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["click "Play" to hear Brother Jeff speak about his partnership with TAB]

IMG_0098 The relationship between the Telluride AIDS Benefit and Brother Jeff is a prime example of the whole being greater than the sums of its parts.


The Telluride AIDS Benefit casts a long, wide shadow that extends all the way from the Western Slope to Africa. One of TAB's success stories on the Front Range is Brother Jeff's Health Initiative, a nonprofit dedicated to enhancing the quality of life of African Americans living with HIV/AIDS regardless of age, faith, background or sexual orientation. With the help of TAB, the Initiative now reaches thousands of people each year through HIV conferences, summits, workshops, presentations at high schools, universities, and at various health-related institutions.
24 February, 2010 /
[click "Play", Amy Kimberly speaks about the history and impact of the Telluride AIDS Benefit]

The Telluride Historical Museum is hosting another of its popular Fireside Chats, this one at Capella Telluride in the Mountain Village: The True Telluride Story – Telluride AIDS Benefit. Kandee Degraw and Daiva Chesonis reveal the backstory of the Telluride AIDS Benefit. The event takes place at 5 p.m., February 24.

The Telluride AIDS Benefit began life as a Free Box-style grassroots initiative.

Robert Presley was a fabric artist and enfant terrible, beloved throughout the Telluride community. His costly battle with HIV/AIDS – made worse by the fact he was living in rural Colorado and had to commute to get medical help –  mobilized a group of his buddies.
23 February, 2010 /
[click "Play" for Steve Fassbinder's interview with Susan]

Doomsday He's known as Dr. Doom, an interesting coincidence for anyone participating in the Telluride AIDS Benefit, an organization whose mission is to turn the tables on doom through Awareness, Respect, and Esteem. A.R.E. You Safe? is the theme of the non-profit's 2010 fundraising, outreach and education campaign which culminates in the gala fashion show, Saturday night, February 27, where Dr. Doom will be a featured designer for the third year in a row.


Dr. Doom is Steve Fassbinder's alter ego, a name from Burning Man that stuck to his skin like the desert heat. Fassbinder is, to pull out a well worn but nonetheless true cliche, a Renaissance man: the former bike messenger and three-time Single Speed World 24-hour Solo Champ and inductee into the 24-Hour Solo Mountain Bike Racer Hall of Fame is also an artist who refuses to be pigeon-holed.
22 February, 2010 /
[click "Play" to hear Susan's interview with Ed Hendrikson]

Africa 08 086 As the definition of the world shrinks through telecommunications and tragedy, countries become communities like Telluride, with different constituencies but similar challenges. AIDS is one problem we all share. Yes, still.

The Telluride AIDS Benefit is a model nonprofit: the organization asks for very little in monetary support from the greater Telluride region, but puts Telluride on the world map in a good way: TAB's welcomed embrace extends all the way to Africa.
 
AIDS may be the worst health calamity since the Black Death of the Middle Ages, on a fast track to becoming the worst pandemic ever. And, according to online research, 10 of the 11 infections that take place every minute around the globe occur in Sub-Sahran Africa, where in some countries teachers, doctors and nurses are dying faster than they can be replaced and treatment ranges from poor to nonexistent.

19 February, 2010 /
[click "Play", Nina Tumbas talks about why she works with the TAB fashion show]

363224895306_0_ALB Toss the rule book when it comes to Telluride. We make up our own. Witness the theme of the 2010 Telluride AIDS Benefit fashion show: "Out of your comfort zone. Step out of the box." Expect the unexpected, as expected.


The ideal female fashion model is tall, long-legged, and lean. Their minimum height is usually about 5'8"+ and average weight, between 108-125 lbs.  Generally speaking they are sent to the glue factory past 22. Not in Telluride. In Telluride models come in all shapes, sizes and ages. On the runway of the Telluride AIDS Benefit fashion show, the highlight of a week of outreach and education, talks, HIV screening, and a major art auction, you find an equal mix swizzle sticks and classic egg timers (in and out shapes). At the Telluride AIDS Benefit fashion show, brains meets beauty, personality rules the night, and fashion meets compassion: Enter Nina Tumbas.

18 February, 2010 /


The Telluride AIDS Benefit's Student Fashion Show, February 18, 6 pm., The Palm, is a warm up to the Big Event on February 27 at the Telluride Conference Center in the Mountain Village. But what is true of the gala fashion show is true of the teen event: beneath the sizzle, the through line is the persistence of the pandemic and the need for ongoing support of those with HIV/AIDS and their families and prevention education to keep everyone else safe.

The Telluride AIDS Benefit's Grand Vizer, Ron Gilmer, has been on a soapbox for years: he believes there should be Telluride AIDS Benefity events in communities around the world to help stop the spread of the disease. TAB board member/longtime student activist-educator Sandy McLaughlin wholeheartedly agrees. Year after year Sandy leads TAB's education initiative at the she want them to do more than listen. She want kids to hear. To get it. One who does is Sandy's daughter Mia, a graduating senior/ peer educator like all the models and 2010 Student Fashion Show director.

17 February, 2010 /
[click "Play" to listen to Susan's interview with Marla Hodes]

BABY HEART BEAT_Keener Of the Telluride AIDS Benefit's  (February 18 – March 1) half dozen beneficiaries, several are out of Africa, including the Ethiopian Family Fund.

Ethiopia is the fourth poorest nation in the world. However, unlike many African countries, Ethiopians, who divide among Muslim, Jewish and Orthodox Christian, peacefully co-exist. Given the rampant poverty and wholesale lack of education, HIV risk is high and medications are very limited. According to UN estimates, about 3 million Ethiopians have been exposed to the AIDS virus, with over 600,000 children made orphans and one-third of Ethiopia's hospital beds used by carriers of the disease.

16 February, 2010 /
[click "Play" for Molly Wickwire Sante's comments about TAB Fashion Show]

N1320290710_30358857_6811191 Fashion is the stuff dreams are made of. AIDS is the stuff of nightmares. Fashion is fantasy; the disease: harsh reality. Fashion celebrates youthful bodies and upbeat attitudes. AIDS ravages both.

In Telluride, AIDS and fashion share equal billing on the runway at the Telluride AIDS Benefit Fashion Show, a reminder of how quickly the game can change.

The fashion show is the highlight of a week of prevention education and outreach, HIV testing and an art auction, all designed to raise awareness and funds to support six beneficiaries on the Western Slope, the Front Range, and in Africa.

15 February, 2010 /
[click "Play" to hear Ron Gilmer's conversation with Susan]

DSCN3728
Ron Gilmer with Brother Jeff

Ron Gilmer is affectionately known around town  as the Grand Vizer or Grand Potentate of the Telluride AIDS Benefit.

While he lived, Ron's partner Robert Presley inspired the Telluride community with his generosity, his talent as a fabric artist, and his wild and crazy ways. The man was universally loved. Even after his death from AIDS in August 1997, Robert continued to make a difference: the added complication of having AIDS in rural Colorado helped change the way state Medicaid handles virus patients. Robert was also the muse of the Telluride AIDS Benefit, started by a group of his friends in 1994 as a street dance to help  him offset his burgeoning AIDS-related medical expenses.

14 February, 2010 /

AF-Mellon-Scarves
Diana Mellon, scarves

Valentine shoppers be advised. The human touch rules this year, anything imbued with attitude and the scent of green, such as the work of the 15 artisans from the Four Corners region gathered at the historic Sheridan Opera House for the first Regional Arts Fair. The event takes place Saturday, February 13, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. and Sunday, February 14, V-Day, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.


The list of participants and their work follows:
12 February, 2010 /