OCTOBER 1-4
original thinkers festival 2026
Discover Original Thinkers — where ideas come alive in bold new ways through:
• Captivating Films • Inspiring Speakers • Memorable Art • Unique Performances • Soul-Stirring Adventures
tickets on sale now!
Big Ideas Pass: $200 / Includes all programming and events across town that will include films, gallery tours, tea ceremonies and other OT assemblies October 1-4, 2026.
Eureka Pass: $1000 / Reserved seating and all of the Big Idea Pass as well as exclusive events and a sweet swag bag from Amundsen.
Equine Therapy at Grace Reins: $50 / Join Erin Cain and her mustangs for a two hour group equine therapy session on Friday, October 2 from 9-11 am. Plan to depart Telluride at 8:30 and return at 11:30 am. More info about equine therapy and Grace Reins can be found HERE.
warm cookies of the revolution + OT 2026
We’re excited to partner with Warm Cookies of the Revolution in a big way this year and to bring more engaging Cookie programming to Telluride. Here’s just a small taste of what they brought to Original Thinkers in 2025.
the schedule
Thursday - October 1
1-6 pm BOX OFFICE OPEN
Patagonia
3-5 pm Future Town Vision Train with Joe Bob Merrit + Amanda Sage + Whadubber
Come & Go on Library Patio
5-6:30 pm Telluride Art Walk Together
Meet at the Library Patio - then AhHaa, Telluride Arts and Fringe Gallery
6:30-10 pm Opening Gathering
Wood Ear
Passed apps and cash bar / 7:30 pm Living Eulogies / 9 pm After Party with DJSTV
Friday - October 2
10 am-6 pm BOX OFFICE OPEN
Patagonia
8:30-11:30 am Equine Therapy with Erin Cain
Grace Reins
15 Max Participants - $50 Advance Sign Up & Payment On Website Required
9:30-11 am Tea & Tarot with Jade Rose
Library Telluride Room
12 Max Participants - Advance Sign Up at Box Office Required
11-12 pm Warm Cookies Presents Show & Tell Mixtape
Telluride Farmers Market / Music + Object = Story
12-3 pm Guided Hike
Departs from Farmer’s Market - Buy something to eat at the Farmer’s Market and picnic at the waterfall
1:30-3:30 pm Future Town Vision Train with Joe Bob Merrit + Amanda Sage + Whadubber
Come & Go on Library Patio
1:30-4:30 pm Planetarium Experience with Maddy and Coz from Church Project
Come & Go in the Library Program Room
4-5 pm Betsy Gaines Quammen Author Talk + Warm Cookies Presents Living Eulogies
Library Patio / Book sale & signing afterwards
5-6 pm Wevana Healer Happy Hour
TelCo
Come learn about bilateral stimulation tools to help individuals seek calm, reduce stress, and improve sleep with Wevana and its inspiration from EMDR therapy.
Dinner Break
Go get dinner but don’t be late. We recommend Wood Ear, Liz, Rustico Ristorante, and The Grand who are our restaurant partners.
7-9 pm Comparsa Film Screening
Library Program Room
7:30 Film starts. Comparsa tells the story of the Perez sisters who are determined to stop the scourge of assaults and disappearances where they live in Ciudad Peronia, Guatemala through joy and an exuberant street performance. Filmmakers and movie stars in attendance.
9:15 pm After Party at Liz
Saturday - October 3
10 am-4 pm BOX OFFICE OPEN
Patagonia
9-10:15 am Cacao Ceremony with Jessica Chacon & Molina Speaks
Library Program Room / Open your heart and slow down with a nourishing cacao ceremony.
10:30-12:30 pm Women’s Circle with Jessica Chacon & Jenn Turner
Library Patio / Creating space for women to connect, be heard, and explore what’s possible together.
10:30-12:30 pm Telluride Men’s Health Club with David Holbrooke & Warm Cookies Team
The Grand / Helping men help each other by both talking about our health and taking action to ensure we can continue to be active and vital.
12:30-2:30 pm Artabout Studio Visits Together
Meet at AhHaa Art School and together we will visit artist studios around town.
