Beers, bands, bikes and ... broke? Documentary takes on FoCo arts, affordability

There's this image of the starving artist — you probably know it well.

They live off of little. They cram into tiny apartments with roommates. They scrape by and suffer for their craft.

Two local filmmakers have turned their camera lenses onto this age-old perception, specifically within Fort Collins.

"Beers Bands Bikes & Broke," a documentary film written and directed by Shari Due and co-produced by Mona Maser, looks at the effects gentrification has on artists and musicians at the heart of a growing, vibrant city like Fort Collins.

The one-hour film will be shown at The Lyric, 1209 N. College Ave., at 6:30 p.m. Thursday. Tickets are $10 and available at lyriccinema.com.

"Artists will go to places where no one else wants to live," Due said.

And they'll often take their art and music with them, bringing beauty and vibrancy into once-overlooked areas. Then people start to take notice.

"Maybe a gallery will go in, then a coffee shop will go in," Due said.

As those areas grow, which Due noted has been seen in Denver, middle- and upper-class people "start noticing ... move in and attract people with higher and higher incomes," she added.

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"It's the music, it's the arts, it's the artistic beauty of the place that makes it attractive to people," she said. "And there's nothing wrong with that. The problem is when the people who have built it are run out."

The film features interviews with Fort Collins artists, musicians and more as they open up about trying to live and work in an increasingly expensive city, where median rents for apartments larger than a studio topped $1,200 for the first time last year.

It's also a companion piece to Due and Maser's 2016 documentary, "Desplazado" — Spanish for "displaced" — which examined the impacts of racism and gentrification on Tres Colonias, one of Fort Collins' historic Hispanic neighborhoods.

"When we were working on 'Desplazado,' it was supposed to include this phase of gentrification," Due said, referring to local artists and how they're sometimes pushed out of areas they help revitalize.

"The premise of this film is that if we are going to market ourselves — this city — on the arts, we need to make sure somehow that the people who are creating that environment can afford to stay here," she said.

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"Beers Bikes Bands & Broke" has been in the works since 2014, when Due and Maser were working on "Desplazado." It was completed last spring and had its first small public showings at The Music District and Downtown Artery soon after.

The Thursday night showing at The Lyric will be the film's largest and will be followed by a community discussion.

Ways to watch the film will be announced in February's issue of Salt Magazine, Due said, adding that she's also open to setting up showings based on demand from the public.

Anyone interested in setting up a showing can contact Due through her company's Facebook page, Be Reel Pictures.

If you want to discuss arts and affordability later this month, the Coloradoan is also hosting a Brews & News event surrounding the question, "Can artists survive (and thrive) in Fort Collins?"

When: 6 p.m. Jan. 24

Where: The Music District, 639 S. College Ave.

Cost: Free, but reservations are encouraged at tickets.coloradoan.com