PSYAH Current Projects

The Roaming Starlight Puppet Theatre
Site: Multiple locations including Sonny Lawson Park, Barnum Recreation Center and 16th Street Busker Stages

The Roaming Starlight Puppet Theatre is a mobile puppet venue and moving art piece designed to bring free and low-cost performances into Denver’s public spaces. Built on a cart, the theatre will resemble a magical tree that opens to reveal a tiny stage, transforming sidewalks, parks and plazas into pop-up worlds of imagination. Funding from P.S. You Are Here will support both the design and fabrication of this whimsical structure and the artists who activate it through public performances. This dual investment builds lasting creative infrastructure while offering immediate cultural impact. Additional support from the Denver Arts & Venues Denver Creates Fund has already been secured to commission local artists through short puppet residencies, creating original works specifically for the theatre. Each performance invites the public to pause, play and participate—offering a rare sense of wonder in everyday surroundings. Children can meet puppets eye-to-eye, neighbors can share laughter under the “branches” and strangers can become audiences together. The Roaming Starlight Puppet Theatre transforms routine public spaces into moments of connection, joy and creative belonging—reminding Denver residents that art can appear anywhere, and that our shared spaces are alive with possibility.

El Futbol Nos Une - United by Soccer
Site: Garfield Park

This project celebrates the diversity and community pride found between Latinos and soccer. Using colored put-in-cups on the existing chain-link fence, Denver-based painter and muralist Julio "Jwlç" Mendoza will transform a chainlink fence at Garfield Park into a series of large flag designs representing the regions most present in the neighborhood: Mexico, Central America, South America. Alongside the flags, Jwlç will install soccer-player silhouettes and motivational phrases like the title, “El Futbol Nos Une” that highlight teamwork, joy and resilience.

Soccer is one of the strongest cultural connectors in this area of Denver. This artwork strengthens that connection and will be in place in time to coincide with the energy and excitement of the 2026 World Cup, when soccer pride will be at its peak.

The installation is durable, low-maintenance and reversible, using only put-in-cups and the fence structure. Jwlç plans to involve community members, especially youth, in the installation process, giving them ownership and representation in the final work.

The goal is to create a sense of belonging and visibility. This artwork will turn an already loved space into a symbol of unity, identity and neighborhood pride.

Westwood Stories
Site: Westwood Creative District

Westwood Stories is a community-driven photography and storytelling installation that brings the Westwood Creative District to life. The project aims to celebrate local voices, preserve neighborhood memory and activate public space along Morrison Road. Large-format photographic portraits of residents will be paired with excerpts from oral histories, displayed on walls, benches and freestanding panels. Select stories will also be accessible via QR-coded audio recordings, allowing passersby to hear first-person narratives. Materials include weather-resistant vinyl, wooden or metal panels and audio equipment adapted for public spaces. The installation transforms ordinary sidewalks, plazas and gathering areas into immersive storytelling experiences, encouraging reflection and dialogue. Residents will see their stories celebrated publicly, fostering community pride and intergenerational connection, while visitors engage with the neighborhood’s culture and history in a personal and sensory way. Westwood Stories creates an accessible, participatory experience, embedding the voices of the community directly into the spaces they inhabit.

Follow Our Footsteps: Youth Movement + Play along the 303 ArtWay
Site: Skyland Park

The 303 Artway is a community-led cultural trail that celebrates the rich history and creative spirit of Northeast Park Hill through storytelling, art and movement. This new installation, Follow Our Footsteps, will transform the sidewalks of Skyland Park into a playful and imaginative path co-designed with local youth. Through a series of design workshops with students from Smith Elementary, the Boys and Girls Club, and the Park Hill Pirates, youth will co-create interactive sidewalk games, footsteps and 303 Artway–branded graphics that invite movement and play. The project will use durable, slip-resistant street decals and specialty paints to create lasting, safe and accessible play elements within the park’s interior sidewalks. This project will add a joyful, visible layer of youth creativity to a park already steeped in community heritage. By inviting kids to see their footsteps and artwork permanently embedded along the trail, it nurtures intergenerational connection and reaffirms that this public space belongs to them.

Play In Air: Outdoor Easels for Everyone 
Site: RiNo ArtPark

Play In Air transforms RiNo ArtPark and the banks of the South Platte River into a living studio—a site for artistry, reflection and observation. The project will install three permanent standing easels at RiNo ArtPark and create two seated traveling easels to activate other Denver parks throughout the summer. Built from welded and powder-coated steel with slate drawing surfaces, these sculptures serve as both tools and artworks. The project expands upon the prototype phase funded in 2025 by a $2,000 Keep RiNo Wild grant from the RiNo Arts District, which supported early design and fabrication. The sculptures will be fabricated at Superior Iron Works, a community metal shop in Five Points that provided shop space and technical support during the prototype phase. This partnership not only ensures professional craftsmanship but also contributes to the creative and economic vitality of the neighborhood. Rooted in the tradition of plein air painting—French for “open air”—the project invites the public to create and connect under the same sky that inspires art itself.

