Photo by: Lauren Hartel

The Explore Denver program celebrated its launch Thursday with 80 students visiting the Denver Museum of Art and viewing its collections.

The cost of the event, including a buffet dinner and access to the museum, was $5. Tickets sold out the several days before the event.

Junior Dillon Doyle, one of the organizers, said the response of students was more than had been expected.

“Based solely on demand and the number of people that asked me for a ticket when they sold out, I would say we easily could have had a 200-plus person event,” said Doyle.

The event included a buffet dinner in the museum’s Palettes restaurant.

During the dinner, Doyle and graduate student Jason Lundberg, who are in charge of Explore Denver, said the program’s purpose is to make Denver’s cultural venues and events affordable to students.

“We are here to bring down the cost,” Doyle said, referring to the expenses student encounter while visiting Denver’s attractions.

Lundberg said the program was created to make low-cost or free cultural venues available to students.

The program, only a few weeks old, has already given out 325 tickets to various events, according to Doyle.

He and Lundberg highlighted some of the events for which Explore Denver has provided low-cost tickets, including shows at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, a Rob Thomas concert and the musical “Wicked.”

“I’ve never been to any of the museums in Denver. Plus, [it was] a chance to dress up,” said sophomore Kelsey McClelland.

Guests also were offered free admission to a future cultural event in exchange for answering questions about on-campus culture.

For more information about Explore Denver, visit www.exploredenver.org or e-mail programming@exploredenver.org.