Lights, Camera, Pathway: Colorado’s Rural Students Get a Front-Row Seat to Sundance

We are proud to support a new $250,000 Colorado Innovations in Career and Technical Education (CTE) Grant awarded to Durango School District to expand creative career opportunities for students across rural Colorado. 

This yearlong initiative, Creative Pathways Forward: Leveraging the Sundance Film Festival to Expand Rural Colorado CTE, brings together Durango School District, Summit School District RE-1, and East Grand School District, with support from CEI and Creative Educators Network. The project will strengthen existing programs in media production, digital design, and storytelling through new industry partnerships, educator professional learning, and work-based learning opportunities.  

The grant arrives at a defining moment for Colorado’s creative economy. Colorado’s arts, entertainment, and recreation sector posted the largest year-over-year jump in online job postings of any industry in the state — 35.1 percent — in the first eight months of 2025 alone. The creative economy is a driving force for the state, ranking sixth in the country for the percentage of its workforce employed in creative class occupations. With Sundance relocating to Boulder in January 2027, Colorado is about to become even more visible in its nationally recognized career-connected learning efforts.

“CEI partners with more than 80 school districts across Colorado to help every student reach graduation, having attained at least one Big Three outcome: college credit, an industry credential, or high-quality work-based learning,” said Rebecca Holmes, CEI President and CEO. “Creative careers are part of that picture — and they deserve the same investment we make in every other high-demand sector.”

Through the grant, educators will connect with creative industry professionals and take part in the Colorado Educator Summit at Sundance in January 2027, where they’ll build industry relationships, strengthen curriculum, and bring new perspectives to their classrooms. For many of these educators, this will be their first direct, behind-the-scenes access to the people and productions that define these careers — experience they can share with their students.

“When students can see a pathway from the classroom to a credential, a portfolio, a postsecondary program, or a career, we are helping make their futures more tangible and attainable,” Holmes said. 

Beyond the participating districts, the initiative is an investment in Colorado’s broader talent pipeline — helping more students discover careers where creativity, technology, and collaboration converge. As Durango, Summit, and East Grand school districts roll out programming this year, organizers hope the model can serve as a template for other rural communities looking to connect students with the state’s creative economy.

For questions, please contact Amber Elias: aelias@coloradoedinitiative.org.

Photo Credit: Durango School District. A Miller Middle School student explains the state-of-the-art broadcasting equipment in a dedicated room at the school during the MMS Grand Opening event in 2025.  Watch a Miller Broadcasting class in action.