CREATE A CORE Weekend

CREATE Weekend is often the day that we bring community into focus with responsible, entrepreneurial ideas — for us, the greater good lives at the intersection of journalism, advertising, and music.

Within this context, I have spoken with several firefighters who have been working to contain the Aspen Acres Fire, which has remained within an hour of our home and studio. Westcliffe is the dispatch area for a fire that has ravaged forest, town, and mountain.

In the organizations that I represent and am a part of, each one is community-based. Through journalism, arts, and music, the CORE goal is to examine our community's strengths and weaknesses and to address entrepreneurial solutions — to think and act on ways to help our neighbors cope and be proactive.

Through journalism, we have been able to report on and speak to climate change, and to partner with resource centers on replanting, mitigation, and working with builders on fire-resistant materials, as well as discussing energy alternatives that are both artful and effective.

Our CORE is made up of Breakthru Journalism and News Network (BTN), the Colorado Chapter of the Leadon Family Foundation, Sound Century Academy of Recording Arts and Broadcasting, and CREATE Daily from My Local Press.

If you would like to find out more about our initiatives or receive an annual report from our organizations, please email richardbeattie809@gmail.com. You can also subscribe to the column and podcast.