On October 15, Governor Jared Polis finally joined friends and family of Stephen Brackett over Zoom to announce that the Flobots and Youth on Record co-founder would be the State of Colorado’s second music ambassador.
The event was originally scheduled for mid-March, but COVID-19 closures shut down that plan, and the announcement was postponed. Nonetheless, Brackett has already been busy at work, leading music-education workshops in person and developing a statewide virtual curriculum.
More than half a year after he assumed the post — with live music all but shut down by the pandemic, a majority of venues facing closure, and music-education programs long slashed by budget cuts — Brackett’s ingenuity as music ambassador is definitely being put to the test.