Art Grows Here: A Mini Mural Jam
Site: Art District on Santa Fe

As Art District on Santa Fe (ADSF) continues to see immense growth each year, and new developments and the effects of gentrification threaten to erode the unique visual identity of our corridor, rooted in our diverse Chicanx and Indigenous history. Countering these anxieties with joyful celebration, the ADSF Art Grows Here project aims to highlight placemaking and public art as a tool for preserving creative and cultural identity. The project will select 6 local artists (with personal and/or cultural ties to the neighborhood) to create mini murals on planter boxes along Santa Fe Drive. During the Jam, the public will be invited to a day of live painting/installation where they will be able to connect with artists in-person, explore the district, and celebrate the new work. They will also be invited to sign up to volunteer to help artists with live painting and learn about the mural installation process, as well as fill the planters with new, sustainable/native plants at the end of the day when the murals are done. This will be a unique opportunity for people to engage with new forms of art-making, learn about the creative traditions of our district and contribute to the stewardship of our shared public spaces.

Golden Triangle Art Boxes and Wayfinding
Site: Golden Triangle Creative District

The Golden Triangle Art Boxes project will transform six utility boxes into vibrant works of public art designed to expand community access to art, enhance placemaking and strengthen walkability within the Golden Triangle Creative District. Goals include:

1. The project reinforces the GTCD’s vision of making art accessible to all through free, everyday encounters with creativity while serving as a gateway to neighborhood destinations, local businesses and other public art installations.
2. Encourage exploration and patronage of the 45-block district for the millions of visitors that come for GTCD's major cultural institutions by integrating art into community corridors as well as being anchors for the online Public Art Map.
3. Support local creatives through paid commissions and public visibility. Because our boxes will be printed on vinyl, it expands accessibility to the program for more artistic mediums like graphic art, photography, or any art that can be created, photographed or converted to a digital format is applicable.

Each art box will include original artwork by local artists, placemaking features incorporating the GTCD logo and a QR code linking to the interactive Public Art Map on the GTCD website.

Nation Negrographic: We Belong Here
Site: Civic Center Park

Nation Negrographic is a temporary outdoor photographic installation featuring large-scale, museum-quality images captured across America’s National Parks and lesser-traveled landscapes. The project reimagines the visual language of publications like National Geographic — seen through a Black lens, with Black subjects, Black stories and Black presence at the forefront.

Goals

• Affirm that Black people belong in all public spaces — including wilderness spaces.
• Expand cultural imagination around travel, nature, and self-discovery.
• Encourage Black Denver communities to explore Colorado’s outdoor environments.
• Spark cross-cultural understanding by presenting how presence changes a landscape — visually, emotionally and socially.

Intended Impact
The public will experience:

• Recognition (“I see myself here.”)
• Curiosity (“Where is this? Can I go?”)
• Reframing of who belongs in nature and public space

The space itself becomes a site of affirmation, pride and new possibility.

Globeville Greening Project
Site: East 46th Avenue Corridor

The Globeville Greening Project is a collaborative public art/greening initiative aimed at revitalizing the Globeville neighborhood. This project integrates environmental and cultural themed colors into large-scale murals along the I-70 corridor. The artwork reflects the neighborhood’s industrial history, diverse heritage and ongoing environmental challenges through colors. The project seeks to beautify public spaces while fostering community pride and raising awareness of environmental issues impacting Globeville. Birdseed Collective uses murals as a tool to not only beautify space in the neighborhood, but also attract more pedestrians, access to art and color, and a sense of welcoming to outdoor spaces that have been neglected. Murals have helped Globeville residents reclaim spaces that have been unsafe or unwelcoming in the past.

Berkeley-Regis Underpass Community Art Project
Site: I-70 overpass at Lowell Boulevard

The Berkeley-Regis Underpass Community Art Project will transform twelve concrete columns under the I-70 overpass at Lowell Blvd into a series of vibrant, community-designed artworks. The project aims to humanize a harsh transportation corridor, elevate neighborhood identity, and improve the experience of people walking, biking, and driving through the area. Through open community meetings and an artist call focused on Northside history, movement, safety and neighborhood storytelling, local artists will develop designs responding to the community’s shared themes. Neighbors will help select the final artwork, and volunteer painting days will offer hands-on participation. Materials will include exterior-grade masonry paint, brushes/rollers, and protective anti-graffiti coating to ensure durability. The project’s impact is both practical and cultural: it brings color and visibility to a neglected space, encourages slower driver behavior, and signals investment and care along a corridor that has long lacked pedestrian-oriented improvements. Most importantly, it creates a welcoming threshold between two adjacent neighborhoods, celebrating their past, present and future through shared public art.