Post by Ace on Jun 20, 2006 23:02:31 GMT -5
Best in Show" Parades Streets of Aspen
Belly Up Aspen
Christine Benedetti - Aspen Daily News Staff Writer
Fri 06/16/2006 08:01AM MST
Filmfest is going to the dogs.
For that matter, Aspen is too.
That's right, with the June 14 debut of "Best in Show," about 25 three-foot tall ceramic Labrador retrievers will hang out on the streets of Aspen, Snowmass and Basalt until they are auctioned off to different homes in August.
But these aren't just any Labs. They have been carefully hand decorated by various celebrities - such as Salma Hayek's flower motif, Susan Sarandon's Bill of Rights statement and hometown favorite Goldie Hawn's skiing dog - in hopes of raising money for Filmfest's dozen valley-wide children's programs.
Painting ceramic animals is nothing new to cities: Seattle had pigs, Los Angeles had angels and Chicago - where it all began - had cows.
"We thought about bears," says Frankie Welfeld, a Filmfest board member who proposed the idea about a year ago. "But we have enough bears here, and then we decided on dogs, and the Labrador is the most popular one here." What makes Aspen's program different from all the others is that, unlike the charities that had artists paint the animals, Filmfest recruited celebrities.
"Everybody is doing it because they believe it gives kids great experience," says Laura Thielen, Filmfest's executive director. "It's interesting because if you look at many of these people supporting artistry, even though they are in commercial Hollywood, it shows they have a lot of vision and appreciation for film expression."
"Best in Show" not only raises funds for these children's programs, it draws attention to the public-service side of Filmfest that many did not know existed.
"People think of Filmfest as just putting on festivals," says Board President Lynda Palvesky. "We are trying to convey to the community and the world beyond Aspen that we also have a really extensive education program and funding that is strictly earmarked for our education program."
Ninety percent of Filmfest's education programs are free to the 6,000 children it reaches annually, from Aspen to Rifle, and the majority of these are underwritten by Filmfest.
"It's difficult for people outside of Aspen because they immediately think 'what does Aspen need funding for?'" says Thielen. "People don't understand that in terms of arts funding, we are one of the lowest in the 50 states, and while there are numerous opportunities for kids in this valley, arts education doesn't enjoy the same support."
Bringing filmmakers in to classrooms, taking classrooms to the theater and introducing preschoolers to literature through film adaptations are among the programs that are part of Filmfest's education repertoire.
"We look not only to expose children to artistic expression, but film is a powerful cultural medium as well, and kids are seeing other cultures and ideas," says Thielen. Because the programs are growing, Palvesky says they realized they needed more funding, and "something bigger with a little more splash."
"When we first announced getting celebrities, they said 'they will never be able to do this,'" says Palvesky. "But, first we got Angelica Houston because we honored her at our benefit last year, and she's closely tied with the community. Once we got one celebrity, we thought everyone would follow suit."
And follow they did. Among the 25, the ranks now include Mariah Carey, Mario Batali, Jack Nicholson, Snoop Dogg, Pierce Brosnan, Johnny Depp, Morgan Freeman, Kathy Bates and Candice Bergen.
Once the Labs are out on the street, Filmfest will produce a movie-star map of the dogs, like Hollywood's star map, so people can walk around town seeing who painted which colorful creature.
Some of the Labs are more playfully decorated, such as Goldie Hawn's dog on skis. Ed Bradley's extravagantly adorned "Mardi Gras" dog honors New Orleans and its history. Others, however, speak to various cultural issues such as Sarandon's Bill of Rights dog, which is painted as a chalkboard with an eraser dangling from its red, white and blue collar donning the heads of Condoleezza Rice, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and George W. Bush. "I was inspired by the vulnerability of the Bill of Rights today in this political environment," says Sarandon. " I would have preferred that it was not sprayed to make the writing permanent and therefore would accentuate the constant erosion of the Bill of Rights we are witnessing thanks to the Bush family, but because it was going outside I was forced to protect it."
The celebrities were given carte blanche, with the only exception being no logos or commercially-related insignia. Seeing the rainbow of dogs and trying to figure out the artists' intentions is perhaps one of the more interesting aspects of the project. Many of the dogs will be auctioned off Aug. 1, and the remainder will be in an online auction running from Sept. 4-20. Until then, all of the dogs will call the Roaring Fork Valley home.
"We want to do it within the community to really generate community enthusiasm for this," says Thielen, who recognizes that with high-caliber names comes national attention. "It's wonderfully generous of them (the celebrities) to recognize that youth, wherever they live, deserve a great arts education."
