Kaleidoscope’s New Artist Showcase | Spotlight

Creativity is infectious. A simple stroll through a gallery or the attendance of a concert often has artists scrambling for their chosen media, eager to create something unique. This is the innate feeling that Jonathan Hanst, the Founder and Director of Kaleidoscope — a Lafayette-based non-profit that serves as a creative space for artists — identified when he decided to found the company. Now Kaleidoscope is a gallery, a radio station, a studio space, and a destination for an intimate music setting. An artist showcase is the next evolution of the creative space.

Beginning on March 15th, Kaleidoscope will host a recurring artist showcase that’s small and intimate, and features three artists. Mike Lamitola — a local artist, friend to Hanst, and host — will be among the artists for the upcoming showcase. He recalls, “[The idea] was born out of Jonathan and I having all these creative conversations. We just inspire each other when we hang out in the gallery.” Lamitola admits that the duo has been talking about the concept for years. This time, the stars aligned.

“There’s nothing like these songwriter showcases, intimate. Where 40 people can sit in a room and be a part of the story. And it’s time to bring that into Lafayette,” says Lamitola.

Kaleidoscope, itself, opened in 2022, after a challenging slog through the Pandemic’s supply chain disruption. Today, four full-time artists rent creative space. Two additional rooms function as a creative retreat room that doubles as an AirBnb, and a radio room, which allows creative people to host live shows.

Hanst explains that, “Kaleidoscope was not for me.”

Fostering a creativity community and supporting local artists is the reason for Kaleidoscope’s existence, “I wanted playmates or people that are on the same path as me,” he smiles. An artist and musician himself, Hanst knew that the surrounding areas of Boulder and Denver had something akin to the concept of Kaleidoscope. Yet Lafayette was still lacking. Establishing a workspace seemed to be the next step in Hanst’s own creative journey.

“I’ve always been a creative person. Ten years ago, I started fiddling around with image and photo manipulation because I wanted to play with it. I never considered myself a visually creative person,” he says. He quickly identified that the artistic process is as important as the art itself,”When I’m in the process of creating something, I’m in a zone. Time becomes elastic. I think that experience itself has a lot of value.” As his understanding of art grew, he realized that the separation between fine and performance art were arbitrary.

Lamitola agrees that the concept of how we experience creativity should change, “Well I feel like my entire life, I’ve always heard music and the arts. They’re always separate. That is a human made delineation. They’re all the arts. Bringing music and the arts into the community. That’s why I love what Jonathan has done with Kaleidoscope – it’s just about creativity.“

Hanst adds that he doesn’t generally go to the studio to directly collaborate with others but that, “It’s about being around other people that get it.” The resulting ‘creative sanctuary,’ as he describes it contributes to a healthier artistic community in old town Lafayette.

The upcoming artist showcase also identified Hanst and Lamitola’s desire to add more people to the community. “We kindof need to be developing a super squad. Who wants to join the team,” says Hanst. One immediate need could be a filmmaker or videographer.

At the end of the day, “We want to grow this community around the creative scene and make people feel like they’re part of something,” says Lamitola.