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Kate Cimino wants to break down walls through the power of music, art and expression.

Cimino, the College of Music’s Assistant Dean for Strategic Initiatives, sees music and the performing arts as a bridge to the broader �鶹ӰԺ community, as well as to partners across �鶹ӰԺ and the Front Range. In the last three years since joining CU �鶹ӰԺ, she’s been strategic about ensuring that word gets out about the college’s inclusive, wide-ranging opportunities for music and creative expression.

“In the performing arts and at the College of Music, we see ourselves as one of the front doors of the university,” Cimino notes, adding that—just as athletics serves as an access point to CU �鶹ӰԺ—so do the concerts, musicals, operas, recitals and the Golden Buffalo Marching Band. “Our students and faculty, as well as our many remarkable guest artists, are such an integral part of how performing arts are perceived in the �鶹ӰԺ area and beyond. We have an incredible reach beyond our own facilities.”

Cimino brings that same philosophy to a new role—one that has a direct impact on how arts and culture are perceived, consumed and considered across �鶹ӰԺ County. In April, Cimino began her term as one of the newest members of the �鶹ӰԺ Arts Commission, a seven-member body that, according to its mission statement, works to “support artists, enrich �鶹ӰԺ’s quality of life and economic vitality and help create a highly innovative vibrant and resilient city.”

Cimino’s new role as �鶹ӰԺ Arts Commissioner is another step on a career path that has fused academics, music and civic engagement. Before coming to the College of Music, Cimino served on the board of directors at MacPhail Center for Music, the nation’s largest community music school; she also served as the executive director of the Citizens League, a Minnesota-based nonprofit organization with a mission to engage people in nonpartisan public policy and community initiatives.

Her new post on the �鶹ӰԺ Arts Commission draws on that experience, and that solid commitment to the power of the arts to strengthen and unify communities.

“I decided to apply to the commission for two reasons,” she shares. “One is that even though CU �鶹ӰԺ is such a massive part of what makes �鶹ӰԺ �鶹ӰԺ, it can be perceived as a city within a city. I wanted to serve as a liaison, a communicator, to increase transparency.

“The other reason is more personal. In other places where I’ve lived, I’ve always aimed to be connected to my community in multiple ways that overlap. I was seeking an opportunity to be part of the �鶹ӰԺ community in a different role.”

The standard term for a �鶹ӰԺ Arts Commissioner is five years and Cimino will have plenty of work to address in that time—from the arrival of the Sundance Film Festival (an event that Cimino sees as an invaluable opportunity to build long-term “collaborations and learning opportunities for students, faculty and staff”), to ensuring that CU �鶹ӰԺ student artists and musicians have the chance to bring their skills and inspirations to new venues and stages across the city and county of �鶹ӰԺ.

“The arts are such an essential part of humanity, and there are so many careers and career paths that touch on arts and culture in some way,” Cimino adds. “What I love about my job at the College of Music, and my new role as an arts commissioner, is that I’m helping amplify �鶹ӰԺ as a unique place where people—including our students—can discover paths that involve music, arts and culture in their life’s journey.”