Belly Up Aspen
Christine Benedetti - Aspen Daily News Staff Writer
Fri 06/16/2006 08:01AM MST
Filmfest is going to the dogs.
For that matter, Aspen is too.
That's right, with the June 14 debut of "Best in Show," about 25 three-foot tall ceramic Labrador retrievers will hang out on the streets of Aspen, Snowmass and Basalt until they are auctioned off to different homes in August.
But these aren't just any Labs. They have been carefully hand decorated by various celebrities - such as Salma Hayek's flower motif, Susan Sarandon's Bill of Rights statement and hometown favorite Goldie Hawn's skiing dog - in hopes of raising money for Filmfest's dozen valley-wide children's programs.
Painting ceramic animals is nothing new to cities: Seattle had pigs, Los Angeles had angels and Chicago - where it all began - had cows.
"We thought about bears," says Frankie Welfeld, a Filmfest board member who proposed the idea about a year ago. "But we have enough bears here, and then we decided on dogs, and the Labrador is the most popular one here." What makes Aspen's program different from all the others is that, unlike the charities that had artists paint the animals, Filmfest recruited celebrities.
"Everybody is doing it because they believe it gives kids great experience," says Laura Thielen, Filmfest's executive director. "It's interesting because if you look at many of these people supporting artistry, even though they are in commercial Hollywood, it shows they have a lot of vision and appreciation for film expression."
"Best in Show" not only raises funds for these children's programs, it draws attention to the public-service side of Filmfest that many did not know existed.
"People think of Filmfest as just putting on festivals," says Board President Lynda Palvesky. "We are trying to convey to the community and the world beyond Aspen that we also have a really extensive education program and funding that is strictly earmarked for our education program."
Ninety percent of Filmfest's education programs are free to the 6,000 children it reaches annually, from Aspen to Rifle, and the majority of these are underwritten by Filmfest.
"It's difficult for people outside of Aspen because they immediately think 'what does Aspen need funding for?'" says Thielen. "People don't understand that in terms of arts funding, we are one of the lowest in the 50 states, and while there are numerous opportunities for kids in this valley, arts education doesn't enjoy the same support."
Bringing filmmakers in to classrooms, taking classrooms to the theater and introducing preschoolers to literature through film adaptations are among the programs that are part of Filmfest's education repertoire.
"We look not only to expose children to artistic expression, but film is a powerful cultural medium as well, and kids are seeing other cultures and ideas," says Thielen. Because the programs are growing, Palvesky says they realized they needed more funding, and "something bigger with a little more splash."
"When we first announced getting celebrities, they said 'they will never be able to do this,'" says Palvesky. "But, first we got Angelica Houston because we honored her at our benefit last year, and she's closely tied with the community. Once we got one celebrity, we thought everyone would follow suit."
And follow they did. Among the 25, the ranks now include Mariah Carey, Mario Batali, Jack Nicholson, Snoop Dogg, Pierce Brosnan, Johnny Depp, Morgan Freeman, Kathy Bates and Candice Bergen.
Once the Labs are out on the street, Filmfest will produce a movie-star map of the dogs, like Hollywood's star map, so people can walk around town seeing who painted which colorful creature.
Some of the Labs are more playfully decorated, such as Goldie Hawn's dog on skis. Ed Bradley's extravagantly adorned "Mardi Gras" dog honors New Orleans and its history. Others, however, speak to various cultural issues such as Sarandon's Bill of Rights dog, which is painted as a chalkboard with an eraser dangling from its red, white and blue collar donning the heads of Condoleezza Rice, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and George W. Bush. "I was inspired by the vulnerability of the Bill of Rights today in this political environment," says Sarandon. " I would have preferred that it was not sprayed to make the writing permanent and therefore would accentuate the constant erosion of the Bill of Rights we are witnessing thanks to the Bush family, but because it was going outside I was forced to protect it."
The celebrities were given carte blanche, with the only exception being no logos or commercially-related insignia. Seeing the rainbow of dogs and trying to figure out the artists' intentions is perhaps one of the more interesting aspects of the project. Many of the dogs will be auctioned off Aug. 1, and the remainder will be in an online auction running from Sept. 4-20. Until then, all of the dogs will call the Roaring Fork Valley home.
"We want to do it within the community to really generate community enthusiasm for this," says Thielen, who recognizes that with high-caliber names comes national attention. "It's wonderfully generous of them (the celebrities) to recognize that youth, wherever they live, deserve a great arts education."