80 festivals each year and attracts vibrant, year-round activation. How can Denver creatively reimagine downtown public spaces as destinations and venues to support cultural expression, preservation, and community life?