Aspen Arts and Cultural Organizations Plan for Summer 2020 Digital Experiences and Summer Schedule

ASPEN, Colo. (July 2020) – With the COVID-19 crisis, travelers more than ever are looking to the restorative power of the visual and performing arts. Arts and culture are an integral part of Aspen’s dynamic community, making the town a haven for nurturing mind, body, and spirit. The following are some examples of Aspen’s elevated digital experiences and well as in person cultural offerings to look forward to for summer 2020:

The Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS) is regarded as one of the top classical music festivals in the United States, noted for its programming and its musical training of mostly young-adult music students. AMFS will celebrate the summer season with virtual offerings.

• VIRTUAL PROGRAMMING: The Aspen Music Festival and School presents a virtual summer festival free for all to view from home. Events include fresh, new live recitals, teaching insights, panel discussions, in-depth seminars, and a triumphant live tribute to our Music Director Robert Spano on the occasion of his 10th year with the AMFS. The full schedule can be found on the AMFS online calendar, and can be printed for easy posting at home here. AMFS President and CEO Alan Fletcher created a playlist for those seeking comfort and peace. Fletcher was part of a medical study conducted through the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Pain Research that investigated whether listening to music could ease physical and emotional pain which concluded that music does in fact ease stress and pain. The playlist can be found online here.

Jazz Aspen Snowmass’ June Experience and Labor Day Experience have both been rescheduled for 2021. JAS is working on socially distanced JAS Café shows, a series of summer performances taking place on the rooftop of the Aspen Art Museum.

• VIRTUAL PROGRAMMING: Although the JAS June Experience was recently postponed to 2021, Jazz Aspen Snowmass fully intends to keep the music playing with three nights of live streams sponsored by Alpine Bank taking place over what would have been the event dates. Starting at 7pm mst on June 26- 28, each broadcast will include multiple artist interviews, performances and more. All participating artists were slated to perform at JAS this year, and each one has confirmed their commitment to the 2021 June Experience, allowing viewers a sneak peak of what’s to come. Featured artists include multi- Grammy winning acapella group Take 6, funk/soul group The Motet, Jamaican jazz pianist Monty Alexander, piano virtuoso Emmet Cohen, joyful jazz drummer and vocalist Sammy Miller, powerhouse drummer and former JAS Academy student Ulysses Owens Jr., Tel-Aviv born clarinetist and saxophonist Anat Cohen with string wizards Trio Brasileiro and the extraordinary Brazilian guitar talent with unique mouth percussion Badi Assad. To watch the broadcasts, guests need to pre-register at jazzaspensnowmass.org. Viewing is free, while a suggested donation of $10 to JAS Mission based programming is encouraged.

Theatre Aspen has received national acclaim and performs a rotating schedule of productions for both adults and families. In response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Theatre Aspen will evolve its programming for the summer of 2020. The updated season, entitled “All For One,” will now run from July 27 – August 18 and will include both audience favorites and new initiatives. As part of the revised 2020 Summer Season Tony Award and Drama Desk Award nominee, and Aspen-local favorite, Beth Malone, will headline special performances in the return of the ever-popular Theatre Aspen Cabaret Series, this season, for the first time ever, presented on the Hurst Theatre stage. Additional celebrity headliners will be announced and select cabarets will be performed by the Apprentice Program class of 2020. The season will also include a live radio play, which will recreate a classic movie-musical in radio-play fashion, complete with onstage musical elements and sound effects. The radio play show title will be announced shortly. Finally, Theatre Aspen is working to advance the second annual Solo Flights developmental festival of one-person shows from its previously announced September dates to be included in this new summer lineup. Project titles will be announced in the coming weeks. The organization is working with Actors Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States, to ensure a safe working environment for all.

• VIRTUAL PROGRAMMING: Theatre Aspen’s Director of Education Graham Northrup has started a new series on their YouTube channel called “From The Director’s Chair.” Theatre Aspen is also holding series of educational workshops for youth and adults, including Broadway Dance, Audition Workshops, and more to be announced.

