The WV Hub

The West Virginia Community Development Hub

Close
Menu

WFPL: In Butchertown, Colorful Mural a Key Part of Neighborhood Revitalization

Share

Photo by Butchertown Neighborhood Association

By Ashlie Stevens/WFPL

For Butchertown residents and business owners, a newly-completed Story Avenue mural isn’t just for decoration — it’s a way to get people to stop and take notice of a neighborhood that’s been steadily transitioning for the past several years.

“Butchertown, we feel, is really turning a corner,” says Nick Johnson, president of the Butchertown Neighborhood Association. “In the past it’s been a bit of a forgotten, maybe neglected, neighborhood — a little abused and unloved. But with new development, more people want to live here and be part of it.”

This development is alluded to in the 5,000 square-foot mural, which was commissioned by JBS Louisville Pork Plant and created by artists Tara Remington and Aron Conaway. From design to completion, the project took about two years.

The mural is called “The Story on Story Avenue” and features eclectic images gleaned from historical and present-day photos of Butchertown activities, people and landmarks…

Read the full story at wfpl.org

The Clock is Ticking, West Virginia. Are You Registered and Ready?

Share

If you are one of the more than 300 people that have already registered for New Story this Friday and Saturday, kudos to you. Put your feet up.

(Of course, if you’re not one of the more than 300 people already registered for New Story, you better get on that.)

Here’s some last minute info about parking, food and directions etc, to make sure you’re good to go.

WHERE TO GO

WVU’s Reed College of Media Innovation Center is on the 4th Floor of the Evansdale Crossings building, next to the Rec’ Center off Patteson Drive. Here’s the link to google maps directions to the building.

PARKING

There’s a few options.

Parking at the Coliseum (basketball stadium) at 3450 Monongahela Blvd is free. It is about a 400 meter walk from the Coliseum parking lot to the Evansdale Crossings building.

Parking in the 2 Short Term (ST) lots closest to the Evansdale Crossings building (ST 4 and ST 9) is $1.25/hour.

Parking in ST 1, about 100 yards closer to Patteson Drive, is 50c/hour.

Here’s WVU’s map of parking options.

And here’s information about accessibility parking at WVU.

FOOD

You’re responsible for keeping yourself sufficiently fed and happy in the belly during New Story.

The restaurants on the ground floor of Evansdale Crossings will be open from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. on Friday, and will be closed on Saturday.

So we’re bringing in some local mobile food businesses to give you some options before and during the Happy Hour.

On Friday from 4:30 – 7:30, Cody Thrasher’s Hash Browns & New Grounds and Clarksburg’s own My Little Cupcake (also serving pepperoni rolls, cookies and some gluten-free options) will be parked outside the center.

We are working on bringing in other food trucks for Saturday lunch. Stay tuned to our facebook and twitter feeds between now and Friday for updates.

From Evansdale Crossings you are a short walk (or very short drive) from a number of food options including Black Bear Burritos (yay!), Beanery American Grill and the standard chain options (booo!).

Repeating the key point: we won’t be feeding you at New Story, but we will provide some options to buy food on site. Please plan your tucker accordingly.

UPDATES

We’ll be emailing everyone who has registered tomorrow morning with this info.

But we’ll also be using The Hub’s facebook and twitter feeds to share New Story info in the next few days. So make sure you like and follow us (links in previous sentence) so you don’t miss any important updates.

If you haven’t registered yet, time is running out. We’ll have to close the (virtual) doors on Wednesday night.

New Story is free.

For more information about the sessions, and to register now, visit: newstory17.splashthat.com/

In Eastern Kentucky, a Whole New Take On Being Young in Appalachia

Share

Photos by Mountain Tech Media

In West Virginia we’ve been hearing for awhile now about how many young people are leaving the state and how hard it is for them to stay.

Turns out, there’s a totally different way to think about being a young person in Appalachia.

That’s what the It’s Good To Be Young in The Mountains conference in Harlan County, Kentucky is all about. Originated by the community arts group, Higher Ground, they get together once a year to celebrate what it means to be a young person in Appalachia while providing workshops on essential life skills and hobbies.

Alexia Ault, a VISTA serving with Berea College and a coordinator of the 2017 Conference, said the need for this conference became evident after Higher Grounds original play, “Find a Way.”

