WHY we’re here
While there exists a close-knit artist community in San Luis Valley, most of the artist living in the area struggle to find fair working opportunities to sustain a full time career within the arts. While most of the work done in the creative industry is a labor of love, we understand that there is a need to support our creative economy so that artists may earn a livable wage. Meanwhile, many local non-profit organizations exist within stringent revenue margin that rarely includes the appropriate funding for creative work. Our mission is to establish an economy between local artists and community driven organization where both parties can work together to foster a caring & creative community.
DIRECTOR & FOUNDER
Chris Manfield founded Crestone Community Art Benefit Project as a means to provide visual art support for community oriented organizations in Crestone Colorado, where he currently works as an independent imaging and graphic artists and serves in multiple local organizations including the Crestone Community Art Benefit Project, Crestone Energy Fair, Crestone Charter School, and Crestone End of Life Project.
He graduated with a bachelor of Fine Art degree in Photography with a minor in Printmaking from San Francisco Art Institute in 2018, and a Master’s degree in Studio Art from San Francisco Art Institute in 2021 where he was nominated as SFAI’s 150th anniversary graduate commencement speaker, outstanding MFA student, MFA exhibition best in show, and recipient of the John Collier grant and awards. He is an internationally acclaimed artist whose work within the realm of Photography and Fine art can be recognized from publications and museums such as - Analog Forever Magazine, Lens Culture, Lenscratch, Griffin Museum of Photography, Rhode Island Center for Photographic Art, New York Center for Photographic Art, Photo Alliance, CICA Museum, Wausau Museum of Contemporary Arts, and many more.
CURRENT ARTIST IN RESIDENCE
Allison Wonderland engages in the curious blessings and burdens of being human and being an intrinsic part of Nature. Tending soulfulness through death midwifery, immersive installations, collaborative movement, ritual theater and poetic saturations. She is committed to dismantling systems of oppression, co-cultivating systems of mutual empowerment, and exchanging nourishment with Creative Mysteries.