by Toni Tresca
On the first Friday of each month, the NoBo Art District makes itself easy to find.
Studio doors open along Broadway in North Boulder. Galleries debut new work. People stroll between the 40-plus artist studios, noshing on treats from local food trucks and carrying smartphones loaded with online maps, while lively tunes from the Roots Music Project stage fill the air.
For many Boulderites, the monthly ritual of First Friday defines NoBo. And fair enough. The district’s largest and longest-running public event has become the gateway to the neighborhood since its 2009 origins as a roadside tent with information on artist studios.
But the district’s leaders say that reputation, while well earned, tells only part of the story.
“I love that people know us for First Friday, but we have tons of other programming,” says Liz Compos, a multi-media artist who serves as the district’s executive director. “I want to let people know what else is going on in NoBo.”
Now more eyes are on the district than ever before. With a future BMoCA campus set to break ground at the intersection of Violet Avenue and Broadway in 2027, the same year the Sundance Film Festival makes its Boulder debut, NoBo is poised for its biggest stage yet as it continues the mission of supporting exhibitions, workshops, public art, educational programming and partnerships across North Boulder.
That work gained new momentum in 2025, when the area was designated a Colorado Creative District, linking it to a statewide network and raising its visibility as a cultural destination. Now the nonprofit is focused on how to scale its programming without losing the grassroots creative spirit that built the district in the first place.
“Success for us looks like a vibrant neighborhood that feels more connected and walkable,” Compos says. “It looks like more collaborations with organizations like BMoCA, Sundance and others in the area, so we can bring even more creativity to North Boulder. ”
From artist outpost to official district
The organization’s recent Colorado Creative District designation formalized what NoBo had been building for years, since emerging as a support network for working artists in the wake of the 2008 recession.
Nearly a decade later, Boulder recognized the area as the city’s first and only official art district. In 2025, NoBo was invited to apply for statewide certification through Colorado Creative Industries — a milestone that was both strategic and personal for Compos.
“This was something our board president in memoriam, Lisa Nesmith, had really been pushing for before she passed away,” she says. “We lost her in 2024, so she didn’t actually get to see it, but it is a vision she had pushed for a long time. It felt really special for us that, within nine months of losing her as part of the organization, it came to fruition.”
The designation opens the door to collaboration, tourism support and broader state visibility. It also influenced the district’s evolving sense of place. With certification came an opportunity to rethink its boundaries, which now stretch farther south to include sites such as the future BMoCA campus and the Nomad Playhouse.
The geographic boundaries of the district may be new, but the mission hasn’t changed since its recession-linked origins as a lifeline for local creatives.
“The state gave us the opportunity to really think about where the neighborhood of North Boulder is,” Compos says. “Historically, this neighborhood in Boulder was accessible for artists to have studios: It’s the place where artists could find affordable space and build community.”
‘Built around artists’
Today, the NoBo Art District includes 475 total members, with more than 300 artist members, plus recording studios, band rehearsal spaces, pop-up exhibitions and artist-led events that extend beyond traditional gallery models.
“Whatever you see at First Friday, that’s not just happening once a month; it’s actually happening throughout the month,” says Megan Mazzoni, NoBo’s board president and the artist behind Leap Jewelry. “We always have something going on in NoBo to support local artists, and I don’t think people realize where that stems from.”
Anchored by gallery and organizational spaces like Bus Stop Gallery, the NoBo Art Center and NoBo on the Corner, the district’s artist support efforts include Art + Place, which curates member work in businesses around Boulder, and The Boulder Artist Podcast, highlighting local creatives.
Educational offerings are another key piece of the district’s work. Compos says NoBo’s spaces regularly host life drawing sessions, mosaic and collage workshops, an LGBTQ+ art club and one-off events tied to exhibitions.
“All of our programming is really built around the artists,” she adds. “All of our spaces are for rent to our members, where they can put on the programming that best suits their needs, desires, audience and skills.”
That support is especially important for artists still finding their footing.
“One of the biggest issues in Boulder is getting patrons to buy art from living artists,” Mazzoni says. “We’re always trying to bridge that gap, and that’s a big struggle. We see a lot of artists out there asking, ‘How do I get my work out there?’ So, for us, we’re trying to think of ways to reduce barriers to access while increasing artist visibility.”
Compos says the district’s current challenge is to continue harnessing the creative energy of the area — marked by the regular bustle of makers, musicians, patrons and food trucks in a delicate dance of community — while expanding it to meet the moment of what comes next.
“Our strength is that the artists are here already,” she says. “We’re just here to help them, promote them and support them.”
ON THE TOWN: NoBo Art Studio Tour – Boulder Arts Week. 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sat.-Sun., April 4-5 and 11-12, various locations. Free
CORRECTION: An earlier version mispelled the name of NoBo Art District Executive Director Liz Compos. Caribou Current regrets the error.