Aspen Peak - Niche Media - Aspen living at its peak
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/513510
The Arts Visionary ANGIE CALLEN "My purpose in life is taking a seed and making it grow. I get to do that here." So says 34-year-old Angie Callen, executive director of The Red Brick Council for the Arts and manager of The Red Brick Center for the Arts. During her two years in the role, she has given life to the nonprofi t's mission of building a community around the arts and making arts education attainable to locals and visitors alike. One notable result of Callen's efforts is an affordable, twice-weekly "paint and sip" program called Masterpiece Mine, during which participants put their own spin on famous works from the likes of Picasso and van Gogh. "It's very nonintimi- dating," she says, a spirit no doubt encouraged by the wine the event provides. "We have a cult following of seniors and 30-somethings and working girls and moms. It's fun to see them interacting and how proud they are of their paintings." With a full schedule of art classes and workshops (for both adults and kids, both free and fee-based) as well as monthly exhibitions, The Red Brick now sees over 500 people a month pass through its doors. That keeps Callen, an alpine snow- boarder and river paddler with a civil engineering background, on her toes. "I'm creative, not artistic," she says. "Managing the whole facility requires a good balance between left and right brains. I like [that] balancing." Down the road, Callen would like to see valley-wide collaboration between the Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass, the Wyly Community Art Center in Basalt, and the Carbondale Council on the Arts and Humanities. "Getting resident artists out and interfacing with locals, artists, and the commu- nity helps with our goal of increasing visibility," she says. "Overlapping programs only increases [the] impact."— L.H. 134 ASPENPEAK-MAGAZINE.COM