LOCAL leader working to create a community where creatives are welcome – Sterling Journal-Advocate

Mandy Ritter is a woman who wears several hats, among which: wife. Mother. Artist. Amateur farmer. Sterling Councilor. Program Manager for the Sterling Creative District.

In other words, she’s busy.

Ritter grew up primarily in Sterling, graduating from Sterling High School and attending Northeastern Junior College for two years. She then moved to Denver to attend Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design, studying fine art painting.

“Denver wasn’t right for me,” she said, and returned to Sterling, where she married a boy she had known from her high school years, Cody Ritter. The couple have a toddler, Julia, who keeps Mum on her guard.

“We both like the small town. Sterling is just a good place to live, ”Ritter said of herself and her husband.

During her teenage years, Ritter said, she couldn’t have considered building a life here.

“I didn’t feel there was the artistic community when I was that age. I thought to myself, “I have to go to a bigger city to be an artist,” she said.

A desire for change that is behind what she does today with the Sterling Creative District and its sister organization LOCAL (Logan County Arts League).

“It can be a place where kids can see themselves grow up and be a ‘creative’ and not have to move to a city,” Ritter said.

She added that while the community has long had a vibrant music scene, the visual arts have taken a back seat.

Mandy Ritter, left, is sworn in by Judge Kelly Hansen at the Sterling City Council meeting on December 10, 2019.

His desire to ensure that the arts are represented in the community also inspired his decision to run for city council in 2019.

“I wanted to be… that ‘It’s always an option’ voice,” she said.

It meant overcoming her natural shyness – “I never imagined myself doing something like what I do now and being such a public person” – but she said she enjoyed her time on the board until present, feeling that she was bringing a different point of view to the group. She was also thrilled to be part of the hiring of the new city manager.

In her work with LOCAL, she focuses on creating opportunities for artists and creative businesses. In the near future, this will include the launch of a public mural project which has been under construction for over a year. She said that a site has been selected for the first mural and that the organization will be calling for artists next month to paint what it hopes will be the kick-off for a series of murals from the size of a building that celebrate the community.

The organization is also working to secure grants for the purchase of a building that Ritter hopes will house space for classes and performances, as well as affordable housing and workspace for artists. She believes the COVID-19 pandemic has sparked the idea that artists can live anywhere they want – it doesn’t have to be a city – and that such a facility could develop Sterling’s artistic community.

“I hope it might attract more artists, or get people to work as artists within our establishment,” she said.

Such a space would allow LOCAL to offer programming throughout the year, as they are currently more limited to activities during the summer when they can be outdoors.

Already, the work Ritter has done with LOCAL and the Creative District is gaining state-level attention. Ritter was excited to attend the Colorado Creative Industries (CCI) convention later this month and showcase what they were working on. Sterling’s relative newness as a creative neighborhood and its level of activity is impressive, she said. Because the Creative District is state certified, it is eligible for ITC grants, and Ritter said he is looking to invest in rural areas.

When it comes to her own art, Ritter said she enjoys trying “a little bit of everything”. Lately she has been focusing on textile art, using yarn from alpacas from her hobby farm, where she also raises bees and chickens. She turned beekeeping into a business, selling honey and other produce, but said that with her busy schedule, she believes hobby farming will be just that – a hobby – for the sake of it. instant.

She’s too busy for anything else.

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