Dorothy “Dot” Heller was a connoisseur of the arts and humanities.

Married to the acclaimed Colorado Springs artist Larry Heller, Dot also led a noteworthy life, becoming the city’s fifth social investigator, and essentially an officer, with the Colorado Springs Police Department in 1914.

The couple lived in a white adobe ranch house east of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs on 34 acres of still mostly untouched wild land replete with hiking trails.

Larry died in 1983, and in the decade before Dot died in 1999, she donated the property, now known as the Heller Center for Arts & Humanities, to the University of Colorado Board of Regents. It continues the couple’s legacy in the arts through almost year-round activities and events, including salons, artist residencies, visiting authors, exhibits, classes and outdoor movie screenings.

“Dorothy wanted her home to be somewhat of a lab, as the sciences have labs, for the arts and humanities,” said Rhonda Goodman-Gaghan, a curator at Heller Center for Arts & Humanities. “And we toss in social sciences because that was so much a bedrock of her work.”

The inaugural Dot Days Community Festival: Our Place in Nature pays homage to the prominent mid-20th-century woman. The 11-day event features around 60 free events, including meals, concerts, community conversations, stargazing, dance and more, in partnership with community organizations such as Concrete Couch, Food to Power/Hillside Hub, Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum, Youth Documentary Academy, Rocky Mountain Women’s Film and Brave Irene’s. It’s Thursday through Sept. 13 at various venues around the Pikes Peak region, including the Heller Center. Registration is requested.

“Larry Heller is often the more well-known of the pair of people who lived there,” said Kimbra Smith, director of the UCCS Heller Center for Arts & Humanities, “but Dot donated the land, house and art collections to the university. She was interested in community outreach and making the community a safer place for young people, women and everyone. It’s our way of honoring her.”

As an anthropology professor, much of Smith’s research is devoted to Ecuadorian rainforests and dry forests. It has spurred her to consider how humans think of nature, which also helped her theme the festival.

“What does it do to for us to think of nature as a set of resources as opposed to something we’re part of?” she said. “If we’re thinking of a relational understanding of nature, what does it mean for us to have interrelationships with other actors in a natural setting? What are the effects of this thing I’m doing on the water, air, birds? Are there ways we can move forward through conversations to a future that is easier for all of us?”

4 events not to miss

– 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, Hillside Hub, 1090 S. Institute St.: The daylong “Sustaining Communities” event will begin with volunteer opportunities, then move into a No Cost Grocery from noon-2 p.m.; “The Truth About 250/150” visiting exhibit from 12:30-6:30 p.m.; garden and composting tours at 4 p.m.; and food trucks from 4:30-7 p.m. Artist Dornith Doherty will present the workshop “Out of Synch?” at 5:15 p.m., followed by a cooking demonstration with chef Felicia Embry of Thelma Lou’s Innersoul Food. The day ends with films and discussion by Youth Documentary Academy.

– 3:30 p.m. Sept. 10, Concrete Coyote, 1100 S. Royer St.: The “Citizen Science” event will offer citizen science labs from 3:30-7:30 p.m., including making nature scents, a park tour and wild harvest, essential oil distillation, animal continuum activities and meditation. Dinner and a Coyoetry Special Edition: “Our Place in Nature” open mic will end the day.

– Picnic dinner, storytelling with the Bone Story Collective and stargazing, 6:15 p.m. Sept. 11, Heller Center, 1250 N. Campus Heights: As you dine on a free outdoor meal, the Bone Story Collective, a group of storytellers that loves myths from All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church will spin yarns. It’s followed by stargazing with telescopes and star stories with ‘Ilaheva Tua’one, Joel Tonyan, Kimbra Smith and others.

– Outdoor concert, 6 p.m. Sept. 12, Heller Center, 1250 N. Campus Heights: The evening will be rich with new, original music and dance by Visual and Performing Arts students from UCCS. “Anti-Borderlands for Field Orchestra and Dancers” will feature VAPA music professor Jon Forshee, with dance performances by UCCS dance professor Rosely Conz and students. The evening’s docket also includes “ła’ts’áadah” by Raven Chacon and “Responding to the Waves” by Katherine Balch, both performed by violinist Martha Muhleisen; and the world premiere of “Songdream with Birds,” by UCCS music professor Yiheng Yvonne Wu.

IF YOU GO

What: Dot Days Community Festival: Our Place in Nature

When: Thursday through Sept. 13

Where: Various locations, including Heller Center for Arts & Humanities, 1250 N. Campus Heights

Price: Free, registration for events requested; heller.uccs.edu/dot-days-calendar