NOVEMBER 11 @ MUSIC LAB: Venus Cruz – From jazz to soul, hip hop to Afro-Latin, Denver-based vocalist Venus Cruz has opened for artists such as Gregory Porter, Hiatus Kaiyote, Black Thought of The Roots, Meshell Ndegeocello, Saul Williams, Zap Mama, Al Green, Guru, Vieux Farka Toure, Tinariwen, Big Freedia, GoGo Penguin, Corey Henry and Mark De Clive Lowe, to name a few.

Her projects include What Young Men Do, Super Distant Boyfriend, among others. She's opened for Grammy-nominated artists Hiatus Kaiyote and Emily King. In 2016, Venus opened for Grammy winner Gregory Porter at The Chautauqua Amphitheater in Boulder and played at Denver's Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) and City Park Jazz. In 2014, Cruz organized, directed, and performed in the Billie Holiday Centennial Celebration at Denver’s Union Station, bringing in a record performance crowd for the space. Cruz also performed at the Prince Tribute at Red Rocks. She's a yearly performer at the UMS festival in Denver.

In 2019, Venus played the part of freedom fighter “Lola Devine” in the futuristic multimedia project, "The Five Pointers," created by artist Thomas “Detour” Evans for Red Bull Music. Venus has won several Westword Magazine music awards, and was a longtime host of the popular radio show “Jazz Odyssey” on 89.3 KUVO, where she interviewed music luminaries such as Taylor McFerrin, Derrick Hodge, Dave King (The Bad Plus), Dennis Ham (Thundercat) and many others.”