ASPEN MEADOWS RESORT LAUNCHES NEW INTERNET TECHNOLOGY FOR GROUPS, MEETINGS AND BUSINESS TRAVELERS

To keep ahead of the increasing demand of technology in the meeting industry, the Aspen Meadows Resort updated their internet connection speed this week from a T3 45MB to a 100MB Ethernet connection. All hotel rooms and meeting facilities at the Aspen Meadows Resort have access to the improved high speed internet bandwidth.

“As a nationally recognized meetings and conventions destination, we are in constant pursuit of the most cutting edge technology to meet all of our guests’ needs,” said Doug Crawford, Director of Sales at Aspen Meadows Resort. “We are leaders in the hospitality technology industry.”

“The additional internet bandwidth not only helps our guests have seamless, reliable internet speeds, it also helps us operationally as a resort property,” said Crawford. “This then in turn provides a positive experience for all guests and staff.”

Aspen Meadows Resort’s conference facilities are certified by the International Association of Conference Centers and the Doerr-Hosier Center is Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified. For exclusive Aspen Meadows Resort meeting package offerings, visit http://www.aspenmeadows.com/meetings/packages.asp or call 970-925-4240.

# # #

About Aspen Meadows Resort: Aspen Meadows Resort, home of the Aspen Institute, has been a mainstay in Aspen for more than 50 years.  Located on 40 scenic acres along the Roaring Fork River in the historic West End, Aspen Meadows Resort’s 98 guest suites are rich in amenities and decorated in clean and crisp Bauhaus style.  Nearly every mountain activity imaginable is found at its doorstep or can be easily arranged through guest services at the resort.  Guests at Aspen Meadows are treated to numerous amenities including complimentary high-speed wireless Internet, 24-hour shuttle service and access to the resort’s state-of-the-art health club.  A world-class meetings and conference facility, Aspen Meadows Resort boasts 22,000 square feet of International Association of Conference Centers (IACC) approved meeting space.  The 14 dedicated meeting rooms can accommodate events for groups ranging in size from 20 to 800 people.  Aspen Meadows Resort is also home to Plato’s, an intimate restaurant that offers cuisine to stimulate both the palate and the intellect. The rotating menu at Plato’s features a delectable array of internationally inspired fare created with locally and regionally sourced seasonal ingredients.

About Dolce Hotels and Resorts:  Dolce Hotels and Resorts, a privately held operator of 27 upscale hotels, resorts and conference hotels in North America and Europe founded in 1981, is majority-owned by Broadreach Capital Partners. The company, headquartered in Rockleigh, N.J., employs more than 4,000 worldwide. Additional information is available at www.dolce.com.

Dolce’s portfolio includes properties in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, Colorado, California, Ontario, Texas, Nevada, Belgium, France, Spain and Germany.

As a leader in the meetings industry, Dolce hosts some 30,000 events and 4 million group clients globally every year.  The company’s founder pioneered the conference center concept and Complete Meeting Package, both now embraced as standards by the International Association of Conference Centers.

The company’s vision is to create inspiring environments that bring people together, and its mission is to delight its guests, challenge its associates, reward its owners and serve as a role model in its communities.

Northern New Mexico Is Celebrated At Harwood Museum of Art

Taos, N.M. —Red Willow:  Portraits of a Town,  Eah-Ha-Wa (Eva Mirabal) and Jonathan Warm Day Coming and Eli Levin:  Social Realism and The Harwood Suite open at the Harwood Museum of Art Saturday, February 9 and will remain on view through Sunday, May 5, 2013. The exhibitions tell the stories of some of Northern New Mexico’s most interesting people. 

“We stagger the exhibitions at the Harwood in a pendulum type fashion—from Red Willow:  Portraits of a Town which is home grown and local—to international and unexpected,” says Harwood Museum of Art Curator of Collections and Exhibitions Jina Brenneman.  “This spring, it’s all about Northern New Mexico. Our permanent collection has a strong representation of traditional portraiture—many of which have not been out of storage. There are also some magnificent examples in local collections – and we have many generous lenders in this community.  Each portrait in the exhibition is a narrative waiting to be told – both subject and artist are often important historic figures.”

Red Willow: Portraits of a Town in the Mandelman-Ribak Gallery presents portraits of the many compelling historic and contemporary members of the Taos community. Artists from around the world have visited Taos to capture the iconic and exotic faces of the people. Portraits include both the native Tiwa people from the Taos Pueblo and the Hispanic and Anglo populations that now form the majority of Taos' population. Taken together, these three groups have made Taos a tri-cultural and tri-lingual community.

