‘Citizen’ Margaret

When she was named Citizen of the Arts for 2008, the Fine Arts Foundation was paying tribute to all that Margaret Cunningham has done to advance, and maintain, such organizations as Opera Colorado, the Colorado Symphony, Rocky Mountain PBS and the Fine Arts Foundation.
But like others before her, this Citizen has many other irons in the fire, and interests that have literally taken her to the ends of the earth.
Next to the arts, adventure travel is her passion. As one friend pointed out: “Margaret may be the only person you know who has been to Muscat, Oman; Ulan Bator, Mongolia; and Samarkand, Uzbekistan.” Her itinerary this year calls for trips to Israel and Antarctica.
Lest anyone think of her as stodgy and uptight, though, consider how a decades-long friendship with Barbara Knight began:
“Our sons were both on the Kent Denver football team,” Knight recalled during the social hour that preceeded the Fine Arts Jubilee where Cunningham accepted her Citizen of the Arts award. “And when we were in the parking lot before one of their games, she opened the trunk of her car and there was a bottle of champagne and two glasses. I knew then and there that this was the start of a beautiful friendship.”
A shared appreciation for the bubbly may have started their friendship, but other common interests caused it to flourish and today Knight and Cunningham remain as close as they were back when they were young mothers raising children.
A native of Bartlesville, Okla., Cunningham earned a bachelor of arts degree in French and history from the University of Oklahoma before moving to Denver in 1964. Here, she raised her two children — Amy and Chris — and immersed herself in the community.
One of her early involvements was with KRMA-Channel 6, one of Denver’s two Public Broadcasting stations. She has been a volunteer on-air personality there for some 20 years and has been a member of both the local and national PBS boards.
In addition, Cunningham has been on the boards of Opera Colorado, the Denver Public Library Friends Foundation, Samaritan Institute and Boy Scouts of America Denver Council. She is a past president of the Colorado Lawyer Trust Account Foundation, Colorado Judicial Institute, Sewall Child Development Center, the Symphony Debs and the Fine Arts Foundation.
Nonprofit leaders have long known that when there’s a big job to do, Cunningham is to go-to person. Thus, she has chaired some of Denver’s largest fund-raisers, including the opening of “Aztec: The World of Montezuma” for Denver Museum of Nature and Science; the opening of Denver’s new Central Library; Do At The Zoo; Denver Botanic Gardens’ Fete des Fleurs; and the 1989 Summer Debutante Ball.
That was the year she created the Citizen of the Arts award, with the first recipient being Marlis Smith.
She is currently a board member for the University of Colorado Center for Bioethics and the state Supreme Court’s Judicial Advisory Council.
In addition to being honored at the Fine Arts Jubilee, which was chaired by Janie Prendergast and Claudette Erek, Cunningham will be part of the receiving line this summer at the Fine Arts Debutante Ball.
Her daughter and son-in-law flew in from Wilmington, N.C., where they own several businesses; her son, an attorney in Seattle, also came in to help honor his mother.
In keeping with tradition, the Jubilee showcased young artists affiliated with organizations that the Fine Arts Foundation supports. During cocktail hour, a jazz trio from the University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music entertained; following dinner, In the Buff, a vocal ensemble from the University of Colorado, performed several songs.
Past recipients of the Citizen of the Arts award who attended the Jubilee included Nancy Stamper, Phyllis and Dr. Gary VanderArk, Charleen Dunn, Liz Frawley, Jean and Dick Watt, and Sherrye Berger.
Among the guests were Erna Butler, Patrice and Gordon Von Stroh, Susan Stiff, Kevin Mynatt and Pat Pearce, representing the Central City Opera; Fine Arts Foundation co-presidents Lynn Hinkle and Jean Watt; Jean and Joe Hodges; Mary and Judge Clifton Flowers; Sue Kinney; Kalleen Malone; Margot and Don Schlup; Kitty and Don Gregg; Gail and Philip Nash; Lucette Larkin; Jane and Jim Wiltshire; D’Wayn and David Stone; Mary McNicholas; Kim and Michael Porter; Kathryn and Garrette Matlock; Lynn and Dr. David Wong; Bertha Haugen; Arlene and Don Johnson; Deb Loftness; and Pam Duke with her daughter, Sara.