The Scientific and Cultural Facilities District is a voter-approved special district in the seven-county metro area that provides a stable source of funding to more than 300 scientific and cultural organizations inside the district’s boundary. The SCFD collects a one-tenth of 1 percent sales-and-use tax (or one penny on every $10 spent), providing approximately $40 million each year to area cultural attractions both small and large. The cost per capita is relatively small, only about $14.92 per resident each year.
The citizen-supported SCFD provides an exceptional return on the public’s investment. Proceeds from the tax go directly to support art, music, theatre, dance, zoology, botany, natural history and cultural history in Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas and Jefferson counties.
Why is SCFD Important?SCFD-funded organizations provide free educational and cultural experiences to more than 3.47 million school children every year. SCFD increases access to the region’s cultural organizations through outreach to underserved residents and provides more than 100 free admissions days a year to Colorado residents at major cultural institutions. SCFD funding also helps keep admission prices low.
More than 16.4 million people visit SCFD-funded cultural organizations every year. Those organizations provide more than $1.7 billion in economic impact annually and provide jobs for more than 8,200 Colorado residents.
How SCFD Funding Helps The Denver Center for the Performing Arts