Isaac Slade Returns to Take Note Colorado for a Victory Lap

Music brings people together. That's said so often that the meaning is almost stunted in the redundancy, but the truth is indisputable. How else would an ultra-conservative donor and an ultra-liberal donor set aside their differences to make music accessible statewide?

That's exactly how Take Note Colorado, which aims to bring musical instruments and classes to kids across the state within ten years, formed in the summer of 2016.

Then-governor John Hickenlooper invited Libby Anschutz, the daughter of conservative billionaire Phil Anschutz, and Democrat powerhouse Pat Stryker to the Governor's Mansion for dinner to discuss the music initiative. Isaac Slade, who founded the Grammy-winning band the Fray and is good friends with Hickenlooper, was invited, too, and didn't know what to expect.

"Hickenlooper brought me to his house and organized a dinner with a bunch of randos," he recalls. "I noticed everybody was hard left or hard right, and he was talking about wanting to build a platform that could facilitate making Colorado a state that had music for every kid. He asked if I would start [Take Note] with Libby Anschutz and Pat Stryker, who fight by day."

He observed that the pair were "peacefully nodding along" as the governor explained the plans for Take Note, though, and while Slade had never worked in politics, he remembers thinking, "Well, if they're into it, I can do it." The musician, who left the Fray in 2022, was a co-chair of the nonprofit until he moved to Seattle five years ago, but he still considers the project his "baby."

With two and a half years remaining on the clock, Take Note Colorado is poised to meet its goal — "We're on track to finish a little earlier, actually," Slade says — and it was recently announced that Slade is returning to his role as co-chair. Walt DeHaven, who served as co-chair during Slade's break, will continue as treasurer.

Slade says that his family and friends supported his musical passions when he was a child, but he knows not everyone is that lucky. For Take Note Colorado, "I was essentially the mermaid in front of the pirate ship, showing that I had support as a kid with my own music," he says.

Slade plans to play off the success Take Note has already had by focusing on its "mandate of every kid, K through 12. So that includes home school, incarcerated, charter and then, obviously, public schools."

Structurally, Take Note works by partnering with Boys and Girls Club hubs and School of Rock, as well as "a ton of other organizations in Colorado," Slade explains, "especially in rural spaces. We're taking everything all these incredible organizations are doing already and adding gasoline to their fires" by bringing in instruments, instructors, DJ setups and more to add to their offerings and expand or even start music programming.

"We actually have a growing mountain of data that says if kids find their voice and they find their people," he continues, "all the bad stuff starts dropping and all the good stuff starts climbing. The biggest challenge with this initiative has been in rural areas that are so spread out, and those happen to be where some of these issues are the worst.

"We're talking to people that are hurting between fentanyl, suicide and budget cuts. They don't even have enough school funding for schools on Fridays, with Monday through Thursday classes," he notes. "But when they really look under the hood and realize that it's a no-strings-attached gift that they have to justify, people are openly — or reluctantly and eventually — welcoming the concept."

Take Note is funded through "public budgets as well as private donors and corporations," Slade says, as well as fundraising concerts such as an annual Christmas show. To celebrate his return to the program, Take Note will host a concert on Sunday, August 18, at Standley Lake Library Outdoor Learning Space in Arvada. Speakers at the event will include Governor Jared Polis and Wesley Schultz of the Lumineers, who is Take Note's artist ambassador. Slade will perform, as will a student band. Admission is free; VIP tickets to meet the speakers and performers will be available.

When Take Note has finished its mission, its impact will continue to be felt through the self-sustaining music programs it leaves behind. "We want it to continue funding the concept of universal access," Slade says. "And that's the whole thing about giving the Boys and Girls Clubs all this money right now, is they get this up and running, and then they have the instructors, they have the programming." Ultimately, he hopes to take the concept to other states, such as Texas or Washington.

But right now, Take Note has a little over two years to go in Colorado, so the concert will provide an opportunity to "join us for our victory lap," he says.

The reason the concert is at the library? Slade checked out a CD from there decades ago and never returned it. "We hope to raise the funds to cover my fine," he jokes. If he's lucky, Governor Polis may even give him a pardon.

A Celebration of Take Note Colorado, 5:30 to 7 p.m. Sunday, August 18, Standley Lake Library Outdoor Learning Space, 8435 Kipling Street, Arvada. Learn more here.