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Inc.: These WV artisans created an internationally-recognized company

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Allegheny Treenware measuring spoons (via the Allegheny Treenware Facebook page)
BY LEIGH BUCHANAN FOR INC.

Sue and Stanley Jennings’s love story began underground. In 1984 Sue was a miner, running big machines in a coal pit in Philippi, West Virginia. Stanley was a mechanic, servicing those machines. “He had 10 years underground and I had five,” says Sue, who had followed her best friend into that career.

Two months after they met, the mine shut down for a year, preparing to become a non-union outfit. The couple spent four years largely adrift. He tried strip mining but quit because he found the environmental practices odious. She was a school janitor and worked in a greenhouse.

Then they found their calling: wooden spoons.

Allegheny Treenware cohabits with the Jennings’s farm on 45 acres in Thornton, West Virginia…

Read the full story on the Inc. site »

Tess Myers of Boone County is a ball of energy for greater good

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Tess Myers (center, left) has been working with residents and supporters in Boone County on projects like arts-centered healing and recovery. Pictured here at the
Madison Main Street Small Business Street Fair.
DAN TAYLOR, ENERGIZING ENTREPRENEURIAL COMMUNITIES PROGRAM COORDINATOR, THE HUB

Tess Myers sees creating community and individual empowerment to help address West Virginia’s challenges as the path forward.

She decided she had enough of seeing the opioid epidemic ravage her community and needed to get active. If you ever meet Tess, you’ll find she is a ball of energy. And out of this ball of energy, Boone County’s Generations Saved was created.

Generations Saved is only a little over one year old, but has grown a great deal.

Community-driven efforts like this to help fight the opioid epidemic are inspiring to see. Tess’s work is just one example of the new narrative happening in West Virginia – one that is aware of the challenges, yet rooted in solutions coming out of West Virginian communities.

The organization has two main goals: lower the birth rate of babies born with NAS (neonatal abstinence syndrome) and promote the healing effects of the arts as they relate to recovery.

Generations Saved creates and promotes arts-related projects as part of the healing process for recovery and for community outreach. They put on music festivals, art galleries, and more, having worked with Day of Hope, Prestera, and others.

Music Through The Madness, of which they have done two so far, is their music festival project. They are currently planning a third for early September in the Madison area. Other future plans include fundraisers, art shows, a summer tubing event, and more.

The group also works as a primary prevention project to slow down the rate of babies birthed with NAS. The program relies on LARC (Long-Acting Reversible Contraception), which is given voluntarily and is reversible once recovery is complete.


Tamarack Foundation looking for Emerging Artist Fellows

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At the Emerging Artist Fellows exhibition at Taylor Books (via Tamarack Foundation for the Arts Facebook page)
BY EMMA PEPPER, DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC NETWORK COMMUNICATIONS, THE HUB

The Tamarack Foundation for the Arts is looking for the next round of Emerging Artist Fellows to participate in this program to boost creative careers, develop leadership skills, and build a network with established artists from across the state.

Nominations are due June 14, 2019.

From the organizers:

“Emerging Artist Fellows are thriving early-career artists. They demonstrate not only a superior level of mastery in their craft, but also the aptitude to become successful professionals leading well-managed creative enterprises. Two fellows will be selected by an independent committee comprised of master-level artists and arts leaders from across the state of West Virginia.

You can self-nominate or have your college professor, mentor, colleague, or other individual nominate you based on your work in the arts. Fellows will be evaluated based upon the level of mastery they have achieved in their creative practice as well as their aptitude and/or desire to achieve professional success.”

To nominate an artist for this fellowship and to find more information, visit the Tamarack Foundation for the Arts site »


Daily Yonder: Thomas, WV – the town the arts (re)built

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Poster for Amanda Blake exhibition, to open soon at Lamplight Gallery in Thomas (via Lamplight Gallery’s Facebook page)
BY BRYCE OATES FOR THE DAILY YONDER

The city of Thomas, West Virginia, like a lot of municipalities in the Mountain State, owes its initial development to coal.

Today, however, the downtown of the small town in eastern West Virginia has redeveloped in response to another economic sector – arts and culture.

