New Colorado Springs community arts center focuses on at-risk, underserved youth
The two founders of the new Shutter and Strum community arts center remember well their youth.
Brian Tryon, a certified addiction counselor and photographer who has exhibited around the Pikes Peak region, didn’t have anyone who provided guidance or support or told him he was good enough to follow his interest in the arts when he was a kid. The Widefield High School graduate ran amuck, he says, and plowed, instead, into substance abuse. He’s been sober now for 16 years.
Musician and teacher Chris Bacavis was on the opposite end of the spectrum. He grew up with a father who ran a drug rehab program in Missouri, and while he never experienced substance abuse, he calls himself an unengaged kid who didn’t know he could explore the arts.
While the two men, who both taught at Community Prep School, an alternative high school, had different formative years, they still share a common interest: helping at-risk and underserved teens find healthier outlets and life paths through the arts.
Shutter and Strum, a community arts center in the Knob Hill neighborhood, offer classes, workshops and programs in film and darkroom photography, gallery curation and management, songwriting, music performance and more. Courtesy Brian Tryon
“I wanted to set these kids down and offer a program or tell them they’re creative or they can break generational trauma through art, photography, music,” Tryon said.
“Mental health is important. If you’re not in a good space mentally you’re not going to go to math class and want to sit and do all this work.”
Shutter and Strum, in the Knob Hill neighborhood, opened in October. Inside are the Disruptor Gallery, a darkroom and portrait and recording studios. The gallery features works by local under-represented artists, as well as students, and participates in First Friday Downtown events. “Algo Leve,” with works by local tattoo artists, is up now throughout January. Manitou Springs artist Ian Stewart is February’s featured artist.
Before Shutter and Strum, Tryon opened Garfield Art Gallery in 2022 in the basement of Community Prep School. The intention was the same — to run a gallery and help at-risk and underserved students at the school through programming. He relocated the equipment from the school to the new arts center and held the last Garfield art exhibit in September.
Tryon and Bacavis offer before- and after-school workshops and experiential learning opportunities in film and darkroom photography, gallery curation and management, songwriting, music performance and more. Schools and other organizations, such as Inside Out Youth Services, which provides support to LGBTQIA2+ youth, have partnered with the arts center. But programming also is available for kids who want to explore the arts on their own. Workshops and classes are offered on a sliding-scale basis or are free through scholarships for those with financial need.
The center will be funded through a GoFundMe, grants, donations, corporate sponsorship and fees from programs and classes.
Shutter and Strum, a community arts center in the Knob Hill neighborhood, feature the Disruptor Gallery, a darkroom and portrait and recording studios. Courtesy Brian Tryon
“It gives you an outlet,” Tryon said. “Addiction can be a lot of things, not just drugs and alcohol, so helping you find that tool, like I can pick up a camera and go for a mindfulness walk for 10 minutes and get out of my head. I can write a song. That’s going to help with self-confidence and know you have creativity and self-worth. It will help you break away from negative escapes and you’ll find other like-minded people and become more of a well-rounded community member.”
Developing mindfulness is a big piece of the process for Bacavis, who also has taught music classes at Colorado Springs Conservatory and School of Rock.
“Americans for the Arts (a nonprofit that promotes the arts across the U.S.) had a statistic that said almost 25% of clinical therapists will say the arts has a positive effect on mental health outcomes,” he said.
Both can attest to that positivity bestowed by the arts. They’ve seen firsthand how creativity can effect real change and growth in kids, including one student who was physically shaking with anxiety when they came to class.
“Working with them through time, now they’re working with clients, opening the gallery, curating, having conversations with people,” Tryon said.
“They might still try to hide in here (the darkroom), but it’s been a growth thing. It’s not an overnight thing. I want to teach them you’re never going to be cured, but you can manage everything.”
Contact the writer: 636-0270
Shutter and Strum, featuring Disruptor Gallery, darkroom, portrait and recording studios, offering programs, classes, workshops, 2217 E. Platte Ave.; shutterandstrum.org
Something else: Works by Ian Stewart, opening reception 5-9 p.m. Feb. 2, part of First Friday Downtown, runs through February, free.
Shutter and Strum, a community arts center in the Knob Hill neighborhood, offers classes, workshops and programs in film and darkroom photography, gallery curation and management, songwriting, music performance and more.