The Aspen Institute aims to foster values-based leadership and encourages individuals to reflect on the ideals and ideas that define a good society. Beginning June 17, Aspen Institute is offering in person art and walking tours throughout the summer including an earthworks and lard art of Hebert Bayer tour with landscape architect Ann Mullins and the legacy of Herbert Bayer art tout with Aspen Institute art curator Lissa Ballinger. All tours are limited to six people and require an RSVP. For more information and registration for tours click here.

• VIRTUAL PROGRAMMING: The 2020 Aspen Ideas Festival will be a free five- day event this year running online from June 28-July 2. Speakers for this year’s event include infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci, former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, musician David Byrne, former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Hank Pauldon, and more. Aspen Institute also produces Aspen Ideas Now, a weekly curation of timely conversations that elevate formidable leaders, inspiring thinkers, and remarkable stories.

The lineups at Belly Up Aspen, an intimate 450-person music club, and the Wheeler Opera House, Aspen’s historic theater and stage, are ever-changing but always entertaining. Belly Up has featured musical talents such as Widespread Panic, The Flaming Lips, Jane's Addiction, The Raconteurs, Ben Harper, Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros, Bassnectar, and Snoop Dogg. The Wheeler Opera House presents its own festivals, live music, stand-up comedy, and other performances. Both venues have currently postponed or cancelled any shows through May 31.

Anderson Ranch Arts Center known for hosting art world luminaries such as Jerry Saltz and Roberta Smith and artists such as Simone Leig, is performing boots-on-the-ground work to serve the medical community. Anderson Ranch’s staff of working artists, led by Digital Fabrication Technician Leah Aegerter, are using 3-D technology to create personal protective equipment, such as face shields and ventilator splitters, for frontline medical workers in Colorado. The year-round nonprofit organization serves the personal and professional development of amateur and professional artists through workshops, artist residencies, exhibitions, tours, lectures, and community outreach programs for artists of all skill levels. Anderson Ranch Arts Center announces a completely new outdoor sculpture installation on the Ranch campus, titled “Sculpturally Distanced: an Anderson Ranch Outdoor Exhibition” opening the week of July 6, 2020. The exhibition is underwritten by Lugano Diamonds and features the work of 17 local, national and internationally-acclaimed artists. It is curated by longtime Roaring Fork Valley art advisor Lissa Ballinger, who assumes the title of Director of Exhibitions and Sales for Anderson Ranch.

• VIRTUAL PROGRAMMING: Anderson Ranch Arts Center announces their full Summer Series: Featured Artists and Conversations lineup, curated by Helen Molesworth. In 2020, the Summer Series will move online, and incorporate exciting personal engagements in addition to the traditional lecture and Q&A formats with some of today’s most vibrant artists. Fetaured artists include Mark Grotjahn (July 12), Nicole Eisenman (July 19), Michael Shnayerson(July 21), Deana Lawson (July 23), Silke Otto- Knapp (July 30), Christina Quarles (Aug. 6), and Taveres Strachan (Aug. 13). Full details can be found here.

Aspen Art Museum (AAM) is a “kunsthalle,” a non-collecting institution home to contemporary exhibitions and aimed at the promotion of free art with complimentary admission. The AAAM officially reopened on July 1. This date also marks the opening of where i am and was, the first solo museum exhibition of British painter Rose Wylie in the US. Originally scheduled to open in March 2020, this exhibition will remain on view to the public until November 1, 2020. Two outdoor sculpture installations, the openings of which were postponed due to the coronavirus, will now also be open to the public: Maren Hassinger’s site-specific work Nature, Sweet Nature in the Roof Deck Sculpture Garden and Kelly Akashi’s Cultivator in the Crown Commons. The museum has also extended two current exhibitions: Oscar Murillo’s Social Altitude (open through September 28, 2020) and Lisa Yuskavage’s Wilderness (open through October 18, 2020).

• VIRTUAL PROGRAMMING: The AAM’s “Art Anywhere” initiative spotlights its online Open Studio prompts designed by artists and educators. The museum is also offering an online version of its Art Studio workshops every Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. which features hands-on art projects using common materials found at home. Their initiative Slow.Look.Live. offers an occasion to slow down and reflect with deeper intention about artistic process and dialogue. This weekly series with AAM Learning Director Rachel Ropeik and various artists, is published on Instagram Live and Instagram stories every Friday. The AAM, located in downtown Aspen, includes 12,500 square feet of exhibition space, educational spaces, a bookstore and shop, and So Café located on the rooftop with unprecedented views of Aspen Mountain and Independence Pass.