“With Red Willow:  Portraits of a Town, we celebrate the heart of Northern New Mexico and the region’s tri-cultures, “says Brenneman. “The material for portraiture was, and is, plentiful.  ‘The Man in a Green Hat:  Portrait of Raymond De Puy’ by Leslie Brown is like much of the work in the exhibition because of the story the portrait tells. I want to stand in front of a painting and be able to story tell with my own imagination—this piece elicits the best of your imagination.”

Eah-Ha-Wa (Eva Mirabal) and Jonathan Warm Day Coming in the Peter and Madeleine Martin Gallery explores the work of Taos Pueblo artists Eah-Ha-Wa (Eva Mirabal), one of the first American female cartoonists and a renowned muralist, and her son, the celebrated artist, storyteller and writer Jonathan Warm Day Coming. “We are fortunate to be able to do very grassroots driven ‘research exhibitions’ such as Eah-Ha-Wa (Eva Mirabal) and Jonathan Warm Day Coming, planting the seed for what we hope becomes a subject for a larger museum exhibition,” states Brenneman. “This exhibition is an example of this, and it also ties closely to the efforts we are making to exhibit local and regional treasures during this time of the year.”

The telling of stories through storyboards and the expression of cultural history through pictures were central to Eah-Ha-Wa's style. Her murals would serve the same ends as her cartoons. Eah-Ha-Wa's mural work began as early as the late 1930s. Eah-Ha-Wa received instruction in working on large murals at the Santa Fe Indian School, often working with political themes, and became a sought-after muralist. Eah-Ha-Wa's art tradition is being carried on by her son Jonathan Warm Day Coming, a Taos Pueblo artist, storyteller and writer. Jonathan Warm Day Coming is considered a deeply influential voice for his family’s homeland, the Taos Pueblo. He is primarily known for his colorful acrylic paintings, which provide a visual narrative of the daily experiences and spiritual life drawn from his many childhood memories. Currently Warm Day Coming is devoting part of his time to researching and gathering a collection of his mother’s artwork, holding true to the Pueblo’s religious and cultural traditions, and looking forward to the completion of his first novel.

Eli Levin: Social Realism and the Harwood Suite in the George E. Foster, Jr. Gallery of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs focuses on some of the iconic, dramatic illustrations that Levin created to depict Northern New Mexico.  Eli Levin was born in 1938 to Meyer Levin, the well-known author, and Mabel Schamp, scientist and dedicated communist. He was raised in New York in an intellectual milieu, went to Music and Arts High School, and was influenced by the artistic movements of Social Realism and Regionalism. He studied with several politically leftist realist painters, including Raphael Soyer and George Grosz.

The Mandelman-Ribak Foundation Oral History Project in the Caroline Lee and Bob Ellis Gallery originated in 1999 as a collaboration with Douglas Dreishpoon, Chief Curator at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, NY. The project’s initial concept called for a series of videotaped interviews with individuals who had been associated with the Taos Moderns, a group of artists living in Taos during the 1940s and 1950s that included Beatrice Mandelman and Louis Ribak. As the Oral History Project evolved, the objective for the interviews broadened to encompass subsequent generations, including the influx of artists and writers who came to Taos in the 1960s and 1970s, and others who have contributed to the culture and arts in Taos. The project has recorded 44 interviews, all of which have been transcribed.   For this installation, selected videotaped interviews will be looped on three flat screens. Interviewees include Larry Bell, Malcolm Brown, Ron Cooper, John DePuy, Ted Egri, Rosa Ellis Clark, Dennis Hopper, Paul O’Connor, Robert Ray, Mildred Tolbert, Jenny Vincent, and Jim Wagner.

Curator’s Wall:  Deborah Rael-Buckley The Curator’s Wall is reserved for imagination and the creative process. Deborah Rael-Buckley has responded to this challenge by creating an installation based on the dimensions of this wall, keeping in mind the impact on the viewer.  “Deborah took this challenge to new ‘heights’ utilizing the space with individual sculptures that span the length and height of the wall,” states Jina Brenneman.  “The pieces combine to create an individual work of art.”

Joyce and Sherman Scott Gallery:  Taos Clay:  Hank Saxe Hank Saxe has been a dominant figure in the Taos clay scene - having provided the means and technique for a better part of the anagama advent, an enigmatic process of clay that stems from a blend of wood kiln firing with erratic color and intricate texture compositions. Saxe is known for public art, primarily ceramic work that he produces for architecture.