1:30-2:30 pm Ecstatic Dance with Jenn Turner and DJSTV
Broad Collective
3-4 pm Chris Jennings Author Talk + David Holbrooke’s Peace Officer Screening of Select Scenes with Sheriff Bill Masters
Library Program Room
Jennings’ book, End of Days, examines the Ruby Ridge siege and its lasting impact on America, alongside retired Sheriff Bill Masters, the subject of David Holbrooke’s feature documentary Peace Officer. This conversation will explore the making of the film, the evolving role of law enforcement, and the importance of community-centered approaches to peace and public safety in today’s climate. Book signing afterwards.
4:30-6:30 pm Following Harry Film Screening
Library Program Room
Following Harry is a feature documentary about late-in-life Harry Belafonte who is still just as dynamic, passionate and fully convinced that art, music and joy is the best way to bring about social change.
DINNER BREAK
Go get dinner but don’t be late. We recommend Wood Ear, Liz, Rustico Ristorante, and the Grand who are our restaurant partners.
7:30-10 pm FUTURE TOWN BILINGUAL CREATIVE CIRCUS with Lesli & Lupe Pérez and the Warm Cookies of the Revolution Team
Rustico Ristorante
The goal is to bridge differences and create a sense of belonging across language, race, class, culture, and assumptions. Expect music across genres, performance art, dancing, and interactive elements. Let’s have some fun with Original Thinkers guests!
Sunday - October 4
9:30-10:30 am Movement as Medicine with Molina and Jessica
Library Program Room
12-2 pm Let’s Picnic at the Cemetery
Lone Tree Cemetery
Another Cookies innovation that has become an OT tradition, this time with their Living Eulogies and Future Town Vision Train Art Conclusion
3-5 pm Pensadoras Originales Presenta Comparsa
Library Program Room
OT’s first Spanish-only show
the films
From the shadows of a Guatemalan barrio scared into silence, sisters Lesli and Lupe lead a luminous rebellion—unleashing joy, art, and radical truth in an epic fight for survival.
Comparsa fully immerses audiences in the intense world of Ciudad Peronia, Guatemala, where sisters Lesli and Lupe use art to inspire local youth and heal deep wounds. After 41 girls are killed in a State-run “Safe Home” and the government refuses to act, the sisters respond with a community comparsa—an exuberant street performance featuring towering puppets, fire-breathing stilt walkers, and thundering drums. With brave vulnerability, they expose a system that permits and commits violence against women, and they open up about surviving violence in their own home. Their youth movement takes to the streets, confronting corruption and reclaiming public space for women and girls. Rooting their efforts in joy and community care, they find healing along the way. Built on a 17-year relationship between the subjects and the film team, Comparsa offers a stirring portrait of sisterhood, peace building, and the transformational power of art. Comparsa Trailer
FOLLOWING HARRY joins Harry Belafonte during the last twelve years of his life, as the legendary artist and civil rights leader embarks on a deeply personal and reflective journey, while inspiring the next generation of entertainers and activists to disrupting justice across the globe, striving for impactful change.
A film by Susanne Rostock(Sing Your Song), is an intimate documentary that chronicles the last twelve years of legendaryHarry Belafonte’s life, highlighting the artist-activist's enduring commitment to social justice. Fueled by his tremendous sense of urgency to inspire the next generation of entertainers and activists to stand for justice, the film provides a window into both his public endeavors and private moments, capturing his journey from the aftermath of the death of TrayvonMartin, to his engagements in the protests in Ferguson, the Women’s March (which was created in his office), to the deeply and profound conversations in his home.The film ultimately amplifies Harry’s belief that “each generation must be responsible for itself.All I can do is leave behind the crumbs of my experience. I have a trail that you can follow, if you find value in it, pick it up and if you don’t, bring something better. Following Harry Trailer
the activities
Tea & Tarot
Tea Ceremony is a perfect elemental art. Silently, we drink tea from ancient trees grown in reverence. In this special space we give the water, fire and tea leaves a chance to communicate with us in their subtle and silent tongue. Old-growth trees have been taking in sunlight, rainwater and starlight for hundreds of years. Drinking tea from their leaves in a ceremonial space allows us access parts of our heart which we usually cannot reach.
This practice pairs perfectly with tarot. After the tea ceremony we draw cards for the entire group and then for the individuals present who want personal readings.
