Events

Kids_summer Winter in Telluride has melted away, on the mountain and in our hearts and minds, as  the summer season heats up. 

For the summer season, Telluride's Ah Haa School for the Arts has increased its programming, offering over 140 kids' classes in every medium: sculpting, throwing, painting, beading, jewelry making, cooking, recycled creations, printmaking, theater, drawing and metals.  The idea is to embrace and develop each child’s imagination and creative spirit. 
[click "Play" to hear Susan's conversation with Dan Mooney]

IMG_2051 Crow Canyon may just a hop, skip and a jump from Telluride, but this world-class archaeological research center represents a long march back in time to explore the rich history of the ancestral Pueblo Indians commonly known as the Anasazi.

Experiential education is at the heart of Crow Canyon's mission, and on June 16,  8 a.m. – 6:30 p.m., the Center, in conjunction with the Telluride Historical Museum, plans to pull out all the stops for a select group of Telluride locals.
[click "Play" to hear Shelton Johnson's conversation with Susan]

DSC_0406z_0 Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns is a board member of Mountainfilm in Telluride, where his series, "The National Parks: America's Best Idea" premiered in 2009. Among the many noteworthy individuals featured in the Burn's classic-in the-making is Yosemite National Park Ranger extraordinaire and author/poet Shelton Johnson.

Shelton Johnson is the featured guest at the Sheridan Arts Foundation's 19th annual Wild West Fest/Chip Allen Mentorship Program (C.A.M.P.), June 7 – 12. He is scheduled to speak at the historic Sheridan Opera House Wednesday, June 9, 7 p.m., about his involvement in the National Parks system and the history of the "Buffalo Soldiers," African Americans who served in WWI and were discovered  to have served in Yosemite as some of the first Park Rangers. The 45-minute Burn's segment from the National Parks series,"This is America," the one featuring Johnson, is also on the evening's program.

[click "Play" to listen to Paulie's conversation with Susan] The Telluride Dance Academy is holding its Spring Recital, Fresh Twists on Dance this afternoon, Sunday, June 6. Susan did a podcast interview with Paulie Distefano that was supposed to be...

The afternoon breezes that threatened to stop the Telluride Balloon Festival's Saturday evening "Glow" on Colorado Avenue abated by sundown Saturday evening. Main Street in Telluride was full of balloons, crews and watchers. And everyone got his money's worth: Colorado Avenue was ablaze...

by Art Goodtimes

Worshiping bouncelight in our alpine cathedral of peaks & clouds

IMG_5178 MOUNTAIN CULTURE … It does seem that high mountain cultures are more about freedoms and ecological sanity than American culture at large, at least if we are to believe TV. Fox News. NBC. CNN.

Luckily, I don’t own one – but only because I’m addicted. At hotels I can’t control myself. Stay up into the wee hours channelling pop culture.

Mountainfilm 32, this year’s spring festival kickoff to Telluride’s summer season, proved far more diverse than its niche origin in climbing and extreme sports. It offered a four-day international immersion in mountain culture.

IMG_2332 IMG_2312 The Telluride weather forecast looked good when I went to bed Friday night, so I woke at 0530. The clear, windless sky was all the encouragement I needed to leave my comfortable bed, get dressed and ride my bike to town to watch the Telluride Balloon Festival launch. By the time I got to the Telluride Town Park, most of the hot-air balloons were filling with warm air from their gas burners.

1Paulie
Paulie Distefano

The Telluride Dance Academy presents its annual recital on Sunday, June 6, 3 p.m. on the stage of the Michael D. Palm Theatre. The theme, "Fresh Twists," suggests a program that reflects new ways of looking at dusty notions about dance and what dance academies teach: students who participated in the Academy's spring session, ages 3 – 18, are scheduled to perform dance forms ranging from classical ballet to hip hop, with all the stops in between.One of those students is the handsome young man in charge of all heavy lifting: Paulie Distefano. And "Fresh Twists"  is great way of summarizing exactly what's happening in his life.

After dancing only six months under the tutelage of the Academy's artistic director/former prima ballerina Valerie Madonia, Paulie, who was born and raised in Telluride, was accepted on full scholarship in to the Joffrey School of Ballet's summer intensive. He leaves just days after his performance. That's the kind of magic even Paulie, a trained magician, could not have conjured.