As we gear up for the 2025 SVP Denver Impact Showcase, we’re excited to feature some of the incredible organizations making a difference across our community. One of them is Rainbow Dome, a queer-centric hub creating connection, joy, and belonging through roller skating, art, and shared experiences. We caught up with the Rainbow Dome team to talk about their mission, their work with SVP Denver, and what they’re looking forward to next.

Q: For those who may not be familiar, can you share a bit about Rainbow Dome and what inspired its creation?

A: Rainbow Dome is a queer-centered community space where people come together across differences to experience joy-in-motion, through art, roller skating, and creative play. We wanted to create a place that celebrates accountability, connection, and collective joy, where everyone feels welcome to show up as themselves. Our vision is a more playful world that values both individuality and togetherness.

Q: How did you first get connected with SVP Denver, and what programs have you participated in?

A: We first connected with SVP Denver through the Theory of Change cohort, which we applied to in 2023. At that time, we were still figuring out our core identity as an organization, we didn’t even have formal mission, vision, or values statements yet. The cohort became a transformational process for our team of six.

It was the first time our entire staff came together to collaboratively explore our language, values, and lineage, how our work fits within broader social movements and artistic practices. The process was both fun and deep, we’d workshop big ideas, dream boldly, and then distill them into something concrete and actionable. By the end, we had a shared Theory of Change and clear organizational values that continue to guide everything we do.

That alignment has been huge. It helped us articulate our programs more clearly, communicate our impact in grants, and describe the type of art we create and why it matters.

Q: You also participated in a Solution Session this year. What was that experience like?

A: Yes! In April 2024, we took part in a Solution Session, and what we love about SVP Denver is that it truly feels like a long-term relationship, not a one-off opportunity. The team continually checks in, learns about our evolving needs, and finds new ways to support us.

For the session, we chose to focus on security and safety in our space, something important to our team but that we hadn’t had the space to tackle internally. The 75-minute discussion brought together incredible minds and partners who helped us outline what safety can look like in alignment with our values of joy and belonging.

We left with an outline and next steps for creating safety policies and audience engagement practices that reflect who we are. One of the most valuable takeaways was thinking about “belonging officers,” how to proactively teach audience rules of engagement so everyone feels secure and respected.

That session also sparked unexpected connections, like a local venue offering their space for a fundraiser and introductions to other organizations doing parallel work in racial justice, mental health, and community engagement like Joy As Resistance and Soul 2 Soul Sisters.

Q: And you’ve worked with SVP Denver through a Pro Bono Consulting Project as well, right?

A: Yes, and that’s another example of the ongoing relationship we’ve built. We had identified several key needs through our emails, calls and applications, and SVP Denver matched us with Partners whose expertise aligned perfectly.

We ended up with a three-part consulting team:

• Jack, a communications and project manager, helped us develop audience personas, identifying different groups we serve (queer and trans community members, local artists, civic-minded neighbors) and how to tailor our messaging for each. He even drafted sample language for one persona that we then adapted across all the different audience personas. 
• Mariana, who brought a foundation perspective, guided us in developing the financial information in our pitch deck and making our data visually engaging and concise, complete with graphs and impact visuals. 
• Ben, an individual giving strategist, helped us reframe how we approach fundraising. He coached us through our discomfort around asking for monetary support and helped us find confidence in connecting our asks back to our values. He even shared templates we’re now using in our donor outreach.

That project gave us both structure and confidence necessary to tell our story with clarity.

Q: Which of these collaborations had the biggest impact on your organization?

A: The Theory of Change program was the most transformative. Doing that process together as a full staff changed how we think, communicate, and make decisions. It gave us a shared language and framework we now use in everything, from staff meetings and grant proposals to program design. It created alignment that made all the later projects possible.

Q: What’s been happening at Rainbow Dome since your work with SVP Denver?

A: We’ve been expanding our programming and deepening community partnerships. We have been partnering with the Sun Valley Kitchen + Community Center to offer a pop-up roller rink as part of their annual Sun Valley Viaduct Night Market. This has introduced us to the neighborhood of Sun Valley, where our permanent home is located. 

We also recently started working with Spring Up, to define our non-hierarchical organization structure. We are excited about the collaboration so we can ensure our internal structures reflect our values as individuals and an organization.  

Q: What are you most excited about for 2026?

A: We’re looking forward to putting on more collaborative community events, growing our team, and beginning the design phase of our new space! 

 

If you’d like to support Rainbow Dome, here are two things you can do!

• Fill out their Community Survey to share what sanctuary, the inaugural art theme for their roller rink upon opening, means to you!
• Make a direct donation!