Ashley Boling's Bio

Ashley Boling

Biography

In brief:

Ashley Boling, Director of the Telluride Institute, has lived in Telluride for over 16 years, and has been active on the stage, in the classroom, and in the San Juan Mountains. Locally, he has worked with the Telluride Institute, the San Miguel River Watershed Project, Telluride Academy, the Telluride School District, the various Summer festivals, and KOTO radio. As a Watershed Instructor with the Telluride Institute's Watershed Education Project, Ashley has spent time in the Nucla/Naturita and Norwood schools researching, writing, rehearsing, and performing original plays about the founding of both Nucla and Norwood. Ashley, his wife Suzan, and their four year old son Lochlan, love to explore the wilds of the San Miguel River and the surrounding mountains.

The following profile appeared in the Telluride Watch on Dec. 29, 2006:

Ashley Boling is the newly appointed executive director of the Telluride Institute, the locally founded nonprofit begun in 1984 by Pamela Zoline and John Lifton.

The Institute has evolved over the past two decades to include programs in Watershed Education, Black Bear Awareness, Ideas Festival, Mushroom Festival, Composer to Composer, Native American Writers, Greenbucks, Science Fiction, Atlas of the San Miguel Watershed, Radio Futures, West End Summer Camp, and numerous other educational enrichment projects.

Having worked and volunteered with quite a few other Telluride community nonprofits (KOTO Radio, the Telluride Repertory Theatre Company, Telluride Academy, The Ah Haa School for the Arts, the Fifth Grade Shakespeare Project, Telluride Chorale Society, Telluride Film Festival, Sheridan Arts Foundation, Mountainfilm, and others), Boling is deeply committed to the mission of non profits in our region of Colorado, and indeed, the country and world.

The mission statement of the Telluride Institute is: “Telluride Institute is an innovative nonprofit organization that fosters the transition to a sustainable world. We do this by working with communities, businesses, and the public sector to create and advance real solutions which support the health of environments, cultures, and economies. We collaborate with leading artists, scientists, and educators to map a progressive future.”

Boling spent his school years in Alexandria, Va., and earned his degree in history from the University of Virginia. Following college, Boling worked with Pi Kappa Phi National Fraternity as a leadership consultant. He traveled seven days a week for a year and visited two universities or colleges per week. After his fill of life on the road, Boling landed a position with the Dean of Students at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. He spent six months there, filling a gap created by a sudden departure.

Another nonprofit, St. Stephen’s School in Alexandria, Va., provided Boling’s next position. Boling had attended St. Stephen’s and seemed a natural person to serve as alumni director, having spent four years directing the alumni association, teaching, coaching, and organizing special events. Another area of involvement for Boling at the school was outdoor education. He spent four years of school breaks and summers guiding wilderness trips in Virginia, Texas, Mexico, Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, and Utah. These school trips intensified Boling’s love for the outdoors, and prompted a move to Telluride in July of 1990.

The idea of a sustainable community, region, country, and even world appeals to Boling on many levels. “I’m excited by the mission of the Telluride Institute,” says Boling. “The Institute’s regional Watershed Education Programs are successful in integrating students from the Telluride, Norwood, Nucla/Naturita, and even Paradox valley school systems. The common thread unifying these areas is the San Miguel River.

The San Miguel River is both a literal and metaphorical link between and among communities in San Miguel and Montrose counties. Western slope communities are diverse in terms of economies, topography, climate, and sociology. Our San Miguel River may look and act differently along the 80 miles of its course, but this one river is a constant reminder that residents of our watershed are all connected.”

As executive director of the Telluride Institute, Boling is responsible for overseeing all of the programs, festivals and various projects it generates every year. He will be active in board development, fundraising with individual donors and foundations, personnel growth and management, networking with other nonprofit organizations and governmental agencies, and assisting with long range planning goals.

Boling lives with his wife, Suzan Beraza, and their 4-year-old son, Lochlan, in Lawson Hill. Boling can be reached at the Telluride Institute at 728-8312, or email at ashleyboling@gmail.com.

Essays and articles by Ashley:

"The Long and Happy Reach of the Telluride Institute," The Telluride Watch. http://www.telluridewatch.com/archive_news/2006/december/122206/guestcom.htm

Recommendations:

Horward Greager, Cowboy historian of Norwood, who wrote The Hell That Was Paradox. See http://www.westernreflectionspub.com/bio.html?id=15
Marvin Schmidt recalling his great-grandfather's talks with Chief Ouray at the foot of Mt. Wilson. See context at http://www.nativevoices.org/articles/telluride_first.html

Contact info:

Office: 970-728-8312
email: ashleyboling@gmail.com

Telluride , Colorado
December 2006