Non-Profit in the Spotlight

Sloan Shoemaker, Executive Director of Wilderness Workshop, and Will Roush, Conservation Director of Wilderness Workshop, discuss the organization's role in conserving and protecting public lands today and what the future holds. Challenges include overpopulation and climate change, but the Workshop remains optimistic.

Visit www.WildernessWorkshop.org for more information and links to events and membership. 

Wilderness Workshop Conservation Director Will Roush outlines the two guiding principles the organization uses to conduct their work in protecting the lands of the White River National Forest and surrounding areas.  Peter Hart, Conservation Analyst and Staff Attorney, also contributes to the conversation.  Roush and Hart discuss the Thompson Divide and the BLM's decision to cancel 25 oil and gas leases on the Divide, and the organization's work in forest restoration and water. 

Rebecca Mirsky is the Development Director at Wilderness Workshop, and oversees the Artist in Wilderness Program. The program invites artists for a one-week residency in the Aspen area, where they create art inspired by the places that Wilderness Workshop is working to protect. Mirsky also discusses the organization's summer guided hike series, local lecture series, and volunteer opportunities.

In 1967 three local Aspen women, Joy Caudill, Dottie Fox, and Connie Harvey, came together with two goals: 1. to designate the Hunter-Fryingpan  Wilderness and Collegiate Peaks areas as wilderness, and 2. to double the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness area. 

Mike Pritchard, Executive Director of the Roaring Fork Mountain Bike Association, RFMBA, shares the organization's recent success with trail systems in New Castle, and the organization's future goals and trail projects. Adam Cornely of New Castle Trails and Charlie Eckart, RFMBA Board President, also contribute. 

Learn more about RFMBA and how you can get involved at www.RFMBA.org, and visit the New Castle Trails Facebook page for volunteer opportunities and trail updates. 

Roaring Fork Mountain Bike Association (RFMBA) Board Chair Charlie Eckart and Executive Director Mike Pritchard explain how the organization balances their mission of maintaining and creating the best mountain bike trails in the Roaring Fork Valley with multiple local, state, and federal regulatory agencies, as well as concerns of sustainability and equitable access. Also, Jim Neu of Glenwood Springs started the Two Rivers Trails, who shares his work with RFMBA to advocate for the construction of new trails in the Glenwood Springs area. 

Roaring Fork Mountain Association, or RFMBA, Executive Director Mike Pritchard shares the organization's trail projects and how they benefit more than just mountain bikers in the Roaring Fork Valley. RFMBA Board Vice President, Todd Fugate, also contributes.

Visit www.RFMBA.org to learn more about the Roaring Fork Mountain Bike Association and past, current , and future trail building projects.

Mike Pritchard is the Executive Director of the Roaring Fork Mountain Bike Association, or RFMBA . He discusses the organization's beginnings with chairman of the RFMBA board, Charlie Eckart. 

RFMBA is a member of the International Mountain Bicycling Association, or IMBA. To learn more about RFMBA and what it means to be a member of the IMBA, visit www.RFMBA.org. 

Spellbinders Executive Director Catherine Scales Johnson discusses the impact of Spellbinders on the students in schools throughout the Roaring Fork Valley and the future of the volunteer-based organization. 5th grade Aspen Middle School teacher Amy Gray also contributes to the importance of the program in the classroom. 

Roaring Fork Valley Spellbinders Chapter leader, Annie Sinton, also can be heard telling the story of a dog and a mountain lion from a storytelling event at Explore Booksellers in July 2016. 

Amy Gray is a 5th grade teacher at Aspen Middle School. Every month, her class is visited by a special guest, Adelaide Waters, a volunteer storyteller for Spellbinders. Waters has a new story to tell the students every month, and as Gray explains, the students are captured by each and every story. 

Gray shares the importance of oral storytelling for her students and the value the program brings to her classroom. Spellbinders Executive Director, Catherine Scales Johnson also contributes. 

Catherine Scales-Johnson is the Executive Director of Spellbinders, an organization that is best known for its in-school storytelling program. Told by volunteers, the stories span from folk tales and personal stories to historical fiction. All volunteers must go through a 14-hour training and continue to have regular meetings with other volunteers.

Volunteer teller, Adelaide Waters, shares her personal experience with Spellbinders and the inspiration for her own stories. 

Germaine Dietsch founded Spellbinders in Denver in the 1980's. She discusses the organization's history , her personal inspirations, and how the organization grew from an idea to 18 national and international chapters today.  

Learn more about Spellbinders and how you can get involved at www.spellbinders.org.   

Kelly Murphy is the Executive Director of the Aspen Historical Society. She discusses the challenges and marks of success of the organization, as well as the future. Nina Gabianelli, vice president of education and programs, also contributes. 

To learn more about the Aspen Historical Society, visit www.aspenhistory.org, and to visit the archives, go to www.archiveaspen.org. 

3rd grade Aspen Elementary School teacher Dana Pingatore shares the importance of the Aspen Historical Society's school programs and the power of being submerged in history for her students. Nina Gabianelli, vice president of education and programs, also contributes. 

Learn more about the Aspen Historical Society and their education programs at www.AspenHistory.org. 

Nina Gabianelli is the Vice President of Education and Programs at the Aspen Historical Society. You may have seen her sporting a Victorian-era costume at one of the historical society's properties or giving a walking tour around town. 

Gabianelli describes the summer programs and tours offered by the historical society, and discusses the organization's archives, which is comprised of over 50,000 objects, photographs, documents, and records. 

  Tony Vagneur is a past president and current board member of the Aspen Historical Society. He shares the history of the historical society and the organization's role in Aspen's evolution. Executive Director Kelly Murphy also contributes. 

Learn more about the Aspen Historical Society at www.AspenHistory.org and access the archives at www.archiveaspen.org. 

If you visit the town of Marble this summer, tucked into the woods right off the main road, you'll notice a flurry of marble dust, the roar of power tools, and over 60 artists working on marble sculptures. This is the MARBLE/Marble Symposium and Joshua Weiner, a professional sculptor, has been actively involved for 23 years.

Weiner discusses the culture of the organization and the easygoing nature of the symposiums, and how his time spent with the symposium has transformed his own work. 

Mark Browning is a sculptor and an active member of the MARBLE/Marble Symposium summer crew. He runs the kitchen during the summer workshops, but finds lots of time to interact with the symposium participants and work on his own sculptures. 

Browning shares his personal experiences with the symposium and the importance of the organization for the town of Marble and greater art communities. More information about the symposiums can be found at www.MarbleInst.org.   

The MARBLE/Marble Symposium is a series of three week long sessions where sculptors of all ages and abilities come to the town of Marble to carve. Founder Madeline Weiner and Sculptor Dawn Record discuss the symposium, participants, and power of carving marble stone. 

Registration is now open for summer symposiums and tours are available for visitors. More information at www.MarbleInst.org. 

Madeline Weiner is the founder of the Marble Institute of Colorado, a non-profit organization that runs the MARBLE/Marble Symposium in Marble, Colorado. Founded in 1989, the symposium draws professional artists and hobbyists from around the world to the town of Marble every summer. Weiner shares the history of the organization and the art of stone carving.