Manitou Art Center

The Manitou Art Center (MAC) is a non-profit organization located in Manitou Springs, Colorado. The MAC endeavors to provide access and resources to artists, makers and creatives. We feature meeting rooms, co-working space, event space for the community at large, and makerspaces. We also hold over 65 events and offer 45+ classes each month. 

The MAC provides multiple galleries for artists to show their work, including an ongoing free public gallery. We also provide a wide range of specialized equipment, from welding tools to print and papermaking gear, as well as beginning-to-advanced classes on all of the equipment housed in our facilities. This allows everyone, from professionals to hobbyists, and everywhere in between, affordable access to make their ideas come to life.

In 1986, Paul Intemann, who was Manitou’s city planner, had an idea to create a business incubator for artists. He understood that the natural industry for Manitou Springs had to do with the arts and with health and wellness, and those are the industries that should be supported. Additionally, our artists were completing art school and getting a fine arts degree, but were not learning how to take the next steps to have a career as an artist.It rang true when he talked about having 24-hour access, a professionally equipped incubator, and business training for our art community. Many members of the community agreed. 

So many amazing people worked and volunteered and were thrilled to be a part of this vision. Intemann tragically died in a car accident that year, but that really cemented the conviction that we needed to make the Manitou Art Center (Business of Art Center) come to fruition. In 1988, the Business of Art Center (currently the Manitou Art Center as of 2014) first opened its doors. 

As an incubator for the arts, the MAC (BAC) offers shared studio space, classes, exhibits and business classes. We believe that skill-sharing, space-sharing and tool-sharing were always a part of our mission and that the founding members of the Manitou Art Center believe that we live up to that mission today. Three years ago last March, the Pikes Peak Library District temporarily opened its Manitou Springs Library inside of the Manitou Art Center. Their involvement in our programs has dramatically increased access and opportunity for all. Previously, we supported 65 member artists and 18 studio artists at our location. That number has increased to 2000 members and 30 studio artists.

The Manitou Art Center, in Manitou Springs, Colorado, is dedicated to the arts and the cultural enrichment of Manitou Springs and the Pikes Peak region. 

Our primary goals are to provide and create an exciting environment in which the artist and art organizations alike can thrive and grow. 

Our facilities are designed to promote the development of artists from all walks of life. Providing subsidized studio spaces, art classes, expansive workshops and business training, we help to enable the artists to provide a living for themselves from their work and to support the economic vitality of all.