“All over West Virginia the arts and culture economy, coupled with outdoor recreation and tourism, are just growing,” said Emily Wilson-Hauger, program director of Woodlands Development Group.

The trend is national, according to a National Governor’s Association “action guide” that describes how rural communities can build on culture and art to renew distressed economies…

Read the full article on the Daily Yonder site »

Five WV communities selected to host Create Your State tour in May

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BY LORI MCKINNEY, CREATE YOUR STATE

Five WV Communities have been selected to host the Create Your State Tour (CYS) in May. CYS is a multi-media music performance, educational presentation and workshop that inspires and empowers creative community revitalization and development through the arts. The towns were selected based on their interest, capacity, drive, and need for this type of development.

Anyone from around the state and region is welcome to attend the shows and workshops in Moorefield, Philippi, Kingwood, New Martinsville and West Huntington May 13-17 from 6:30-9:30pm, which will provide a full program of immersive experiential learning and planning for leaders, entrepreneurs, artists, students and other involved citizens.

The events are free of charge and open to the public. More details are at the end of this story.

The presentation tells the inspiring story of arts-driven community transformation in Princeton, West Virginia through the eyes of artists and cultural entrepreneurs LoriMcKinney and Robert Blankenship. The arts are reigniting their once abandoned downtown with creative capital, reclaiming it as a cultural district that is increasingly drawing new business and tourism. Participants will gain skills, tools, and on-the-ground contacts to spark positive change and cultivate a similar scene in these communities and they will be invited to take advantage of ongoing support—resources, contacts, mentorship—after the workshop as they carry out arts-based community development projects.

The workshop features original music, visual projections and a compelling exchange about how the arts, creativity and an out-of-the-box approach can establish a creative scene that redefines and reinvigorates a community. Participants will have access to a web portal with step-by-step instructional toolkits, video shorts, and more. And they will receive ongoing guidance from the Create Your State (CYS) founders to execute community projects and plant new creative capital in their communities. 

Anyone from around the state and region is welcome to attend and become a part of the conversation. All events are from 6:30 – 9:30 p.m., and the programs will take place at:

  • Moorefield High School on Monday, May 13th
  • Wanderlust Coffeehouse and Wine Lounge in Philippi on Tuesday, May 14th
  • Preston Community Arts Center in Kingwood on Wednesday, May 15th
  • Lincoln Theater in New Martinsville on Thursday, May 16th, and
  • Alias14W in West Huntington on Friday, May 17th

Call 304-320-8833 with questions. The program is free and open to the public.

Register-Herald: Couple sparking creative community in Hinton

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BY MATT COMBS FOR THE REGISTER-HERALD
From the R&R Galleria Facebook page

When Amanda Baker saw the antique tin ceiling past a displaced drop ceiling tile, she was surprised.

“I said, ‘Look at this,’” Baker said. “We started popping the panels out so that we could see it and shine a light up there. Except for one panel that was a little bent and discolored, it was in perfect condition.”

Baker was walking through an old building located on Temple Street in Hinton that she and her business partner, Curt Messer, would turn into R & R Galleria.

The building had sat empty for approximately seven years and the pair would work more than a year to slowly get it into shape.

A relative newcomer to Hinton, six years ago, Baker knew the very first day she came through the old railroad town that she saw potential…

Read the full story on the Register-Herald site »

Arts in Our Communities annual meet-up coming soon

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BY EMMA PEPPER, DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC NETWORK COMMUNICATIONS, THE HUB

The WV Department of Arts, Culture and History is set to host their 2019 Arts in Our Communities conference at the Culture Center in Charleston, WV this February 12-13.

The annual event is free to attend, and event organizers have promised the schedule will be released soon.

From the organizers:

“The West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History invites you to the 2019 Arts in Our Communities Conference, featuring presentations and workshops by key national arts leaders, along with panel discussions by artists and arts organizations from across West Virginia. The event will feature ample networking opportunities and presenters from every region of the state as we continue our conversation about arts in our communities.”

Visit the event registration page for details »

Ready to put arts at the forefront of your community’s revitalization strategy?

