Regan Mertz
Arts & Culture ReporterRegan is a journalist for Aspen Public Radio’s Arts & Culture Desk. Regan moved to the Roaring Fork Valley in July 2024 for a job as a reporter at The Aspen Times. While she had never been to Colorado before moving for the job, Regan has now lived in ten different states due to growing up an Army brat. She considers Missouri home, and before moving West, she lived there and worked at a TV station.
Regan graduated from the Jonathan B. Murray Center for Documentary Journalism, earning a Master of Arts in Documentary and Photojournalism in December 2022. She received her Bachelor of Journalism in Radio and Convergence Journalism from the University of Missouri School of Journalism in May 2021. Throughout college, Regan worked at every Missouri School of Journalism publication, including the local NPR station.
She spent her summers working as a fellow for the Reynolds Journalism Institute, where she worked on a podcast with The Oregonian and audio stories for South Dakota Public Radio. She has also worked in Washington, D.C., at the Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival and Symposium and at the Library of Congress as a research assistant.
Regan is a White House Correspondents’ Association scholarship recipient and has won awards from the Missouri Broadcasters Association and a Missouri Press Association, along with receiving an Edward R. Murrow in 2021.
When not reporting, she enjoys trying out new hikes with her dog and reading with her cat. Regan is also learning to ski for the first time this winter.
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Following an increase in outdoor recreation during the COVID-19 pandemic, Roaring Fork Outdoor Volunteers ramped up their services. Funding and personnel cuts to federal agencies have exacerbated that pressure. Executive Director Becca Schild spoke with Arts & Culture Reporter Regan Mertz about what staff and volunteers are doing to ensure the backcountry is safe. -
Summertime in Aspen has long been a cultural destination with Aspen Institute events like Aspen Ideas Festival, Aspen Security Forum and the Aspen Music Festival and School. A new event is joining the lineup and trying to set itself apart. -
Inflation and the end of COVID-19 federal support triggered an increase in the number of people the Food Bank of the Rockies served in 2023. Sue Ellen Rodwick, director of Food Bank of the Rockies’ Western Slope Distribution Center, spoke with Arts & Culture Reporter Regan Mertz to discuss services on the Western Slope, which has more food insecurity than the rest of the state. -
After more than two decades as an artist, Titus Kaphar has seen art history professors and institutions neglect Black art and culture. He visited Anderson Ranch in Snowmass Village last month to speak as this year’s Ranch Week Honoree. -
A panel staffed by local agencies came after a 1.5-acre fire above Walmart in June that some residents blamed on a homeless encampment in the area. Some attendees noted that unhoused advocacy groups were missing from the conversation. -
The center was founded four years ago and works to maintain Aspen’s artistic history, dedicated to the legacy of Herbert Bayer. Reporter Regan Mertz spoke with Executive Director Lissa Ballinger to talk about what the center brings to the Roaring Fork Valley’s cultural scene. -
The Roaring Fork Valley cultural staple will shut down at the end of this year, as Francisco Nevarez-Burgueño, Folklórico’s director, retires after more than two decades with the organization. -
Garfield County’s finance administrator said Monday that a reduction in property tax revenue, high inflation rates, staff salary and insurance increases, capital projects and discretionary funding have contributed to the deficit. -
Department of Defense said “the forum’s values did not align with the Pentagon’s,” after making the decision the day before the annual conference began. -
The city of Aspen hosted its annual, old-fashioned Fourth of July parade on Friday as President Donald Trump signed the “big, beautiful bill” into law, and some attendees had mixed reactions.
