photo: aspen times
In case you missed it, over the past Labor Day weekend, the City of Fort Worth descended upon the beautiful mountain communities of Aspen and Snowmass, Colorado in a big way. Believe me, this was not a case of discrete or subliminal marketing, folks. Throughout the holiday weekend-long Jazz Aspen Snowmass (JAS) Festival, locals and tourists alike got a full serving of what makes Fort Worth great. A broad sampling of talented local artists and performers were featured, including one of the festival’s three co-headliners: our own, home-grown, Grammy winning musician, Leon Bridges.
The visibility of Fort Worth was magnified by ever-present promo videos that were shown on digital marquees around town and in-between the musicians’ sets on the main stage. With attendance figures of roughly 10,000 people per day, there were lots of eyeballs focused on Dallas’ better half. Accompanying the videos were banners and lots of sponsor swag scattered throughout the event.
None of this would’ve happened without the joint sponsorships of the JAS Festival by Visit Fort Worth and Fort Worth Sundance Square, who collaborated for the first time on this event. Visit Fort Worth, represented by Mitch Whitten (COO of Visit Fort Worth) and members of their staff, contributed $100,000 to the event and coordinated the attendance of multiple FW ambassadors to Colorado, including Craig Cavileer (Managing Partner of Stockyards & Heritage Development Co / Hotel Drover), Matt Homan (President and GM of Dickies Arena), Tim Love (Fort Worth restauranteur and official Chef of the Austin City Limits Festival), and David Cooke (Fort Worth City Manager). Sundance Square financed the travel, accommodations, meals, and exhibition fees for all the featured artists in the pavilion, including the shipment of the artworks to and from the event. Dickies Arena was also a key sponsor from Fort Worth.
“Dickies Arena was thrilled to see Visit Fort Worth participate in the JAS Aspen festival. It was a wonderful opportunity to showcase and brand our incredible artistic city” – Matt Homan
But I’m getting ahead of myself. A little bit about the festival and the reason so much positive attention has been paid to it. Jazz Aspen Snowmass was founded in 1991 as a non-profit organization, and since the very beginning, JAS President and CEO Jim Horowitz and Edward Bass have maintained a close friendship. The JAS website states that their fundamental mission is to “present and preserve jazz and related forms of music through world-class events, performances and education programs.” The money raised from this epic weekend goes back to music education to nurture future generations.
Though none is as grand as their signature festival, they conduct dozens of smaller events throughout the year, mostly at their brick-and-mortar location, which includes facilities to host classes, benefits, corporate gatherings, and other activities all year-round. They also sponsor workshops and award scholarships to students that participate in their programs. As anyone from Fort Worth knows, Mr. Bass is a longtime sponsor and benefactor of the Arts, and it’s due to this and his 30+ year friendship with Horowitz, that we found ourselves in this majestic valley of Colorado.
So just how did this huge contingent of Fort Worth art and artists get to Aspen? Well, I don’t know about Leon Bridges, but I assume he came on his tour bus. The rest of us, an eclectic group of seven well-respected Fort Worth creators (and one artist/art blogger named Mouty) flew to Aspen, courtesy of Fort Worth Sundance Square. Thanks to the coordination efforts of their staff, we were well taken care of. Everything was thought out from our flights, to our transportation to and from the events, to our meals and activities. I stayed with the artists in a lovely home that was nestled up against the mountains, and we all took turns climbing up to the top to take in the beautiful scenery. Two things I learned that weekend: 1) Altitude sickness is a real thing, and 2) Look out for bears…I had a little ‘visit’ on the patio from a not-so-little bear during my morning coffee. I’m not saying that I peed my pants, but I’m not saying that I didn’t either.