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The Create Your State Tour crew and a portion of the program from the 2016 tour

Applications are now open for the 5th round of the Create Your State (CYS) Tour in West Virginia. Five towns will be selected to host the program started by the founders of the RiffRaff Arts Collective in Princeton on May 13-17. The CYS Tour inspires and empowers arts-centric community development. 

Interested individuals and groups can access the application to host the CYS Tour at createyourstate.org. The deadline to submit applications is February 10.  For more information about the CYS tour, stay tuned to that website, send an e-mail to createyourstatetour@gmail.com, or call 304-320-8833. 

History of the program

The downtown area of Princeton, West Virginia is in the midst of a dynamic creative renaissance on its way to becoming a vital regional tourist destination known for its blossoming arts district. Early pioneers and catalysts of this revitalization Lori McKinney and Robert Blankenship began working toward this vision nearly a decade ago when they established the RiffRaff Arts Collective in the heart of downtown. Featuring an art gallery, artist studios, performance venues, a recording studio, a music school, and more, this vibrant collective has brought color and life to a turn-of-the-century structure and its surrounding neighborhood. Over the years, partnerships with local government and universities, local non-profit Community Connections, the Princeton-Mercer County Chamber of Commerce, volunteers and more, have amplified their work and sparked a sweeping movement to renovate Mercer Street, the town’s main thoroughfare, now home to many new business and community-building celebratory events such as an annual arts parade and various holiday-themed street parties including the “Downtown Countdown,” a New Year’s Eve ball drop a la NYC’s Times Square. Downtown Princeton once again has a thriving pulse!

Since 2012, McKinney and Blankenship, along with their music ensemble Option 22, have been traveling around the region to leadership conferences, entrepreneurship summits, and places of education to present a multimedia production called “Create Your State” that inspires citizens with their story of arts-based community revitalization and empowers other civic leaders, entrepreneurs, and creatives with tools to transform their environment and boost their local economy. Teamed with Community Connections, The Create Your State Tour was awarded a major grant in 2016 by the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation to take the show on the road around West Virginia. Twenty towns have received the program and are now making strides towards public art projects, establishment of arts festivals, arts-co-ops and more. Five additional WV towns will be selected to participate in the 2019 tour based on their interest, drive, and need for this type of development.

About Create Your State

The CYS program features live music, visuals, and a compelling exchange about the arts-centric revitalization of Princeton, providing inspiration and insight for the replication of this work. The music of Option 22 is full of hope and uplifting messages. The visuals—both video and still shots—are colorful and impactful, reflecting on building renovation, arts events, public works of art, parades, community garden creation, public space beautification, and more. The program is a stage show complete with professional sound and lighting, which creates an exciting, engaging setting for experiential learning. The web portal createyourstate.org is full of information, step-by-step instructions, webinars, and more, so that communities will have ongoing access to the information and a direct line of communication with the CYS founders. The generous funding provided by Benedum will allow McKinney and Blankenship to further elaborate their existing CYS curriculum, provide richer learning materials to participants, and offer ongoing support and mentorship as development plans get executed in communities throughout the state. 

The mission of The Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation is to encourage human development in West Virginia and Southwestern Pennsylvania through strategically invested resources. The foundation honors Michael and Sarah Benedum’s belief in “helping people help themselves” by creating “opportunities to cultivate the creativity of people and communities.”

CYS project manager and presenter Lori McKinney says, “This is a project ten years in the making. We have worked so hard for so long and we are incredibly thankful to have this opportunity to contribute to communities around the state, sharing what we’ve learned and inspiring people to transform their environment. The tour last year was impactful, and we have loved providing ongoing coaching to the wonderful teams that are working all around West Virginia. We are extremely grateful to Greg Puckett and Community Connections for all the support they have given us over the years to develop our work, and this opportunity is something we’ve been waiting for—to share what we have learned and give back at a bigger level. Many, many thanks to Community Connections and the Benedum Foundation for enabling this project!”

Greg Puckett, Executive Director of Community Connections says that, “We are exceptionally pleased at this amazing opportunity. Statistics show that when you change the physical design of a community, followed by an infusion of cultural diversity, it provides a vision of hope, innovation, and dedication from the community at large. This hope builds new partnerships and truly changes perception of negative, to overwhelmingly positive.”   

