ABSTRACT
Sangre de Cristo Arts and Conference Center began its operations as a tax-exempt, non-profit organization in 1972, with significant participation from county and city governments. A significant challenge for the Arts Center, then and now, is Pueblo's lack of growth compared to the rest of Colorado. An important outcome for the Sangre de Cristo Arts and Conference Center is its enlarged reputation in the City of Pueblo and surrounding region. Transformational leadership theory and vertical dyad linkage theory provide lenses for understanding the success trajectory for Sangre de Cristo Arts and Conference Center, a mid-sized arts organization located in the southwestern region of the United States. For the Arts Center, the barrier to taking on the mantle of ideal leadership was lack of trust and strong division between in- and out-groups. Ongoing changes in economic conditions of the region and in the US for non-profit arts organizations have also threatened donations, grants, and public fund revenues.