Aspen Santa Fe Ballet has become nationally recognized for its repertoire of contemporary-meets-classical choreography, forward-thinking directors, and skilled dancers. The company performs in Aspen, in Santa Fe, and on national and international tours. Dates for the summer season have yet to be announced.

Aspen Film, a nonprofit, year-round organization, presents festivals, film series, and youth programs. They recently wrapped up the 29th annual Aspen Shortsfest (Virtual Version). Faced with the potential of cancelling the annual event, Aspen Film leadership quickly pivoted to a private, online Virtual Version format thus preserving the Oscar®-qualifying status of the festival. Their trademark event Aspen Filmfest celebrates the independent and innovative filmmakers of past and present, and the wintertime Aspen Academy Screenings adds excitement to Aspen’s winter season with a whirlwind slate of the year’s most talked about films.

Serving readers and writers since 1976, Aspen Words is Colorado's oldest nonprofit literary center and has established itself among the country's foremost promoters of the literary arts. Their annual Aspen Summer Words event, a celebration of words and ideas featuring an intensive writing retreat and a stimulating literary festival, has now moved to an online format. Aspen Words is curating a weekly list of books, articles, literary podcasts and videos that can be found in its newsletter or on their website.

The past comes to life at Aspen Historical Society’s four historic sites: the Wheeler/Stallard Museum, Holden Marolt Mining & Ranching Museum, and Independence and Ashcroft ghost towns. The Aspen Historical Society offers exhibits at the museums, guided tours throughout Aspen, community events and educational programs throughout the year for all ages. AHS plans to offer guided tours, as well as access to the Wheeler Stallard Museum and Holden Marolt Museum. AHSpresents a new exhibition Decade by Decade: Aspen Revealed, a comprehensive view of local history from the 1870s through the 1970s with a focus on Aspen’s place in the historical landscape of America. The exhibition opens on Tuesday, July 14th at the Wheeler/Stallard Museum, in addition to the opening of Maps through the Decades, a new display in the Archives Building Community Gallery. AHS has also created several new outdoor tours to offer guests including the Midland Railbed Tour and Red Butte Cemetery Tour. Additional tours include the Bauhaus architectural walking tour, historic downtown walking tour, Victorian West End walking tour, and Independence Ghost Town tour. All tours will require advance reservations and will have a limited number of socially distanced participants based on current health orders.

• VIRTUAL PROGRAMMING: Aspen Historical Society posts daily images to social media from their archive of more than 12,000 historical images. Visit archiveaspen.org or follow them on Facebook and Instagram for a daily dose of Aspen history. For more information on COVID-19 community resources in Aspen, please visit https://www.aspenchamber.org/COVID-19

For media information and images, contact Promo Communications at 970.948.3176 or Maureen Poschman • [email protected] Melissa Wisenbaker • [email protected] For visitor information, visit www.aspenchamber.org, or call 1.888.290.1324 or 970.925.1940. Connect with Aspen on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and the blog.

About Aspen, Colorado – Aspen, Colorado is an authentic, historic mountain town that is renowned for its year-round outdoor lifestyle, cosmopolitan cultural calendar, and bustling downtown ambiance. With an endless array of arts, culture, dining, and nightlife, Aspen is defined by an urbane feel that belies its small-town charm. An Aspen vacation is an experience that energizes the mind, body, spirit, whether soaking in mountain beauty and 300 days of annual sunshine, learning a new skill, feeding a fascination, or simply absorbing the mountain spirit. Located 18 miles east of Independence Pass on the Western Slope of the Continental Divide, Aspen is nestled in the heart of the White River National Forest at the confluence of the Roaring Fork River, Hunter Creek, Maroon Creek, and Castle Creek, and encircled by the peaks of the Elk Mountain Range in the central Rocky Mountains. Aspen/Pitkin County Airport (ASE) is conveniently located only three miles from downtown Aspen. For visitor information, a complete calendar of events, or to book an Aspen vacation, visit www.aspenchamber.org, or call 1.888.290.1324 or 970.925.1940.