New Acquisition Installation  John DePuyWhen John DePuy first moved to Taos, still under the influence of his teacher, Hans Hofmann, his painting was entirely abstract. Over time Hofmann's influence receded, but his advice to paint from nature remained. For DePuy, the influence of New Mexico on his art was "mainly the land" and the inspiration provided by Taos Pueblo Indians' connection with that land.

OPENING RECEPTION INFORMATION
Alliance Members’ Opening Reception: Friday, February 8, 5-7 p.m.
Director’s Circles Preview: Friday, February 8, 4-5 p.m.

HoursTuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m.- 5 p.m; Sunday, 12 – 5 p.m.

General Admission $10 adults, $8 seniors (65+) and students; Free to children age 12 and under, members of the Harwood Museum Alliance, University of New Mexico students and staff, and Taos County residents on Sundays. $25 Museum Association of Taos ticket is available for admission to the Harwood Museum of Art, the Taos Art Museum, the Millicent Rogers Museum, the Blumenschein Home and Museum, and La Hacienda de los Martinez.

Where: The Harwood Museum of Art , 238 Ledoux Street, Taos, NM

Info: 575-758-9826, www.harwoodmuseum.org

LA Travel & Adventure Show Announces New World Challenge Game

 

The World Challenge is an interactive social media game designed to take participants on a virtual journey around the world

LONG BEACH, Calif. – An all-new interactive game kicks off The Los Angeles Travel & Adventure Show, challenging attendees to experience destinations around the world in a whole new way. The game prompts visitors to go to specific booths and areas on the show floor where they will perform tasks, share it on social media outlets, and be entered to win prizes. Challenges include tasting regional delicacies and taking virtual tours to exotic destinations.

The TAS: World Challenge game runs throughout the show series in Los Angeles, Chicago, Santa Clara, and Washington, D.C. now through March 10, 2013. Dozens of travel-related deals and giveaways will make the game as rewarding as it is fun for participants.

Player points are tallied online and at the Travel & Adventure Show expos, but you don’t have to attend the expos to join in and play. To get started now: join the game on the Travel & Adventure Show’s Facebook or Twitter pages and answer trivia questions to win prizes. AND at the Show: Using a smartphone or the official game card you have the opportunity for more chances to win by participation in interactive challenges on the show floor.

The show is more than booths and games, though. The weekend event also features a number of great speakers, including Rick Steves, host of Rick Steves’ Europe; Jean-Michel Cousteau, world famous explorer, diver, and environmentalist; Pauline Frommer, Guidebook author; Peter Greenberg, America’s most recognized travel journalist; Richard Wiese, host of Born to Explore with Richard Wiese; Patricia Schultz, author of the best-selling 1,000 Places to See Before You Die; and longtime host of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, Chris Harrison.

Stop by Booth 112 at the Los Angeles Travel & Adventure Show, January 12 or 13, 2013, or visit www.adventureexpo.com/worldchallenge for more information about how you can join the onsite World Challenge for your chance to win accommodations at the Hyatt Regency Long Beach, lift tickets to Mammoth Mountain, or a Ventura vacation that includes two nights at the Marriott Ventura Beach Hotel and a ‘Caves & Coves’ guided kayaking tour at Santa Cruz Island.

The TAS: World Challenge is brought to you in part by Aria, official social media and digital agency of the Travel and Adventure Show. Prizes are courtesy of Hyatt Regency Long Beach, Mammoth Lakes Tourism, Ventura Visitors & Convention Bureau, and Marriott Ventura Beach Hotel.  

The 2013 Los Angeles Travel & Adventure Show^TM will take place January 12-13 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Long Beach Convention Center, 300 E. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach, CA 90802.  Tickets are available online for $9 with Promo Code “LAPR” or at the door for $12.  Children under 16 years old are free.  For tickets and event information, visit www.LAtravelshow.com, email info@LAtravelshow.com, or call 203-878-2577.

Unicomm LLC is an independent business-to-business communications company specializing in originating and managing world class trade shows and conferences in underserved and nascent markets.  Founded in 1998 in Milford, CT, Unicomm enjoys an impressive track record of dozens of successful show launches and hundreds of event productions.  Unicomm’s properties include the 3D Entertainment Summit™, and the MultiScreen Summit™; the Travel & Adventure Show™ in Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Washington, D.C. and San Francisco Bay Area.  For more information:  www.unicomm.org.

# # #