Wyoming County artist takes the leap to start a business

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BY TERRY BARTLEY, WYOMING COUNTY COMMUNITY COACH, THE HUB

Making the transition from hobby to business is always a challenge for new entrepreneurs.  Wyoming County artist, Laura Burdette, said she has found it particularly challenging in the mountain state.

“I’ve had to do side jobs because in West Virginia the term starving artist really applied,” Burdette said.  “It’s hard to make a living completely on that but, if it’s in your heart and it’s what you really want to do, it has to come out.”

Burdette said she has been painting since she was old enough to hold a brush.  Coming from a family of five children, Burdette and two of her sisters were artists.  She can remember that they used to create calendars as Christmas presents rather than buying something.  For Burdette, becoming a full-time artist is a long-time dream.

“When I was a little girl, I’d said, ‘Lord, when I grow up, please let me be an artist.’ That was exactly my prayer, so yeah pretty much that’s always what I wanted to do,” Burdette said.

While she has always had a passion for art, Burdette has not been in a position to make a career out of art for many years.  She felt like there was a lack of opportunity in Southern West Virginia. However, she believes that building relationships within her community over the years is much of what makes her a successful artist today.

“It’s been kind of interesting because I was a waitress for almost 30 years,” Burdette said, “So during that time, I’ve established a clientele.  I’ve handed out my cards and it’s just now that I’m painting full-time. I’ve got all of those [contacts] and it gives me more confidence to pursue it.”

Burdette sold her first piece of art in 1997.  She said she believes this event is what has given her the motivation to continue to paint as a side job, paving the way for her recent jump to full-time artist.

“It was a sketch of Father Time.  When I worked at the Eden Lounge, I would sit there and doodle.  And [a customer] would ask me ‘what are you doing? what are you doing?’ and so he wanted a picture of Father Time,” Burdette said, “I did it and then after that I met his uncle and it looked like his uncle. So the next day, after I sold it to him, I came home and there was an easel, paint, paint brushes and canvases at my door.  That man really got me started, it kind of gave me more confidence to say, ‘Hey, I can do this!’”

Burdette credits her transition to full-time artist to support from the West Virginia Community Development Hub and the Wyoming County Economic Development Authority (EDA).  Through The Hub’s Innovation Acceleration Strategy program – the initiative that preceded The Hub’s Energizing Entrepreneurial Communities program –  a volunteer arts team helped Burdette organize a series of art classes.  A mini-grant allowed them to purchase start-up supplies.

“I wouldn’t be able to do what I’m doing if it wasn’t for the EDA and the West Virginia Community Development Hub.  I would just of been painting in my studio, but I wouldn’t be able to do the instruction,” Burdette said, “It helps the community, I feel like it it helps people get excited and friends tell their friends and their friends tell their friends.  This wouldn’t happen if it wasn’t for the mini-grant from The Hub.”

Burdette has since strengthened her classes through an ongoing partnership with the Wyoming County Family Resource Network.  They manage the Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) Powerhouses in Pineville and Oceana, where Burdette holds her classes.

“[The Wyoming County Family Resource Network] is very helpful. When I feel like I’m starting to get lazy or overwhelmed with other things, they say, ‘When do you want to do another class?’ They don’t charge anything and there actually are a few people that work at the PowerHouse that have become students of mine.  So they encouraged the community to come in and actually I think there was a couple of girls that they did scholarships for, they paid their way so they can take the classes,” Burdette said.

Burdette said she enjoys the class because she appreciates the chance to pass on her passion and her lessons learned to her students.  She said she hopes they can see how her commitment to art has created her opportunity to live her dream.

“Well I tell my students, especially the younger ones, don’t get distracted.  Don’t let peers and don’t let people drag you off if it’s your passion. Right now I have a little girl that is really pursuing it and she’s taking it seriously, so just don’t get distracted.  Don’t stop doing it and you’ll be successful,” Burdette said.

If you know someone in Wyoming County that would enjoy taking an art class or would like to acquire a custom piece of art from Laura Burdette, she can be reached at her studio page on Facebook.