Copyright Boulder Daily Camera
Another storied Boulder building is getting work done ahead of the Sundance Film Festival’s 2027 arrival. The Chautauqua Auditorium, Boulder’s 127-year-old open-air venue, is in the midst of an exciting upgrade, Colorado Chautauqua Association CEO Shelly Benford said. Long known for its charmingly creaky floors, lofty wooden trusses and open rafters that let the live music seep out into the foothills (and bring in the occasional draft), the landmark is being winterized for the first time in its storied life. “It always seemed like a shame that this beautiful venue was only available to the community for five months a year,” Benford said. “But I knew winterizing it was an astronomical undertaking, so I put it on the back burner while we focused on other improvements up here. To see the project coming to life now is exciting beyond belief. I think the community is going to be amazed.” Things in the old auditorium are finally starting to change. A massive renovation, which began earlier this month, will soon allow the auditorium to operate year-round for the first time in its history. For generations, the venue has been synonymous with sultry summer evenings, cicadas and strings of glowing bulbs. But by 2027, when the winterization is complete, it may be just as tied to snowy nights, cozy concerts and one very famous independent film festival. Earlier this year, members of the Sundance Film Festival team visited Boulder to scout potential venues for the festival’s January of 2027 Boulder debut, and when they toured Chautauqua, according to Benford, they didn’t need much convincing. “They took one look at the place and said, ‘We would love to have this be one of our venues,’” Benford said. “I thought, well, maybe it’s time to make sure it can operate in the winter. So they were the catalyst, but it’s something that had been on our minds for years.” Of course, getting the building ready for winter isn’t merely a matter of slapping on some insulation, throwing in a space heater and calling it a day. To complete the winterization, crews are reinforcing the original trusses and columns, threading radiant heat tubing beneath the floor and tapping into a geothermal system to keep things toasty warm. In addition, an insulated interior tent will be erected inside the hall to trap warmth without changing the building’s appearance. The team is also adding a modern nitrogen-based fire suppression system, while also improving acoustics, lighting and expanding accessibility for audiences who want to see a show without freezing their extremities off — or stumbling over uneven floorboards in the dark. The renovation is a complicated puzzle, one that has architects, builders and engineers all figuring out how to make a 19th-century wooden hall hold heat without losing its character. “I like to think of the team doing this as a bunch of Jedi Knights,” Benford said. “They’re putting their heads together to make it work, and it’s really impressive to watch.” The project is being led by Benford and Chautauqua Chief Operating Officer Jason Hill, with Boulder-based Smiley Inc. overseeing construction. The design team includes Pel-Ona Architects and Apeiro Design, whose past projects range from the Denver Art Museum to the Aspen Music Festival’s Benedict Tent, along with a group of engineers and preservation specialists experienced in restoring historic cultural landmarks across the West. Because the Chautauqua Auditorium is a National Historic Landmark, every detail of the renovation has to pass through layers of preservation oversight. “There are a lot of very professional preservationists interested in how the auditorium is treated and what changes it undergoes,” Benford said. Hill said the team has approached that challenge with long-term stewardship in mind. “Our goal is twofold,” Hill said. “Prepare this iconic space for year-round performances, including Sundance, and protect it through structural interventions to keep it standing strong for generations.” In that spirit, the exterior will remain untouched, and inside, any visible reinforcements will be kept to a minimum. When the tenting system comes down each spring, the hall will look exactly as it did the summer before. “This isn’t just a renovation,” said Brad Weber, Chautauqua’s Chief Brand and Development Officer. “The magic isn’t in what you’ll see, it’s what you won’t.” Weber said the design allows the auditorium to stay warm from October through May, then return to its original open-air layout each summer — a reversible system he believes is unique among historic venues. Once finished, the renovation will extend Chautauqua’s performance season from five months to 12 months, adding roughly 200 more days of concerts, lectures and community events. “This really expands Boulder’s venue capacity,” Benford said. “It gives local and regional arts organizations a place to perform, create and connect. It also solidifies Chautauqua’s future as a regional hub for the best in arts and entertainment. By keeping the lights on and the music playing all year, we’re creating a space that fosters connections among filmmakers, artists, and audiences in an unparalleled setting.” When the project was introduced publicly this fall, Benford said the reaction was overwhelmingly positive. “I expected a lot more concern,” she said. “But people recognize that this is an underused asset. They just want to make sure we preserve what makes it special, and that’s our No. 1 priority.” Earlier this year, Daily Camera readers voted the Chautauqua Auditorium Boulder’s best concert venue in the paper’s annual “Boulder County Gold” awards. “We feel it’s our responsibility to keep it filled with life all year,” said Weber. “We want to give the community more chances to see a film, or attend concerts, talks and performances for an additional 200 days each year.” According to its history, the auditorium was built in 1898 as an open-air hall with dirt floors and wooden benches, and it was more rustic than refined. The Chautauqua Bulletin, the organization’s early program guide, once described it cheerfully: “The children may play in the sand at their parents’ feet.” Over the decades, the sawdust gave way to concrete, the benches to salvaged opera and theater seats, and, in 1974, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Yet some things haven’t changed: the original Douglas fir trusses, hewn from old-growth Oregon forests, still hold up the ceiling today. For more than a century, the auditorium has been Boulder’s summer gathering place: A little rickety, whimsically historic and, soon, finally, ready for winter.
