{"id":26300,"date":"2024-07-31T16:27:34","date_gmt":"2024-07-31T22:27:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/the-mancos-commons-is-officially-open\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T23:37:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T05:37:36","slug":"the-mancos-commons-is-officially-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/the-mancos-commons-is-officially-open\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mancos Commons is officially open"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The
The Mancos Commons Grand Opening and Printer\u2019s Pop Up event on Saturday, July 27 (Sophia McCrackin\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

The first new building to be constructed downtown Mancos in 100 years is officially open.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s two stories and part workshop, part retail and part workforce housing, and it\u2019s called the Mancos Commons.<\/p>\n

Built at 135 W. Grand Ave., it stands on a lot adjacent to the historic Mancos Times-Tribune building, which was renovated a few years ago.<\/p>\n

A little walkway connects them, but the buildings are not attached to one another, said Tami Graham, the president of the Mancos Common Press Board of Directors.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to be really thoughtful with the design of the new building,\u201d said Graham. \u201cWe really tried to integrate as best we could so it would tie in with the rest of the downtown block of buildings.\u201d<\/p>\n

To celebrate the grand opening on Saturday July 27, there was a pop-up event from 2 to 7 p.m.<\/p>\n

\"Brass
Brass Queen band from New York City (Sophia McCrackin\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

An eight-piece, all-women brass band played in the courtyard as people stopped to listen, flowing in and out of the new space while artists sold their work, said Jody Chapel, the shop\u2019s manager.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had 11 print vendors inside the new Commons. Some were professional artists in the area, some were artist members who do printing,\u201d Chapel said.<\/p>\n

One of the vendors came from Arizona.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is exciting for us, because one of our goals is to become a real print center in the region,\u201d said Chapel. \u201cThere\u2019s print centers in urban areas and Santa Fe and Silver City, but there\u2019s none really in this area.\u201d<\/p>\n

The renovation of the original Times-Tribune building opened the door for classes like Letterpress 101, where people can learn how to use the presses. But they knew, eventually, they\u2019d need more space.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe could only fit six or seven participants for any given workshop,\u201d said Graham. \u201cWe were really limited. \u2026 We always had our eye on the adjacent lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Mancos Common Press nonprofit raised enough money locally, and coupled with the help of grants and state money, it purchased the additional land to expand.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so began the thoughts to build on it and create a vibrant center for printing arts that are, in many places, being lost,\u201d Chapel said.<\/p>\n

In addition to offering space for printing arts, the new building has three workforce housing units upstairs. Workforce housing is for folks who make between $50,700 and $73,080 a year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we if we included some housing units, (we thought) it could really help Mancos and the housing crunch and provide a really nice example of a mixed-use building right in the heart of downtown Mancos,\u201d Graham said.<\/p>\n

The units have been occupied since May, chosen via lottery system with special consideration to folks who want to live in Mancos and work in the county.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, in the three units, we have an ambulance driver, a schoolteacher in Mancos, and an employee of Mesa Verde National Park,\u201d Graham said.<\/p>\n

The Mancos Creative District is also excited about the new space and working with the Mancos Common Press.<\/p>\n

\"Guests
Guests at the Mancos Common Press pop-up celebration. (Sophia McCrackin\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s funny because when I think of a district, and maybe you do too, I think of an office and bureaucracy and stuff like that,\u201d said Mark Stevens, who\u2019s on the Creative District\u2019s board. \u201cWell, we are basically one desk. Our executive director has a desk, renting office space from Mancos Commons.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thus, the new building provides space for artists and community members alike.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s just so many opportunities with this bright, beautiful space to continue to add to Mancos becoming known as a creative hub. I think there\u2019s a real opportunity for the two organizations \u2013 the Creative District and the Mancos Commons \u2013 to work together as partners to enliven the arts,\u201d Stevens said.<\/p>\n

Something they can\u2019t do without space.<\/p>\n

The Commons already had its first workshop. Ten people attended the monotype class taught by a printer from New Mexico.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople were able to have workspaces dedicated to themselves,\u201d said Chapel. \u201cThat was something that we just really couldn\u2019t do before, is have that many people and have tables for people to work on.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Cyanotype 101 workshop is coming up on Aug. 17. It\u2019s $125 and is an alternative printing method, using the sun instead of a press to make impressions, Chapel said.<\/p>\n

When the holidays come around, they host a card making class. They also do one for Valentine\u2019s Day as well as a wild card class, which covers the basics of how to type set one letter at a time.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust come get a taste of it and see if you like it,\u201d said Chapel. \u201cA lot of times those people will go on to take a 101 class and hopefully become an artist member.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unless you come from a printing background, a 101 class is required to become an artist member, which costs $60 a month.<\/p>\n

As a member, you can rent out a press to do work on. You\u2019re also able to sell prints in the shop.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor some of them, they have no other place to sell their work,\u201d said Chapel. \u201cPrints sell pretty well. It\u2019s something people like to buy- it\u2019s not real expensive like a painting or something.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking ahead, the folks involved are enthused for what the new space offers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Mancos Common Press is a pillar of our broader arts community and the whole area \u2013 the Mancos Valley \u2013 and they draw people from all over the country to come to their facility and teach or take classes. It\u2019s sort of nationally known in that arena of printing presses.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

involved in the arts are hopeful it\u2019ll put Mancos on the map as a printing hub<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26301,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[363,28,83,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-26300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-arts","tag-headlines","tag-mancos","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26300"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79305,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26300\/revisions\/79305"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26300"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=26300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}