Tarot card reading is like looking at oneself through the clarifying reflection of an intuitive friend. In these sessions, you are invited to participate as Jade interprets the tarot cards you draw from their deck. Tarot is not about reading the future or divining destiny. The cards are a set of elemental archetypes so ancient and true that we find ourselves magnetized to those that speak to our present situation.
Future Town Vision Train
This collaborative art experience is a global creative community built around the idea that when we connect our individual visions, we can create something bigger together. At Original Thinkers, festivalgoers will be invited to step into the creative process and contribute to a collaborative, evolving work of art, bringing their imagination, ideas, and artistic expression to the project. Part art installation, part community gathering, and part creative experiment, the Vision Train experience invites everyone to participate. There are no spectators here. You’re part of the train. Together, we’ll explore what happens when individual creativity connects to a collective vision for the future.
grace reins Equine Therapy
Drop survival armor, step into presence, and experience equine-guided self-trust. Through guided unmounted herd interaction and quiet reflection, this morning experience offers space to drop your defenses, release stress, and cultivate authentic connection.
ecstatic dance
Ecstatic Dance is an immersive experience of movement, freedom of expression, and fun that has the potential of opening you to a state of flow and feeling that allows for a journey of reconnection back to yourself. Dance is our birthright and the universal language of the soul. Whether you’re a dancing queen/king or think you have two left feet, this experience is for you. So put on something comfy, kick off your shoes, and we will see you on the dance floor.
Ecstatic Dance Guidelines
1. We dance barefoot. This allows us to connect more fully with the ground. Socks are OK.
2. We dance without words. We dance with body language. This makes it easier to be in a meditative flow state. No talking on the dance floor.
3. We dance as we are. No alcohol. No phones, photography, or video. No expectations or judgements. Just be yourself with respect for ourselves, the space, and one another.
Planetarium Experience
The Interstellar Ripple Effect is an immersive 360 experience in an inflatable 6 meter dome in partnership with San Luis Valley small business, Nomad Dome, which actualizes a long standing metaphor of how artists connect and create constellations in San Luis Valley. Madeleine Ahlborn, Founder and Steward of The Church Project Community Art Center in Monte Vista has compiled a pilot program of this visualization utilizing a 3D rendering of The Church Project building itself as the planetary body anchor in which artists orbit as their own planets in a unique solar system of connectivity. The audience will leave the dome inspired and better understand their place in the creative universe.
movement as medicine
Movement as Medicine is a freeform yoga experience that invites you to move, breathe, stretch, and explore your body without rules or expectations. Come as you are and let your movement be guided by curiosity, intuition, and what feels good.
the people
Adrian Molina
Warm Cookies of the Revolution
Adrian H. Molina is a Denver-based artist, poet, and "Future Builder" for Warm Cookies of the Revolution. He uses art, performance, and community engagement to explore themes of humanity, technology, and social futures, notably leading projects like the Future Town Tour. He is a conceptual and multimedia artist, curator, and poet. Installations, exhibitions, residencies and programs include collaborations with Meow Wolf, Denver Art Museum, Understudy/Denver Theater District, and Breck Create. Molina runs Future Town Tour for Warm Cookies of the Revolution. Future Town positions small towns in rural America in the future, rather than the past.
Evan Weissman is the founding executive director of Warm Cookies of the Revolution, a civic health club that blends innovative arts and culture with crucial civic issues. Prior to founding Warm Cookies of the Revolution, he spent 12 years as a company member of the collaborative Buntport Theater Company, who the Denver Post called "Monty Python’s anarchist grandchildren," winning over 100 awards as playwright, director, designer, and actor. His work with Warm Cookies includes creating over 400 arts-based civic programs including: live events, installations, videos, music, and books. Evan can be found giving talks and workshops at fancy universities, conferences, alleyways, and kindergarten classrooms. Evan was awarded a Roddenberry Fellowship, a Kellogg Foundation Leadership for Community Change Fellowship, a Livingston Fellowship, as well as the Colorado Governor’s Award for Creative Leadership and Parr Widener Civic Leadership Award. He was Denver Commissioner for Cultural Affairs, and Creative-in-Residence at the Denver Art Museum. Evan is a US Ambassador for the Royal Society for Arts. Evan teaches courses on nonviolent social change at Colorado College. He was the founding organizer of Colorado Bend The Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Social and Economic Justice, and co-founder of the Denver chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace. Evan is horrible at drawing and swimming, among many other deficiencies.
