Art helps out business.

• Position: Attitude at Altitude - Brief Article

For many, the idea of having a Taco Bell and a Pizza Hut paired in the same restaurant seemed incongruous at first, just as the matchmaking of Brown Mackie College and the Art Institute of Colorado might surprise some.

But Paul Bao, interim president of Brown Mackie Denver, points out the underlying logic of the venture. It's called profit.

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At a ceremonial groundbreaking for Brown Mackie this summer, held inside the Art Institute in Downtown Denver, Bao said the institute's existing student lounge, library, bookstore, classrooms and its veteran staff help Brown Mackie, a business and technology college, save money as a new school startup.

The new school is a Denver version of for-profit Education Management Corp.'s business college. Education Management is also the parent of a national chain of art and culinary schools that includes the Art Institute of Colorado.

Brown Mackie Denver is EMC's newest campus among 21 Brown Mackie schools in 10 states. "We have a system of colleges with a good support system, which means more...