“What we don’t want to happen is to have a bunch of established leaders to come in and take over. We want these young people to have their voice heard.”

The play featured a family of characters that represented different concepts, including a character that represents the coal industry. This character dies halfway through the play, leaving the family to deal with his loss.

Ault said the play was written through real conversations with students in the Harlan area. She said it made evident that there was a need to teach basic life skills, such as finances and sex education, as well as the ability to find jobs and realize what options existed in the mountains for young people.

The first IGTBYITM featured loads of panels, not just concerning basic life skills. They also taught fun things, such as t-shirt screen printing. Ault said they used social media to ask what people wanted to teach and let anyone that wanted to create a panel.

“People would say, ‘I know how to do pottery, can I lead a pottery workshop?’  I don’t think we turned anyone away,” Ault said.

The the name of IGTBYITM implies that it is primarily for young people, Ault said there is no strict age requirements.

“Our demographic is very fluid, there’s no set rule.  We ask participants to interpret young however they feel comfortable,” Ault said.

However, she also said it is important that the conversations happen with local young people.  Without letting young people express their concerns, IGTBYITM loses its purpose.

“What we don’t want to happen is to have a bunch of established leaders to come in and take over. We want these young people to have their voice heard,” Ault said.

The 2017 conference was buzzing with positivity and it helped remind me that it really is good to be young in the mountains. It reminded me how beautiful Appalachia is and just how much young people are capable of.

10 Years In The Making, Documentary Photographer Brings Life On The Blackfeet Reservation to Morgantown

Share

© Rebecca Drobis

For lovers of unique and compelling documentary photography, the visit to New Story by highly-regarded photographer Rebecca Drobis will be a very cool moment.

Rebecca will be showing photos from, and talking about, her remarkable project Grown Up West: Children of the Blackfeet Reservation in Northwest Montana.

Rather than attempt to describe for you here the almost indescribable, we thought we’d let Rebecca tell you about Grown Up West in her own words…

“

Where the endless plains are abruptly transected by the dramatic Rocky Mountains lies Blackfeet Country.

A small community of people call this place home and this project is about the young people of that community. It is a glimpse into their world as they see and live it.

These challenges unite the community and further strengthen family and neighborly bonds.

Through my photographs, I want to show the triumphs and struggles that are unique to these youth. This photographic project explores the power of place and illustrates how the natural environment and the challenge of reservation life affect a child’s experience.

The remote, yet expansive Blackfeet Reservation spreads over 3,000 miles from northwestern Montana into southern Alberta, Canada and borders Glacier National Park.

While the reservation is larger than Delaware, there are fewer than four people per square mile. Long harsh winters and the inaccessible location isolate the reservation from the rest of Montana.

© Rebecca Drobis

It is also cut-off economically – there are no large businesses, little industry and haltingly few jobs with the exception of ranching and agriculture. The reservation has a 69 percent unemployment rate and a high dependency on welfare assistance.

The basic infrastructure is also lacking: housing is insufficient, trash pickup is erratic, water and sewage systems are in a state of disrepair and many roads remain unpaved and scarred with potholes. These challenges unite the community and further strengthen family and neighborly bonds.

In the absence of material excess, the children’s imaginations flourish.

A diverse population coexists on the reservation including enrolled members of the Blackfeet tribe, Blackfeet descendants who are not officially enrolled as tribal members, members of other tribes and other races.

Unlike other Indian reservations in the West, the Blackfeet reservation is not closed. Approximately 15 percent of the population is non-native including many employees of the Indian Health Service and public school teachers. The proximity to the mountains attracts mountaineers as well as employees of the National Park Service.

In the absence of material excess, the children’s imaginations flourish. Without tightly packed schedules of extracurricular activities or the latest video games, children are drawn outdoors to explore and adventure.

© Rebecca Drobis

There exists the purity of imaginative play—an intersection between raw nature and the developing mind of a child. Natural elements—snowflakes, sticks, rocks, animals and water—become toys, crowning these children the princes and princesses of the earth.

These children have tremendous physical confidence, strength and a spirit of fearlessness. Youth race down pothole covered roads on bicycles, bounding from a trampoline onto a neighbor’s car, sledding down a hill at top speed in sub-zero temperatures and running barefoot through deep woods.

