Heller Center for Arts & Humanities
Assembling a Vision in Colorado Springs
From the 2004 Faculty at Work newsletter
F. Scott Fitzgerald could have modeled his most famous characters after Larry and Dorothy Heller. Like his protagonists in The Great Gatsby , the Hellers were young and well-to-do in the Jazz Age, threw lavish parties, and acted as social magnets for a dazzling peer group.
But unliked the shadowy Jay Gatsby, Larry Heller came by his wealth honestly as a successful sculptor. He and his wife Dorothy were part of an artists' community in the 1930s and '40s made up of people throughout Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico. Their passion for living included race cars, horses, golf, and especially the arts.
The widowed Dorothy Heller died in 1999 at 92, leaving their 500-acre Colorado Springs property - replete with a ranch, five buildings, and a collection of her husband's artworks - to the University of Colorado. With the generous gift came a huge challenge for the university: how to make the best use of the beautiful sprawling property adjacent to the Colorado Springs campus.
The Hellers requested that it be used to celebrate the humanities, accommodating retreats, workshops, exhibits, and visiting artists. In July 2003, CU-Colorado Springs philosophy instructor Perrin Cunningham was appointed director of the new Heller Center for Arts and Humanities, presiding over an ambitious plan to realize the Hellers' vision. At that point, the project had no funding, yet the recession's grip on the American economy did not intimidate Cunningham. "I'm a champion of hard causes," she says with a laugh.
Her optimism and confidence may be based on her past. Cunningham has raised money for The Santa Fe Opera, the San Francisco Opera, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. As an events coordinator for Apple Computer, she dealt with famous personalities like former Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca and singer Tina Turner. "I've worked with an extremely wide variety of people," she says, "from kitchen workers to celebrities. I am comfortable talking to anyone."
Cunningham's optimism has paid off, and plans for the Heller Center have attracted a steady flow of donations to six figures. (One auction of donated art in May 2003 raised $15,000.) Funding goes largely toward restoration and repairs. "The most challenging part is to assemble the vision," Cunningham says. Once the project is complete, she imagines the birth of a great institution for the university and the state. "Notable artists will come to Colorado Springs who might not have thought about visiting this area. And it will serve as a center for humanities and the arts for students as well as the general public."
Work on the Heller Center is not expected to be complete for another three years. But a university grant from the President's Fund for the Humanities will provide for the property's inaugural event this fall - the first in a series of round tables to discuss a variety of issues facing the West.