Evan Weissman
Warm Cookies of the Revolution
Stevie Selby is a multidisciplinary artist, photographer, filmmaker, and cultural storyteller whose work explores the intersections of people, place, imagination, and transformation. Through visual media, immersive experiences, and community-centered projects, he creates work that invites people to see themselves and the world around them differently. At the heart of his practice is a curiosity about what becomes possible when art is used not only to document culture, but to actively shape it.
Stevie Selby
Warm Cookies of the Revolution
Jessica chacon
Warm Cookies of the Revolution
Jessica is a multi-dimensional practitioner, movement educator, & facilitator in the healing arts- passionate about bringing back the ceremonial & ritualistic aspects to our lives, to support the spirit & soul to be nourished alongside the body & mind. She blends Earth-based wisdom, Indigenous & Eastern philosophies with modern science, helping humans to integrate and embody what it means to be human on the Earth at this time. From psychedelic therapy in her private practice, to women’s circles, retreats, teacher trainings and community organizing, Jessica hopes to help people de-colonize their mind/body, re-member who they are and widen their capacity to be present inside their sacred vessel, life, family and community. She is the owner of Sweetgrass Therapeutics-an Integrative Wellness Center in the San Luis Valley that is home to her private practice, yoga studio and is one of the locations for Warm Cookies of the Revolution’s Dreamscapes Lounge: Future Town 2045 Art Exhibition. When she’s not showing up for community you can find Jessica mothering, adventuring outdoors, writing poetry & music, or finding silence in hot springs.
Betsy Gaines Quammen is a historian and award-winning writer. She is fascinated by how cultural views shape relationships to landscape—and she loves a good ghost story! Betsy received a PhD from Montana State University, where she studied religion, history, and the philosophy of science. Her dissertation focused on Mormon history and the roots of armed public land conflicts in the United States.
Betsy's work has appeared in the New York Times, New York Daily News, and the History News Network. She is the author of This Haunted Land, American Zion, and True West. She lives in Bozeman, Montana, with her husband, writer David Quammen, three big dogs, a sturdy cat, and a lanky rescue python.
betsy gaines quaMmen
Chris Jennings is the author of Paradise Now: The Story of American Utopianism and End of Days: Ruby Ridge, the Apocalypse, and the Unmaking of America. A former editorial staffer at The New Yorker and employee of Telluride Sports, he graduated from Deep Springs College and Wesleyan University. Jennings lives in Inverness, California with his family.
Author
Chris jennings
Author
VickiE Curtis
Comparsa Director, Producer, Writer
Anna Hadingham
Comparsa, Producer
Lesli Canela PÉrez
Comparsa, Co-producer, Writer, Impact Facilitator
lupe PÉrez
Comparsa, Co-producer, Writer, Impact Facilitator
alicia michelsen
Warm Cookies of the Revolution
Matt hardesty
aka whadubber
Warm Cookies of the Revolution
Joe bob merrit
Warm Cookies of the Revolution
Amanda sage
Warm Cookies of the Revolution
Erin Cain
Grace Reins Equine Therapy
Cat Avila
Warm Cookies of the Revolution
Maddy Ahlborn
Warm Cookies of the Revolution
ramon Gabriefloff-Parish
Warm Cookies of the Revolution
jade rose
Tea Ceremony & Tarot
“SMMO” Sara ozawa
Warm Cookies of the Revolution
Jenn Turner
Original Thinkers
Emmy-winning writer of Netflix Originals The Social Dilemma and Chasing Coral, Vickie makes her directorial debut with Comparsa. Her work explores the systemic roots of social and ecological crises, and the artists and activists working to rebuild. Vickie’s storytelling spans award-winning documentaries including Searching For Amani (Tribeca), We Are Guardians (HotDocs, Netflix LatAm), Greener Pastures (POV), and Anbessa (Berlinale, Arte). After years studying theatre and education, she brings a collaborative ethos to each project.
