Sloan's Lake Citizen's Group

Mayor Hickenlooper Appoints New Director

of Denver Office of Cultural Affairs

Mayor John Hickenlooper announced Thursday his appointment of Erin Trapp as the City of Denver’s new director of the Denver Office of Cultural Affairs, beginning in May. Trapp will take over for Tina Poe Obermeier, who has served as interim director since Denise Montgomery’s departure in December 2005.

“Erin’s background in arts policy and economic development will be a tremendous asset in working with the Denver’s cultural and business communities and promoting the Mile High City as an international cultural destination,” Hickenlooper said. “We are excited to enter a new era in advancing the arts and culture in Denver. We are grateful to Denise Montgomery for the strong foundation she built and to Tina Poe Obermeier for guiding the transition as interim director.”

Trapp has served as a management consultant to corporate clients in Philadelphia over the last two years while she wrote her Ph.D. dissertation in sociology with a focus in arts and culture for the University of Colorado-Boulder’s Institute of Behavioral Sciences. During her doctoral program, she published scholarly work on youth culture and established a research agenda that addressed the changing shape of arts and culture in the United States and how the arts and culture industry can better serve youth.

Prior to beginning her Ph.D. studies, Trapp served as deputy director and director of research at the Denver-based Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF) where she directed the policy research and technology divisions of the organization, supported public-private partnership development, and worked with public entities to promote the importance of arts and culture to local and regional economic vitality. In this capacity, she also published various arts-related economic impact studies, and policy and position papers commissioned by states, cities and counties.

In 2003, Trapp was asked to serve on the Governor’s Task Force on Reinventing the Colorado Commission on the Arts. From 2001-2004, she served on the board of directors of Arts for Colorado, a citizen advocacy group.

Trapp previously spent four years at the Merrill Lunch Private Client Development Group in Princeton, New Jersey, as chief of staff.

Trapp earned her bachelor’s degree in history and public policy from Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania and will receive her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Colorado at Boulder this May.

Lindy Eichenbaum Lent
Communications Director, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper
720-865-9016
lindy.e.lent@ci.denver.co.us