The Springs Art and Seek Society Offers a Unique Form of Entertainment in Colorado Springs and Throughout the Year as it Hosts Hunts for Artwork
Among the many negatives of the pandemic, many people found themselves bored. Even after the initial lock-down, bars, restaurants and other social businesses were slow to re-open.
Anywhere people used to go to socialize was closed or restricted. And even personal social gatherings were not recommended.
Therefore, in the last year and half, many had to get creative in their forms of entertainment. After a while, most became bored binge-watching shows on a streaming service and looked for other things to entertain them.
Springs Art and Seek Was Born
In late 2020, three friends (Sarah Raban, Steffany Butts-Boucher, and Deborah Schoen) got together to form the Springs Art and Seek Society in Colorado Springs. The society had an idea for something fun to do during the pandemic and they wanted to add a new event to celebrate art month during October.
According to society co-founder Sarah Raban, the team decided to put on an art-related scavenger hunt. The three came up with a date and then started advertising for it by making post cards and posting on social media.
National Art Drop
Raban said that they felt the timing was right to put on an event like one that takes place across the nation in September. “We started last year because we were in a pandemic and everybody needed something to look forward to,” the event co-founder said. “There’s another event nationally called ‘The Art Drop’ and certain cities participate in that. But we wanted it to be on a weekend and we wanted it to coincide with Arts Month, because that’s such a big deal.”
She also said that the team used Instagram primarily for the scavenger hunts. “We have artists follow our page and post pictures of what they are making,” Raban explained. “Or, we are even open to writers or poets. Anybody can participate in this. All they have to do is do a post about what they are making or what they are doing, tag us and then we will share it to our page. And then on the day of the event, they go out and they hide their pieces of art and post clues. We re-share that to our page again so everybody who is playing can go out and look for them.”
So far, the society has put on three of these events, in October 2020, last April and in October 2021. The team plans to put on another scavenger hunt some time next spring around the same time as Earth Day.
Hiding the Artwork
During the hunts, most of the artwork gets hidden in outdoor places such as Memorial Park. Raban said that one time a piece of art was hidden off a trail near the Garden of the Gods Park and it was found by someone who was hiking and not participating in the hunt. But the person went to the Instagram page, which was printed on the artwork, and said that they want to join in on the event next time.
The last time the hunt was held, there were about 40 local artists that participated. According to Raban, part of the reason so many artists join in is because it is a fun way to get their name out there and get people to see their art work.
“It’s a community event,” Raban said. “It helps make connections between artists in addition to making connections between the artists and the community. It’s all about building relationships between the different artists that participate as well as the members of the general population who just go out and find things and not necessarily produce anything to be found.”
Denver Art Drop Day
Raban said that before coming up with the event, they did research and they could not find anything like it in Colorado Springs. The next closest activity would be the National Art Drop Day in Denver.
According to the Denver Arts and Venues website, the city celebrates the National Art Drop Day that takes place every year on the second Tuesday in September. In the past, Denver City Council members and the mayor all hid art in the city as a part of the event. Over the past several years, the event has had over 1,500 various pieces of art hidden and found in the city.
The event works the same as the one in Colorado Springs as artists sign up to join and then they post pictures of the items they made and hints to where they can be found. All of the posts of art and clues to where it is all hiding can be found on the Denver Art Drop Facebook Group page.
To find out when the next Springs Art & Seek will be follow their Instagram page at https://www.instagram.com/springs.art_and_seek.society/?hl=en.
