Dear friends and associates,

Thank you for your interest in Control Group Productions and the Packing House Center for the Arts.

The concept of Control Group Productions (CGP) arose out of a set of personal needs/drives and a matching set of needs/lacks that I perceived in my community. Foundationally, I am driven by a desire to spread exciting experimental art, both my own work and other work that I believe needs to be shared. For me, creating art, while intensely personal, is reliant on the community of my peers, where ideas develop and mature; and also on the community of viewers for whom the work is made. I need a physical and psychological space that provides a stimulating atmosphere for my creative impulses and process. I need a community of peers who inspire me with their work and who have a forum for processing and reacting to ideas that allows a directed development of ideas. I need an audience community that is hungry for what I have to offer them, that wants to engage – or to learn how to engage – new ideas and is willing to take a journey into the unknown.

In Denver and the Front Range I see this hunger in broad elements of the culture. I see a culture that retains the mentality of fierce independence, welcoming humanity, and unassumingly intelligent criticality that is the heritage of the West and the Mountain region. But I see this inherited societal perspective broadening, reaching toward new experiences and embracing new forms of expression, recognizing its shared ownership of world culture and its role as contributor to that culture. I see people seeking what I think we can offer here – art that is invigorating, unexpected, rich; art that accesses many different traditions, perspectives, and approaches; art that is distinctly of this place but participates in a global dialogue.

Around me I see communities of local artists springing up anywhere that they can display their work, new voices seeking to share their vision and expression with their community. I see creative approaches across a broadening spectrum of genres, styles, and purposes. And within this flourishing young scene, I see the strong need for an accessible forum for exploration and experimentation, the need for a home for the community artists continually pushing beyond what they know and recognize. The artists who are drawn to PHCA are diverse in their aesthetics, intentions, and approaches, but they are unanimous in their desire for an intentional community of engaged peers to stimulate and support their explorations.  At PHCA we have created a space that can support and fulfill the visions of Denver’s experimental and progressive artists, and a springboard to spread their art through the Front Range and beyond.

Our space and our organization are intended to be responsive, open systems, embracing new ideas and possibilities and providing a sheltering environment for artists to create what they need to create and mold the space and the organization to facillitate that. We remain open to the most radical and extreme proposals for creations and programs, and invite conversations of all sorts with anyone interested in engaging our creative community.

Sincerely,

Patrick Mueller, Executive Director

The Packing House Center for the Arts is a project of Control Group Productions, a non-profit corporation aimed at stimulating, facillitating, and developing Denver’s experimental arts scene. CGP was founded by Patrick Mueller in 2008 in conjunction with founding Board members Alan Bush, Jane Cahn, Wes Snyder, and Ari Sommer. CGP moved into 835 E. 50th Avenue in January 2009 and PHCA celebrated its grand opening on March 20th and 21st, 2009. Since then we have hosted over a dozen performances, gallery openings, and collaborative events, with participation by over 50 artists and hundreds of viewers.
CGP/PHCA owes endless thanks and gratitude to the many people who helped it through its birthing stages: Marshall Elliott, Mike Meter, Wes Snyder, Jane Cahn, Kristine Whittle, Candess Giyan, William Alsup, Dave Mueller, Connie Kowal, Francie Marbury, Matt Kowal, Tony Craig, Andre Gates, Gary Burden, Eric Wright, Judy Danielson, Michal Carlton, Daniel Hendricks, and Kim Olson.  And of course we would be nowhere without our amazing staff: Candess Giyan, Mike Meter, and Kristine Whittle.

CGP Board of Directors

Patrick Mueller: Board of Directors Member, CGP Executive Director

Artistic Director: Control Group experimental performance company

Ari Sommer: Board of Directors Member
J.D. Candidate: Boston College of Law

Alan Bush: Board of Directors Member, Development Consultant
Sustainability Consultant, International Iron and Steel Institute
Former Sustainability Consultant, Center for Science and Development, Delhi
Former Systems Consultant, Carnegie Council

Wes Snyder: Board of Directors Member, Treasurer
Parts and Inventory Manager, Ketelsen Campers