Annual memorial grant for Denver artists facing financial barriers, founded in Colin’s memory and first awarded in 2019. Administered by RedLine Contemporary Art Center. Custodianship is now in transition to CAST Colorado / Community Arts Stabilization Trust — Louise Martorano (the fund’s primary administrator since founding) moved from RedLine to CAST sometime between October 2024 and April 2026, and 2026 grantee correspondence comes from her CAST email address. RedLine likely remains the fiscal sponsor; the fund’s day-to-day administration now sits with Louise at CAST. (Updated 2026-04-24 from email correspondence.)
Announcement date each year: August 29 (Colin’s birthday).
The RedLine CRFW Fund page (redlineart.org/crfw-fund) is currently 404; the 2025-07-21 Wayback snapshot is the canonical source for grantee data until RedLine restores the page.
Known grantees (as of April 2026)
- 2019 — Luke Thinnes
- 2019 — Tom Murphy
- 2020 — Jimmy V (James Wilson) (James Wilson)
- 2020 — Trish Bryant
- 2021 — no grantee on record
- 2022 — Rare Bird Band (referenced in 2023 grant-cycle email as “the Rare Bird Band that we funded last year”) [added 2026-04-24]
- 2023 — Marcos Garibay (nominated by Adreanna Escalante) [nominator added 2026-04-24]
- 2024 — Denise Zubizarreta
- 2025 — no grantee yet identified — gap year per October 2024 email re: delayed cycle
- 2026 — Raphael Jacobs ($2,000 Emergency Grant, awarded April 2026) [added 2026-04-24]
2023 cycle nominee pool
Per the August 2023 email from Jane Anne Ferguson summarizing the cycle, the four candidates focused on were:
- Marcos Garibay — selected; nominated by Adreanna Escalante.
- Noble Hamilton (nobleonephotos.com) — considered. “Evidently his dad was an influential Black DPS principal and ran for state Senate at one time, a mover and shaker; his mom struggles with untreated bi-polar. Noble lives with her.”
- Denise Zubizarreta — RedLine 2024 showing scheduled at the time of the email; selected as 2024 grantee.
- Arlo White / Hypnotic Turtle — “in 4th place or so. He seems to have more support — a bit — than the others.” Outcome unconfirmed.
Email-trail references
These threads in Dyl’s Gmail are the source-of-record for the post-Wayback cycles and should be re-read if any details need verification:
1825 9a0eee1587cf— 2022 cycle: Stephan Herrera + Trish Bryant invited as jurors189f5e407e08005a— 2023 grant cycle summary (Jane Anne forwarded RedLine cycle email; lists candidates)1938e25560c559bb— December 2024: Louise + Jane Anne checking in on a delayed 2024 cycle (and discussing Israel-related interpersonal tension with Stephan + Kim)19d4f2ffa41130bd— April 2026: Raphael Jacobs’s award letter and his thank-you reply