Skye-high success

PORTRAIT

THINK THE ARTS CAN’T LEAD TO

A SUCCESSFUL CAREER? ENGLISH LIT GRAD SKYE BARKER MAA HAS A STORY FOR YOU.

When Skye Barker Maa enrolled at Metropolitan State University of Denver, she was already “knee-deep in corporate America.” The work wasn’t a passion, but it let her dabble in something she loved: the arts. “Since I was paying for (school) and already had a career, I decided to study something I loved,” she said. “But it never occurred to me that I would be able to translate the arts into a career.” Barker Maa earned her English Literature degree in 1995 and continued her promising career in corporate sales. It wasn’t until 2012 that her professional pathway took an unexpected turn — a change that has led to the creation of half a dozen arts-related businesses and a new aviation-themed bar in Aurora’s Stanley Marketplace.

The journey from English Literature to entrepreneurship began when Barker Maa was searching for a music school for her then-3-year-old son.

“I wanted an actual school,” she said. “I wanted him to have this robust experience where he saw kids practicing and performing and he was interacting with other instruments and really experiencing it through all of his senses.”

When she couldn’t find that, she created it herself.

Seven months later, the music school in Barker Maa’s basement supported 15 teachers and nearly 150 students. By 2018, Neighborhood Music & Theatre included a year-round children’s theatre program and had a space in the Stanley Marketplace.

Not even 2020’s global pandemic slowed Barker Maa’s rise. This year, she launched the community theatre program Factory Five Five arts collective. Her other businesses include Factory Fashion Academy and Bizarre Café, an immersive theatre company.

Barker Maa’s latest endeavor is Sky Bar, a Pan Am Airways-themed cocktail lounge at the Stanley Marketplace that’s set to open in February. Housed in a former aviation manufacturing facility, the bar transports guests back in time to a chic mid-20th-century airport lounge.

Today, Barker Maa sees the arts as a viable career path.

“It requires a level of fearlessness,” she said, “but I would encourage everyone to be a little bit fearless.”