In June of this year, the AIGA Colorado membership elected a new board of directors, as well as attended the national leadership retreat. It was a big month of celebration, reflection and ideas for the upcoming year.

At the end of each year, the board creates an annual report to assess the previous twelve months. In 2011-2012 we focused on diversifying our programming. Members responded enthusiastically, feeling like there was something for everyone among the events. We also focused on having a few member-only events to add prestige and to create a sense of pride and privilege in being a part of the organization. Last year was also about improving and revamping our internal structure as a chapter, updating our website and introducing processes for us to communicate with each other and the community.

To showcase how we focused on diverse programs this part year, here is how all 41 events broke out:

• 4 National Speakers: Jessica Hische, Brian Singer, Aaron Draplin and Cliff Kuang (editor at fast company)
• 1 Local Speaker Event
• 2 Large Scale Fundraisers: Bordo Bello and Heart Art
• 3 Craftworks: Craft Trading Party, Bag Decorating for project Angel Heart, Comedy & Calligraphy
• 3 Student Programs: Point Magazine, Design Smash, Robert Taylor Scholarship
• 10 Buzz meetings: self-programmed meetings of freelance creatives
• 3 Community Events: SHIFT, Giving Voice: AIGA Colorado’s summer mentorship program, Terminal Velocity
• 2 Professional Workshops Don’t Fear the Data: An infographic workshop, Adobe Muse Workshops
• 1 Membership/Volunteer Drive: Ice Cream Social and Ink Off Competition
• 3 Member-Only Events: Member Night at the Yves Saint Laurent exhibit, Well-Seasoned roundtable discussion which focused on professional members, Member Appreciation Thank You party
• 2 co-hosted events with other organizations: The Review, A Terminal Kings networking hour
• 6 Drink and Draws: Free and open themed drawing sessions at a bar

Of all of these programs, we had some very important highlights. Bordo Bello, our skateboard art fundraiser for mentorship programming, had its biggest year yet! The Robert Taylor Scholarship saw over 20 applicants. The Annual Ice Cream Social and Ink Off introduced a live drawing competition to our annual community thank you event and brought a large crowd of new comers to the AIGA community. Well-Seasoned tapped into our professional, creative minds, and we fueled our inner type geek with a typography scavenger hunt.

All in all, it was a fantastic year! We saw our membership grow to roughly 500 members and we will continue to work hard to make sure all of you are inspired, educated and have a great community around you!

We are committed to continuing our strength in providing great programming, improving our communication and providing a variety of opportunities for you to interact with the creative community both on and offline.

A great big thank you to everyone who has helped and attended our events this past year! As we wrap up planning for 2012-2013, we are excited to share with you the upcoming calendar year and goals!