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This post was authored by Christian Gaines, Creative West Executive Director.
Notes on a Milestone: How WESTAF Turned 50, then Became Creative West
Sometime early in 2023, WESTAF started to think about its upcoming 50th anniversary in 2024. We had a lot of questions. What should we do? When should we do it? Would anyone even care? Perhaps most fundamentally: Why do we do what we do?
WESTAF has most commonly identified as a behind-the-scenes sort of organization – in the background, under the hood, doing good work. We also knew we were considering a brand refresh, up to and including a possible name change, after decades as the Western States Arts Federation. How would we go about celebrating a legacy as WESTAF, before promptly changing the very identity we sought to honor?
Before too long, we had figured a few things out. First, a major milestone is a good opportunity to organize, assess, and tidy up. And do that we did, with a concerted push to identify and inventory records, reports, files, clippings, and random curios stretching back decades. Second, we came to understand that a 50th anniversary is a wonderful way to get creative, build community, and memorialize our culture (there are whole companies out there who do nothing but this) by asking so many who had been a part of the journey over the years to help us tell our story. And it was through this process that we realized that if we were going to refresh our brand identity, we had to be sure that we did it with a care and reverence for our past, and an assurance that our history and story would always be available and accessible to those who sought it out. A respect for our WESTAF yesterday, while eagerly anticipating our Creative West tomorrow.
In that spirit, here’s a list of eleven projects (some modest, some massive) we undertook to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Western States Arts Federation as we simultaneously metamorphosed into Creative West:
1. WESTAF Turns 50 “Stencil” Timestamp:
This started popping up in the fall of 2023, replacing the WESTAF logo in most environments, as a teaser for anniversary programming to come the following year. The treatment had to convey a kind of jury-rigged “watch this space” impermanence with embedded dates, while also being as recognizable as our logo. WESTAF’s communications manager Natalie Scherlong did a brilliant job with the design, so org-wide adoption happened quickly.
2. Cataloging and Indexing Physical Documents and Ephemera:
When the COVID pandemic struck in March 2020, WESTAF moved into a virtual space. We let the lease on our Denver office expire later that year. At that time, dozens of bankers boxes filled with company records were hastily dispatched to an offsite storage facility. WESTAF’s Cameron Green, with help from Human Resources manager Becca Dominguez, wrangled these files and handed them over to talented historian, researcher, and storyteller Skye Cranney, who then picked up the work started many years ago by WESTAF archivist Dinah Ziegler and cataloged, indexed and inventoried these files within a research taxonomy. Soon, this physical archive will be donated to a repository in the region, accessible to scholars and researchers exploring arts, culture, and the creative economy in the West.
3. Archiving WESTAF News:
Similarly, Skye also chronologically organized press clippings over the years into a single searchable and browsable archive stretching all the way back to 1967.
4. A Video Series that Tells the Whole Story:
For the past year, WESTAF’s own Natalie Villa with the support of Marketing Manager Samantha Ortega and Communications Manager Natalie Scherlong, has been interviewing subjects and releasing a series of short videos (there will be eight in all) charting the history and trajectory of WESTAF’s major programs and activities, including its early foray into technology, and its historic focus on equity and social justice.
5. Historic Curios, Tidbits and Factoids through Social Media Channels:
The Marketing and Communications team at WESTAF has been especially busy on platforms like Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn, posting archival photos and other contextualized ephemera from WESTAF moments, in some cases stretching back several decades.
6. CaFÉ & WESTAF’s 50 Years, 50 Artists: A Celebration of the West Contest:
Justine Chapel, Communications and Marketing Manager at CaFÉ™ and ZAPP® developed this fun and interactive contest concept: In the spirit of this 50-year milestone, we’re seeking artwork that explores the concept of time, whether in the past, present, or future – exploring memory, history, and evolution. Fifty pieces of art will be selected for display in an online exhibition on the CaFÉ website. Each piece will also be featured with a dedicated post on its social media pages (Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter/X) throughout the year, with a $2,000 cash prize for first place along with runner-up cash prizes.
7. An Evolution in How We Talk about Our Work:
Re-thinking our core messaging was really a first, important step towards a larger intention: speaking in a clear, consistent, and representative voice. As we worked toward this goal, we reimagined our understandings of the work, and of our role in the larger arts, culture and creativity landscape. Along the way, we refined many words into a few important ideas.
8. The Launch of a New Website:
With the new core messaging, new name and new visual design, we also seized the opportunity to re-design our website, making it a more useful and user-friendly place to find information and learn about Creative West.
9. The Visual Transformation into Creative West:
Our new name – Creative West – frames the work of artists and culture-bearers broadly and inclusively, and underscores our founding belief that place matters to the creative process. Our logo then expands on these ideas – representing our region’s interconnected multitudes, and expressing collective themes of intertwinement, imperfection, openness and transformation. Together, they form an identity that reflects deep optimism – for our communities, for our region, for our work, and for our next 50 years.
10. The Debut of a Three-Year Adaptive Bridge Plan:
As we transitioned from WESTAF to Creative West, it proved essential to develop an “operating manual” for the early days of our new identity. Launching in October 2024, the Creative West Three-Year Adaptive Bridge Plan distills the focus of the organization into five primary “destinations,” bringing updated guidance to the launch of a newly named, re-messaged and visually updated organization – Creative West.
11. Throwing a Party to Bridge the Past with the Future
In November 2024, right after our very first trustees meeting as the newly-named Creative West, we’ll be hosting a celebration of WESTAF yesterday and Creative West tomorrow, inviting those who have played a vital role in the WESTAF story over the years.
CaFÉ is an online application submission system that strives to make art opportunities available to all by offering arts organizations an affordable submission platform and artists an easy way to apply.
GO Smart is an affordable grants management software that offers pre- and post-application forms, panel reviewing, and data reporting for grantmakers.
The Public Art Archive (PAA) is a free, searchable, and continually growing online database of completed public artworks throughout the U.S. and abroad, with a suite of resources and tools built for managing public art collections.
ZAPP provides art fair and festival administrators with a suite of tools to digitally collect and jury applications, manage booth payments, and communicate with applicants all in one easy-to-use digital platform. Artists can apply to hundreds of shows nationwide through a central website.