A new art gallery with a community storytelling focus opened in downtown Durango. Three Springs may get a fire station. Voters will decide. This November and the Durango School District officially changed its name. You're watching the local news Roundup, brought to you by Tafoya Barrett and Associates and Crystal Mart. I'm Zach Marwa. Durango Creative District opened a new headquarters and community gallery on Main Avenue and Durango on Friday, July 18th. Its first exhibit features portraits of local artists where 38 artists were paired together, interviewed and captured through a variety of media.

The community is really excited to have an exhibition space that is truly for them, that it's not, tourists are welcome, but it's really geared towards showcasing our local talent in a comprehensive way. That does all exist in though

The Community centric hub will showcase local and regional artists provide specialized programming and serve as a pickup location for First Friday Maps. New exhibits will open monthly launching on First Fridays starting in September.

I think this has been a really exciting, nice portion of how diverse Draco's creative scene is. I think being of Western Town, we often get get to the ball to a certain type of media or subject matter, but this really shows that we are home to a lot of petring working artists who are extremely creative and thinking outside of the, we were blown away by the quality expressions they have today, and the exhibit shows up through August 8th, so people are welcome to drop in.

Exhibits are free to attend thanks to grants and Durango Creative District sponsors. For more ways to get involved, visit the Durango Creative District website. Voters will decide in November whether to build a new fire station in three springs. The Durango Fire Department has experienced increased calls for the three springs area as the population has grown. On Tuesday, July 15th, the Durango City Council unanimously voted to place a measure on the La Plata County's general election ballot to increase funding for the Durango Fire Protection District to build and equip a fire station and three springs. The Council and Fire District will continue to discuss funding options including increasing sales or property tax. The Durango Fire Department will finalize the measure and send it to the council for review in August. The measure then will be presented to voters in November for the election on Tuesday, November 4th. Visit the City of Durango website for details and updates. Durango School District officially dropped nine R from its name. The district received the nine R label in 1959 when 12 rural school districts were consolidated under Durango district's governance. Durango was the ninth school district in Colorado to be organized under the state law. The R represents the district reorganization. Thus, the Suffix nine R was added. School district officials say the name update aligns with other changes, including plans to open a new elementary school in three Springs in 2028. To honor the district's rural legacy during the change, the district launched a schoolhouse storytelling series. The series will feature historic schoolhouses across the region and will be available in the community update newsletter. Learn more about these and other stories at Durango Local News. Thank you for watching this edition of the Local News Roundup. I'm Zach Marqua.