Anna is a youth organizer and theater artist who spent a life-changing decade working for the grassroots youth organization Peronia Adolescente in Ciudad Peronia, Guatemala alongside the participants of Comparsa. In Guatemala, Anna had the privilege of producing dozens of comparsas, street festivals and original theatre with Peronia youth that they presented throughout Central America. She serves as community liaison and impact producer on the Comparsa film team. Anna has also served as director of youth programs at La Colaborativa, a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering the immigrant community in Chelsea, Massachusetts. She continues collaborations with Peronia Adolescente, rooting her work in community, justice, and imagination.
Lesli is a youth organizer, circus performer and community leader from Ciudad Peronia, Guatemala. Lesli came of age in the grassroots community organization Peronia Adolescente, where she began stilt walking, fire-breathing and facilitating workshops of her peers at a young age. Lesli is a powerful mobilizer and has rallied young people in her community to stand up for their rights, transform a clandestine garbage dump into a playground, and bring art and joy into the streets. Over the past nine years, Lesli has performed in and begun producing dozens of comparsas, street performances and workshops for her community. Through shaping production and writing original poems and text for Comparsa, her storytelling is a central feature of the filmmaking process. She plans to bring her circus arts and community organizing skills to the impact campaign by leading workshops, teacher trainings, and facilitated discussions throughout Guatemala in tandem with screenings of the film.
Lupe is an educator, community organizer and tattoo artist from Ciudad Peronia, Guatemala. Lupe became involved with the community organization Peronia Adolescente when she was a teenager and began practicing stilt walking and mural painting among other artforms. Lupe now works as an educator and mentor with Peronia Adolescente, reaching hundreds of youth with academic support and creative expression projects. Lupe has collaborated closely as a member of the Comparsa documentary crew both in production and as a writer. She plans to bring her arts-driven community organizing skills to the impact campaign by leading workshops, teacher trainings, and facilitated discussions throughout Guatemala in tandem with screenings of the film.
Alicia Michelsen is the CEO at The Learning Council, an educational and food equity nonprofit in Paonia, Co. Alicia is the force and yes behind many projects. She finds creative ways to cultivate community action and supportive community events that uplift multi-generations and underestimated communities within the North Fork Valley and beyond.
Alicia helped start the Arbol Farmers Market, advocacy for comprehensive sex education in Delta County schools, community meals made of local produce, movement and art classes for all, Festival Agricola- Mexican heritage street fair, leads community donation of food to the Towaoc Reservation, and has revitalized creative events in her community. Alicia Sits on the Boards of Western Colorado Migrant and Rural Coalition, Western Slope Native American Resource Center. and Viva la Vida Foundation, She is a village herbalist, mother of three sons.
Matt Hardesty (aka whadubber) blends interactive sampling and real-time audio production to create sonic collage.
Joe Bob Merritt is an Artkitect, Community Conspirator and Re-Creation-All-ist exploring the design, construction and operation of Relation-Ships of ReMembrance. Trained at Texas A&M and SCI-Arc, for three decades he has worked across architecture, education and practical psychetechnics. At South Main Gunnison, a century-old lumberyard in Gunnison, Colorado, he is building an Industrial Park for Good—an ecosystem of enterprises including an artifactory, food security initiatives, a somatic arts studio, salvage yard and flower farm. Through The Learning Council, he develops projects in service of intercultural harmony. With Amanda Sage and Vision Train, he extends this practice into a global network of regenerative artists building The Great Wave of TrainsFormation.
Amanda Sage is an artist driven to contribute to the development of regenerative culture by using painting and creative thinking as a tool for transformation within the individual and
collective.
Passionate about artistic social experiments, her cultural endeavors are focused towards creative solutionary activism within community. She is a board member at CoSM, Alex & Allyson Grey’s art sanctuary in NY, The Gunnison Arts Center and a long-standing member of the WUK in Vienna, Austria.
Founder of the Vision Train, a virtual 24/7 studio started in 2020, she also teaches transformational painting workshops while exhibiting her work in galleries, museums and festivals worldwide.
With over 25 years of experience in Equine Facilitated Therapies, I am a PATH International Certified Therapeutic Riding Instructor and Equine Specialist in Mental Health and Learning. My passion lies in facilitating the profound connection between horses and humans, creating transformative experiences that foster healing and personal growth.
