John Moore, the former longtime theater reporter for The Denver Post, is back covering the Colorado arts scene as Senior Arts Journalist for The Denver Gazette – the successor to the Rocky Mountain News and a sibling paper to the 150-year old Colorado Springs Gazette. John has been providing a weekly column for them for more than a year, and he decided to accept a full-time role in February.
He tirelessly covered the Colorado theatre beat for The Denver Post from 2001-2012, during which time American Theatre Magazine listed him as one of the twelve most influential theatre critics outside of New York City. He then launched a pioneering journalism mission through the Denver Center as a shared resource for the entire Colorado arts community. John’s additional community involvement includes creating the now 22-year-old True West Awards, nearly 200 episodes of his weekly “Running Lines” podcast, and a website exclusively dedicated to a high-school theatre called “Standing O.” For his efforts, the Colorado Theatre Guild gave John its first-ever Journalistic Excellence in the Arts Award in 2012.
Also, he is the co-founder of the Denver Actors Fund (which has made nearly $1 million available to Colorado theatre artists for medical and COVID relief) and the Underground Music Festival. He’s an active theatre practitioner, having directed at Miners Alley Playhouse and Parker Arts and writing his own play, “Waiting for Obama,” which was a featured selection at the New York Fringe Festival and has since been distributed to 14 countries by Broadway on Demand.
John’s column at The Denver Gazette primarily comments on larger trends and emerging voices throughout all arts disciplines, including live music, film, opera, dance, galleries, and more. Because of that, he won’t have the capacity to write many of the individual show advances he once produced or return as a theatre critic. However, it’s clear from his early body of work at The Denver Gazette that his heart is still with the local theater community. He already has pivoted a bit from his primary columnist role and is offering a valuable weekly arts news roundup every Thursday.
Covering all of the arts is too big of an umbrella for any one journalist, and we all have witnessed the slow decline of daily localized journalism in America. “When I left The Denver Post, there were 14 of us writing full time about arts, culture, and entertainment,” John told us. “Now there is only one.” At The Denver Gazette, John is only one as well (at least for now).
John’s new email address is john.moore@denvergazette.com. Importantly, he encourages all of you to please add carlotta.olson@gazette.com and linda.navarro@gazette.com to your mailing lists for inclusion in events listings and breakout blurbs. Some good news for the future: John is looking to add a few freelance arts journalists to the Denver Gazette team who might be able to take on individual assignments. He is looking for writers with some published pieces and focused expertise in arts disciplines other than theater. He looks at this as an opportunity to lift up and mentor newer and specifically underrepresented voices in journalism. If you know of any candidates or you are interested in being considered, send him an email!