Once the supplies and artworks arrived by van, we rolled up our sleeves and spent several hours setting up, putting in some sweat equity for a successful art experience. Later that first night, we all got shined up and headed over to the W Hotel Aspen for the Welcome Party that was generously hosted by Jim Horowitz and Edward Bass. Everyone had a lovely time chatting and mingling, since this was our first moment to celebrate! We all took in the brisk Colorado air, the beautiful people and the fabulous surroundings. One of my favorite moments from the weekend was the dinner we all shared together at an Italian restaurant called Mezzaluna. We strolled from the W to the restaurant, where we all sat on the patio and enjoyed each other’s company. It was such a beautiful experience and one that I will cherish, especially when Ed introduced me to his yummy little secret… pour a splash of rum onto your creme brûlée before eating it. OMGee!
Now, back to the Festival! Each day, we all took shifts to promote, explain and sell the art being featured in our booth. “Sundance Presents” was the official name of our booth, and everyone was honored to participate. Each artist had their own wall, upon which they were able to bring whatever they wanted to show. With the quality of the work being shown, it should come as no surprise that sales began pretty quickly, and the artists were having a great time. The Vendor’s Village was across from the main music venue, but the music and video were pumped into the area, so we didn’t miss a thing while working. And my goodness, there was some great music. In addition to Mr. Bridges, some of the other headliners were country music icon Chris Stapleton and global music icon and Rock & Roll HOF inductee, Stevie Nicks.
Complimenting the art on the walls, artists Jana Renee & Emmanuel Gillespie performed live painting demonstrations on canvas jackets that were donated by Dickies Arena, which were a big hit! Jana sold both of hers while she was still in-progress, and Emmanuel’s custom Stevie Nicks jacket got purchased by an onlooker moments before the JAS team swooped in and tried to snag it for Stevie herself! Sarah Ayala had her intricate mandala map paintings displayed and also brought along one of her famous, “Get a Vasectomy” cakes! Sunflowerman rocked some painted Fort Worth Dickies jackets of his own design and was instrumental in guiding us through the weekend. Without his leadership, things might not have gone nearly as smoothly! He was always a calming presence and that was welcome during the more chaotic moments. Enrique Nevarez featured his colorful, puffy paint and glitter work that all have deeper meanings and are fascinating to learn about! Miguel Martin brought two of his larger-than-life La Catrina sculptures to flank the booth and sold some of his gorgeous photographs that depict women with elaborate Day of the Dead makeup. The youngest of the group was 11-year-old Zoe Gillespie, who displayed two of her framed works. This young lady is über talented, so I purchased one of them!
One of the most unique displays was by artist Bernardo Vallarino. Back in Fort Worth, he recently did a performance art piece in which he webcast the live application of a large tattoo of a butterfly across his back. This allowed him (and his viewers) to experience the pain of his sins and address cultural issues, while simultaneously receiving something beautiful and permanent. During that process, he had imprints made from his blood and excess ink. He displayed 1 of the 6 imprints in Aspen, and will be featuring the entire project later in the year at Love Texas Art.
Across the board, there were so many incredible artists with a wide variety of talents and skills. Everyone was supportive of each other, and it made for a very special weekend. I am certainly unabashedly biased, but I believe Fort Worth has some of the best artists in the country with some of the most compassionate, authentic people I’ve ever met.
As our visit ended, it was clear that our city was extremely well-represented, not just at the JAS Festival, but throughout the Aspen/Snowmass community as well. Tom Martens, Creative Director of Visit Fort Worth, had the best post on Instagram, in which he overheard someone say: “Where the F#%k are we… Aspen or Fort Worth? — Everybody is talking about Fort Worth — Fort Worth is Everywhere!”
We were everywhere, and it felt great to supported by so many of our city leaders and ambassadors that were in attendance. Word on the street is that Visit Fort Worth and Sundance Square are already in talks to do it again next year, but on an even bigger scale!
On behalf of myself and the other artists that were given a unique opportunity to showcase themselves and their art to a wholly new audience, I extend a massive thank you to Ed and Sasha Bass for allowing all of us to participate and show off our talented Fort Worth artists! Thanks to their patronage of the arts, and the many contributions of Visit Fort Worth, this thirty-year-old weekend-long concert & festival truly felt like a little bit of Cowtown in the mountains.
Fort Worth Artists in Aspen, Colorado. 2022
Article by: Mouty Shackelford - mouty@artsyscoop.com