Through my work, I guide individuals on a journey of discovery, leveraging the unique ability of horses to impart valuable life lessons in trust, communication, and self-awareness. By harnessing this powerful bond, I empower people to overcome challenges, build confidence, and cultivate inner peace. I am deeply grateful to have found my calling in this field and remain committed to positively impacting the lives of those I serve.
Cat Avila is a Colorado native, originally from Pueblo and Trinidad, and has called the Gunnison Valley home since 2018. She is an artist, arts educator, and arts administrator who joined the Gunnison Arts Center in 2024 and currently works as the Visual & Performing Arts Programming Manager. Cat is passionate about bringing affordable, welcoming art classes and creative experiences to her community and believes the arts should be accessible to everyone. She earned her degree in Ceramics from Western Colorado University in 2023, and her own work is inspired by nature, growth, regeneration, and the strange and whimsical beauty of the natural world.
Madeleine (Maddy) Ahlborn is the host of Creative Citizen the Unexpected Artist podcast and Founder and Steward of The Church Project Community Art Center located in rural Monte Vista, CO.
After 12 years of observation and integration in the San Luis Valley communities, Ahlborn recognized a gap in connection and access around creativity. The Church Project is a for profit organization that operates in a hybrid business model with nonprofit partners, Optimystics Citizen Action Network and Rural Journalism Institute of the SLV, and has a mission to provide the space and freedom for all people to unlock their creative potential.
What began as a solo art project has now grown to host 17 creative programs (community driven), partners/incubates 13 small businesses, and is becoming a creative conduit to connect residents and visitors throughout the 8,000 square mile region on the San Luis Valley.
Ramon Gabriefloff-Parish serves as an associate professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at Naropa University. He focuses on the equity dimensions of the sustainability movement through courses in food and environmental justice. He also teaches foundations in embodiment, contemplative learning and theory, diversity and social identity, Afrofuturism, African Religions, and Conflict Transformation.
Ramon supports organizations and institutions to embody more forward-thinking practices with interactive workshops, trainings and events. Bridging social justice, sustainability, cultural technologies, and the arts, Ramon brings heart, movement, mindfulness and ceremony into his consulting, pedagogy, advocacy and practice. As certified SomaSource® trainer he is committed to community, cultural and cosmic regeneration through his community work with organizations like Golden Bridge, Once and Future Green and Warm Cookies of the Revolution.
Jade Rose has a Masters in Fine art and a master's in Social Work. She has been teaching Pranakriya yoga and meditation since 2008. Her paintings, writings, and philosophy revolve around the unity of all beings. The abstract realism of her work reflects her vision: that we are one with our breath, with the water we drink, and with the mountains we see. Magic is present at this moment. Jade Rose has been reading tarot for twenty years, she has written four books on the subject. Tarot card reading is like looking at oneself through the clarifying reflection of an intuitive friend. In her Tea and Tarot sessions, you will participate as Jade leads a Tea Ceremony and interprets the tarot cards drawn from her deck. Tarot is not about reading the future or divining destiny. The cards are a set of elemental archetypes so ancient and true that we find ourselves magnetized to those that speak to our present situation.
Known by her initials, Smmo facilitates environmental and cultural change by bridging the gap between systems strategy and hands-on collaboration. For the last nine years, she has worked in various realms within ecological design and community-based development including urban agriculture, affordable sustainable housing development, long-range planning, public space design, and community storytelling. She is currently most interested in working on projects that embrace the holistic complexity of socioecological issues and that result in adaptive, connective solutions that meet the uncertainty of this moment. Ultimately, her work is dedicated to fostering stronger relationships--between neighbors, between communities and their environments, and between a collective vision and its implementation.
Jenn Turner is a yoga teacher, functional fitness instructor, ecstatic dance and retreat facilitator, and women’s wellness coach with more than 500 hours of yoga training and 12+ years of experience. Her work weaves together movement, breath, strength, mindfulness, and play to help people reconnect with their bodies and inner wisdom.
Jenn brings curiosity, joy, and a spirit of exploration to all her offerings. Ecstatic dance is an invitation to let go of expectations, move beyond the thinking mind, and discover what becomes possible when we listen to the body.
When she’s not teaching or facilitating, Jenn is a marketing professional (Jenn Turner Marketing & Creative) and the producer of Original Thinkers alongside its founder and ringleader, David Holbrooke.
the partners
