Those who like musicals, theater, symphony, ballet and opera in Denver often head to the Denver Performing Arts Complex, the largest collection of arts venues under one roof in the country. If those same people also like paying with cash, however, things can get a bit tricky.
Cash is not exactly king at many venues, but a Colorado law dictates that at public places, there must be a way for customers to conduct cash transactions. In 2021, the state legislature passed a bill requiring “retail establishments that offer goods or services to accept United States currency (cash) to purchase the goods or services.”
Colorado Senator Robert Rodriguez and Representative Alex Valdez put forth the Retail Business Must Accept Cash proposal because they’d noticed many local businesses suspending their acceptance of cash when the COVID-19 pandemic began. Colorado residents who don’t have credit cards should be able to patronize every business that anyone else can, Valdez says.
“People have had credit problems in the past and they can’t get bank accounts,” he told Westword in August. “In some instances, you have immigrant communities that either prefer the cash economy or it’s a necessity for them, and you have folks who don’t believe that every transaction they want [should be] tracked, so there’s actually a lot of folks that just don’t want to share data so openly.”
Whatever the reason, some people just want to use cash. Here’s a guide for how they can do that at the Denver Performing Arts Complex.
The Performing Arts Complex Is Not the DCPA
First, let’s clear up a common confusion: The Denver Performing Arts Complex is a twelve-acre campus in downtown Denver that includes the Ellie Caulkins Opera House, the Temple Hoyne Buell Theatre, the Helen Bonfils Theatre Complex and the jazz club Dazzle, among other venues. It’s operated by Denver Arts & Venues, a city department.
It is not the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. The DCPA is a nonprofit theater organization and tenant of the Performing Arts Complex. In fact, Suzanne Yoe — director of communications and content marketing for the DCPA — describes Denver Arts & Venues as the DCPA’s “landlord.”
Along with the DCPA, the Colorado Ballet, the Colorado Symphony and Opera Colorado are also Performing Arts Complex tenants. Dazzle joined that lineup this summer.
“Denver Center for the Performing Arts is one of four companies that rents space at the Arts Complex,” Yoe explains.
Denver Arts & Venues — and Cash
According to Brian Kitts, spokesperson for Denver Arts & Venues, the Performing Arts Complex venues themselves do not accept cash, only cards. That has been the case for a while, he adds.
“The cashless systems went away partly for safety reasons and partly because of the way demographics pay for things now,” Kitts explains.
That cashless situation is allowed under the 2021 cash law — if businesses have what is called a reverse ATM. Those machines allow people to feed in cash and get a card back that can then be used at a technically cashless space. The Arts Complex is getting one to prepare for the busy winter months of November and December.
The exact location for the reverse ATM hasn’t yet been determined, but the plan is to locate it near the Information Center, centrally located in the complex’s open-space Galleria, which would make it accessible to all of the venues there.
“Red Rocks and Denver Coliseum have had these in place for some time, and the Arts Complex aims to have a unit installed by the holiday season,” says Josh Lenz, marketing and communications manager with Arts & Venues. Music fans can also purchase Red Rocks tickets with cash on Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Denver Coliseum box office.
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The Denver Coliseum sells tickets to Red Rocks on Saturdays.
Denver Arts & Venues
Know Before You Try to Buy
The Performing Arts Complex’s most well-known resident, the DCPA, accepts cash for tickets to its shows.
“I can confirm that we do accept cash for ticket sales for shows that are presented or produced by DCPA Broadway, DCPA Cabaret, DCPA Theatre Company, DCPA Off-Center and DCPA Theatre for Young Audiences,” Yoe says.
It has a permanent box office in the Helen Bonfils Theatre Complex, located at 1050 13th Street, that’s open Tuesday through Saturday from noon to 6 p.m.; people can buy tickets with cash in person there.
“Then, when one of our productions plays in a different venue (Buell, Ellie, Garner Galleria, etc.), we set up a box office at that venue where cash is accepted,” Yoe adds. “So we might have a show in the Buell and would accept cash for our production, but someone else may rent the Buell for a different event and it’s up to that organization to determine if they accept cash or not.”
“Clear as mud,” she jokes.
Those who want to use cash should check with the specific organization putting on the event they want to attend. For example, the Colorado Symphony has a ticket office in Boettcher Concert Hall at 1000 14th Street, #15, where people can exchange cash for tickets.
“Just come in person and pay,” says Mac McGuire, director of patron services for the Colorado Symphony. The ticket office is usually open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and ninety minutes prior to curtain for all performances.
“Lots of places have gone ticket office-less,” McGuire adds. “That removes the customer service aspect of our job, making it harder for patrons and making it more expensive, because normally if you can come in person, you’re saving on some fees.”
Although city taxes must still be collected, in-person purchases can help patrons avoid online convenience fees and save a couple of bucks in the process.
Opera Colorado also accepts cash for tickets purchased in person at the Opera Colorado Opera Center at 4121 South Navajo Street, Suite 100, in Englewood. That office is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The Colorado Ballet doesn’t offer a way to use cash for ticket purchases at the Performing Arts Complex, however. “We no longer accept cash or checks at the Ellie Box Office for performances,” says the Colorado Ballet website. A sales representative confirms that, as the organization’s offices are off site, it only has in-person ticketing ability ninety minutes before the start of each performance with a mobile card setup.