Introduction

Recent developments bring together possibilities for collaboration among many community oriented enterprises and initiatives with existing or likely financial and citizen support:

Some of these:

• Crestone Charter School
• Crestone Performances
• The Crestone Energy Fair
• The Crestone Library Project
• The Crestone Creative District
• The Colorado Opportunity Scholarship Initiative
• Your Empowerment Solutions (YES)
• Lots of other SLV projects

This looks like a golden opportunity to combine resources and the economy of scale to provide a single integrated facility supported by and substantially meeting important needs of the citizens, schools, officials and various for profit or not enterprises of the greater San Luis Valley area. Diversity should empower, not divide.

OmniDome

A geodesic dome structure encloses the most volume with the least surface area, distributes wind and snow loads throughout the structure so lighter construction with no internal load-bearing support is possible, is simpler to insulate and heat and should be more economical than traditional rectilinear construction. Ideally it will share a large parking lot and other resources with the Charter School if it can be placed nearby. One big dome instead of several smaller buildings in separate locations each with their own plumbing, electrical, heating, heavy duty roofs, and maintenance has got to be a better choice.

Imagine a Crestone based OmniDome with resources and facilities for education, community services, professional services, arts and large scale performances.

Imagine smaller attached multi-use outlying domelets—a box office/entry domelet, professional kitchen, green room, admin office, secure storage, soundproof editing/voice over suites, work shops. Too many possibilities, so a full basement is also indispensable for more resources including carpentry/set building shop, class rooms, conference rooms, maker space and more.

Imagine a dome seating 500 with perimeter booths for food service, vendors, information, networking and more.

Imagine a first class stage with basement platform mechanisms for raising pianos, drum sets and actors, and overhead mechanisms for curtains, backgrounds, lighting and flying actors.

Imagine elevated catwalks around the interior walls for cameras, lighting and gawking.

Imagine making the top level a transparent lounge with a Saturn ring outdoor deck around it!

Imagine complete rigging, lighting, gear, control room, editing suites, and trained crews to produce videos and live internet streaming of local and location events, paid advertising, and community oriented live programming with local producers, stars and presenters. Let’s put on a Show!

Video Education and Career Paths

Where do those trained crews come from?

Imagine a complete video training and production program to prepare students, and anyone else interested, for careers in video, film or any craft or industry with video needs. Virtually every career path interest integrates with video production skills. Video is the new literacy for the 21st century. All the jobs that can be done by a computera already are, or will soon be. Imagination, creativity, non-computable skills and life-long learning are now essential. Education is now learning how to learn. Our children are the future, and are already creating a future we can't imagine. With video production skills, which require human craftsmanship, creativity and integration of art and technology that no computer will ever manage, they can make their way in any field, follow their own stars, and make a living doing what they love instead of becoming “labor market” wage slaves. Anything is possible.

Imagine students self-organized into video crews who do volunteer work for area schools and non-profits and professional paid work for other area clients when they get good enough, with some of the proceeds going to support the OmniDome, and graduate with professional skills, teamwork and client experience, contacts, resources, sample works, reputations and income sources already in place from stock footage and other sales. Integral with the training program will be production of high quality submissions for stock footage agencies, which creates a passive income into the future every time a clip is sold, and of course web distribution, contests, film festivals, and many other avenues for recognition, distribution and employment.

Training methodology will include self-directed learning, strong emphasis on web learning resources, peer and professional reviews of works, no grades, more advanced students mentoring less advanced, professional mentors, cooperative trainee arrangements and internships with professionals, developing programs for area schools, and regular live streaming broadcasts for the SLV audience (Let’s put on a Show!). Student and citizen crews will want to recruit the best and, as they mature may want to create their own crew specialties, names, identities and merchandising, like posters, token crew coins and sampler flash drives. Then there is the upward path of a crew “graduating” to become a company or plugging-in to one as a group. Imagine that!

Some Pertinent Links (old-some may not still work or be pertinent))

Conclusion

I have focused on the video aspect of the OmniDome project because that is one of my main interests and because of its considerable synergetic impact on facilities design, funding, operations, program development and interactivity with other OmniDome activities. I have some design ideas to share with an architect, and will be happy to advise and consult from my own experience as a digital R&D design engineer, web developer and video professional (Resumé on request). Others are invited to share their visions of possibilities in their areas of expertise. These ideas need to be refined through many minds with input from every affected enterprise.

There is much to be worked out, funding, organizational structure, a collaborative business model, branding, publicity, administration, legal issues, staffing, outreach and liaison with area schools and enterprises, and a first-rate database-integrated website to publicize, recruit, coordinate and report on all the above. See part2.

The Crestone area has an unusual abundance of talented community-minded experts in most or all of these areas—fertile ground for this seed. Every collaborator has their own piece to be worked out. Bring ‘em on.

If you are interested, let me know at wizwho@gmail.com, and I will put you on the email list for a get-acquainted-and-see-what-happens meeting announcement when the time comes.

Crestone already has some world-class projects that have become models for the world. Let’s create another one.

Anything is possible.

Part 2

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Rick King
1-11-15