M. Perry Ayers, founder and artistic director of the Colorado Black Arts Festival, died of cancer March 23 at his home in Wheat Ridge, his family has announced. He was 71. Ayers was a metal art and jewelry artist, a Cleo Parker Robinson Dance company member in the 1970s and, above all else, friends say: A true visionary.

“His contributions to our community are vast,” said Khadija Haynes, founder of the Colorado Black Arts Movement. Ayers founded what began as the Denver Black Arts Festival in 1986 with his brother, Oyedele Oginga. At 37, the free festival is now the state’s largest celebration of African arts and culture, drawing up to 50,000 a year.

Ayers created the festival with the dream of creating space for a continuously strengthening relationship and greater collaboration between Americans and the African diaspora.

“It is imperative for African Americans to educate and stimulate people about cultural awareness, to celebrate their heritage and acknowledge their legacy for the generations to come,” Ayers once said. His festival has won many awards, including the 1992 Mayor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts. It will return this summer to Denver City Park West from July 7-9.

Dr. Michael A. Williams, music director and minister of music at Emmanuel Missionary Baptist Church, described Ayers as “an outstanding and awesome man who lived a great, inspirational life.”

Ayers was born Dec. 14, 1951, the ninth of 11 children to a gospel-singing Baptist family in Burkburnett, Texas. When the family moved to Denver in 1966, Ayers attended Smiley Junior High and Denver East High School.

Ayers grew up with a fascination for all things carnival and developed his love of the arts at East, later performing with the Black Drum Ensemble, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, the Marilyn Robinson Singers and more. He was also youth choir director at Union Baptist Church.

“Perry had a gift for conversation, and never met a stranger,” said his niece, Dana Ayers.

Ayers will be remembered at 11 a.m. Thursday, April 6, at Park Hill United Methodist Church, 5209 Montview Blvd. Donations can be made to the Colorado Black Arts Festival.

Robblee and Ragan will lead BETC

The Butterfly Effect Theatre of Colorado today announced a transition plan that will keep the company moving forward into an 18th season following the impending departures of married co-founders Rebecca Remaly and Stephen Weitz.

Jessica Robblee and Mark Ragan, who just launched their own company called Clover & Bee Productions in February, will serve as BETC’s artistic and managing directors, respectively.

“We’re thrilled to pass the baton to new leadership, especially to artists who possess such energy and passion for theater,” said Remaly, whose tenure ends with the season finale, Mat Smart’s new play “Eden Prairie, 1971,” running April 6-29 at the Dairy Arts Center in Boulder.

“BETC is committed to continuing the history of excellence in theater that the company has embodied for the past 17 years,” said Board Chair Lauri McNown.

“Following in the footsteps of Rebecca and Stephen will be a huge undertaking,” Ragan said.

Robblee, who just starred in Clover & Bee’s second offering, “The Belle of Amherst,” said the new company will continue to exist, either as an independent venture or folded into BETC as a company program.

Clover & Bee’s multi-disciplinary mission is to present theater, music, dance, lectures and more. It has a staged reading of “The Importance of Being Earnest” coming up on April 29 at the Savoy Denver that will reunite much of the cast from the Breckenridge Backstage Theater’s 2021 production.

Moses Walker goes out on high note

Moses Walker, a local music legend whose stylings defied categorization, died of brain and lung cancer on March 3, according to the Arvada Press. But he went out on a musical high note: On Feb. 5, Walker participated in a four-hour celebration to his life and music at the the Oriental Theater, where he was known as “The Godfather of the O.”

Walker moved to Colorado around 1997 with his seminal band The Clam Daddies, and later played in various collaborations including Moses Walker and Friends, Walker Whalen and Walker Shellist.

Wanna be in an opera?

It’s sort of like being an extra in a movie, only it’s for a live opera. The public is invited to audition for nonspeaking (or singing!) in Opera Colorado‘s upcoming production of Puccini’s “Turandot.”  Rehearsals begin April 11, and the show runs May 6-14. Women will appear in one scene as “handmaidens” (and please God, let them not mean the Gilead kind), while men will appear as the executioner and his assistants (and again, please God, let them not mean the Gilead kind). To apply, email Jordanna Rose at jrose@operacolorado.org with “TURANDOT SUPER” in the email subject line. Include a photograph of yourself along with your height and a description of any stage experience you might have.

Denver County Jail art sought

Denver Arts & Venues is now accepting qualifications for a new Public Art Project for the visitors room at the Denver County Jail on 10500 E. Smith Road. The project is open to Colorado artists (solo and teams) and comes with a $14,000 budget. Since 2005, all inmate visits have taken place through video conferencing rather than face-to-face, but Denver County Jail is one of two facilities in the U.S. making the transition back to in-person visits. The goal is to transform the visitation space from a “surveillance zone” to a “healing zone.”

The chosen artist(s) must be skilled in group facilitation and comfortable working with Denver County Jail staff and incarcerated residents. The formerly incarcerated are also encouraged to apply. And this is intriguing: Artists are encouraged to consider “biophilic” design strategies that support mental health through color, pattern and subject matter. (Biophilic design is the practice of connecting people and nature within our built environments and communities.) Submit qualifications at artist.callforentry.org through Monday, April 10.

And finally …

The University of Northern Colorado honored 2002 grad Jason Veasey last week as one of its 2023 honored alumni. Veasey appeared in Broadway’s Tony Award-winning Best Musical “A Strange Loop,” and had a fun guest turn on last season’s “Only Murders in the Building.” “It’s been my honor to give back to a place that did a lot for me,” said Veasey, a graduate of Coronado High School in Colorado Springs.