Check Out Allison Galgiani’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Allison Galgiani.

Hi Allison, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I have always been a bit of wanderer. I grew up in the Sonoran Desert of Tucson, Arizona, and always dreamed of exploring. From a young age, I knew I wanted to live in cities like New York City and Paris, but I didn’t know how to get there. While I was in college, I took a survey course of Northern Renaissance Art and was hooked. I changed my major to art history and never looked back. After college with zero idea of what to do next, I moved abroad to teach English in a small town in the middle of France for a year. When I came back, I decided to go back to school to pursue a Masters degree and left for New York City. I ended up staying there for ten years working in the art world, including a stint at Christie’s Auction House’s post-war and contemporary art department, a blue chip Chelsea gallery, and a nonprofit that provided grants to emerging artists. I had the lucky opportunity to live in Bushwick, Brooklyn just before it starting being cool. I wrote for a hyperlocal blog where I covered DIY art gallery openings and underground pop-up spaces. Eventually, I started working for the Outsider Art Fair, the only fine art fair dedicated to showcasing the art of self-taught and visionary artists. This opened up a world of artists I had never encountered before that weren’t being taught in classrooms. Being exposed to this type of art completely shifted my perspective of art and its purpose and started me down a path of wanting to explore the community impact of art rather than just being a commodity.

In 2021 after the pandemic, I made the difficult decision to leave New York and decided to move to Denver in search of a better work-life balance and to be closer to my family. I luckily had an opportunity to work remotely for an east-coast based art fair so jumped at the opportunity. Like many recent transplants, I landed in Capitol Hill and immediately fell in love with the vibrancy of the community here. While the flexibility of working remotely has its upsides, I wanted to be more connected to my city so was so excited when a position opened up at the Civic Center Conservancy last year. Since then, I have shifted my focus from producing art exhibitions and events to community events in Civic Center Park. We focus on creating activations that support small businesses, cultural organizations, and keep the park active and thriving for everyone!

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It has been a little rocky. Starting over in my mid-thirties in a new city where I didn’t really know anyone has had its struggles. I’ve had professional setbacks and felt unmoored at times. After being laid off from my previous job two years ago, I wasn’t sure what would come next. That experience led me to think about my future and what really mattered to me. I realized that I longed for a more tangible connection to Denver and be part of an organization that is providing a meaningful impact on the community. The team I work with at the Civic Center Conservancy is amazing, and I’m constantly in awe of what our small but mighty team is able to accomplish.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am the Event Success Coordinator at Civic Center Conservancy. Along with Eric Raya Steinbeiss, our Director of Community Parnterships and Activations, we make up a two-person activations team. We organize events in Civic Center Park and also support Denver Parks and Recreation keep the park beautiful, active and safe. We have a series of signature events that we do, including our weekly food truck event, Civic Center EATS, our NIGHT MARKET series, Dia de los Muertos at Civic Center, and Indy Eve, which is the the city and county of Denver’s annual Independence Day Eve celebration. Last year we switch from fireworks to a drone show which at the time was the largest drone show to be put on within the city of Denver. I’m very proud of the work we do providing opportunities to small businesses, especially the food trucks we work with at EATS. A majority of our food trucks are women and/or BIPOC owned and many are just starting out. Each year we provide Emerging Entrepreneurship Awards that help cover a portion of the vendor fees for this and other events we do in the park.

We also partner with other organizations to help them realize their own activations in the park. Since I started with the CCC, we have worked with the Outside Festival, Longer Tables, the Indian Festival of Denver, AAPI Culture Fest, among others. It can often be daunting for outside organizations to produce events in a public space and we help them navigate the permitting process and share our knowledge about the park’s infrastructure to ensure they are able to put on a successful event.

In addition to the work I do at the Conservancy, I also serve at the President of the Board of Access Gallery, a nonprofit progressive studio that provides economic and artistic opportunities for artists with disabilities. This year we are celebrating our 20th anniversary in our current space in the Santa Fe Arts District!

In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
There are some very exciting things happening with Civic Center Park, in many ways related to the the development of downtown Denver. The downtown landscape has changed since the pandemic, and we are doing what we can to make Civic Center Park a place that people want to spend time in.

We are already in the process of planning some exciting programming for while the park in under construction next year and are excited for what we will be able to do when it reopens! I personally hope to find new opportunities to showcase the work of contemporary artists in the park.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.civiccenterpark.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/civiccenterdenver/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/denverciviccenter