My goal in this body of work is to honor the enduring strength, resilience and wisdom of these youth.

The natural world has a deep and meaningful presence in a child’s life on the reservation; this is the land of their ancestors. Their windows look onto the same panorama; they walk the same trails, pick berries off the same plants and likely will be buried in the same soil as their great-great grandparents. Even non-native residents are deeply connected to the land and vast sky, the extreme weather and the power of the mountains.

My goal in this body of work is to honor the enduring strength, resilience and wisdom of these youth.

The project speaks to a universal childhood. To be young is to be free; to act from the essential self, before their bodies and thoughts become stifled by doubt, societal norms and judging peers.

Children do not dwell on what is not; they are unburdened by the past or the future. They simply exalt in the present.

”

New Story is free, but you must register. Do so now at newstory17.splashthat.com

Can New Story Become a Galvanizing Moment for West Virginia’s Photographers?

Share

Photo by Kristian Thacker

I think it is really cool that a handful of West Virginia’s best photographers were willing to go out this past week and shoot some photos for a special New Story exhibition.

It’s the first time we’ve ever done anything like this, and I’m excited to see how it turns out.

At the heart of this excellent new effort is photographer Kristian Thacker, who recently returned to West Virginia and has wasted no time in becoming an active and energetic part of the photo community here.

Since getting involved in the first New Story in 2016, Kristian has been driven by a desire to create new opportunities for photographers in Appalachia to collaborate, share ideas, and create new workshops, screenings and events together.

And from his workshop in the old FBI Professional Building in Fairmont, Kristian has pulled together a terrific group of photographers and is curating for New Story a digital exhibition of new work by a remarkable group.

The New Story exhibition will screen on Friday at about 4:30 and will feature new work by:

And, we are thrilled to welcome to New Story this year photographer Rebecca Drobis, who will screen and discuss her uncommon, striking photographs of a small community of people living on a Native American reservation at the foot of the Rocky Mountains.

Highway 49 Bridge, East Glacier Blackfeet Reservation, Montana. © Rebecca Drobis

Grown Up West: Children of the Blackfeet Reservation in Northwest Montana, the collection of images that Rebecca photographed over the course of 10 years visiting the reservation, is a remarkable and insightful body of work. That Rebecca will be in Morgantown to discuss it with us will be a special occasion for all lovers of powerful documentary photography.

If you haven’t registered for New Story yet, make sure you do so now at newstory17.splashthat.com

It’s free, but the place is fast filling up. Gotta leave some room to swing your arms.

In Morgantown, Meet The Minds Behind Pittsburgh’s Creative Revolution

Share

Photo: www.facebook.com/groups/artandtech/

This is the latest post about the myriad of people you’ll meet at New Story in Morgantown, June 16 & 17.

It’s a free event hosted by the West Virginia Community Development Hub and our friends at WVU’s Reed College of Media.

Space is limited. Register now at newstory17.splashthat.com

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

This saying was coined by comedians and satirists in order to make them feel okay about doing (not very flattering) impersonations of people. Or by plagiarists.

But to builders, makers, entrepreneurs and people who like to make good things happens, it is a reminder to pay attention to what has worked elsewhere, learn from it, copy what you can, reinvent what you need.

The reality is that Pittsburgh has well and truly rebounded from its industrial doldrums, and is now widely regarded as one of the best places to live and work in America.

In the practice of our work helping some of West Virginia’s most struggling communities find new hope, theft is one of our most powerful strategies – stealing good ideas and implanting them in new places. We actively coordinate and encourage that whenever we can.

And more often than not, the victims of the crime are more than happy to be willing participants.

For example, it’s why our friends behind the remarkable resurgence of an arts and culture community in Princeton, West Virginia, have made trips to their compadres in Welch and Grafton recently, freely passing around the secrets to their success and sprouting new imitators across the state.

And it’s why the folks behind the nationally-renowned creative industries and maker-culture in Pittsburgh are coming down to Morgantown later this month to spearhead one of the feature sessions at this year’s New Story event.

Learn more about New Story, and register now (it’s free) at: newstory17.splashthat.com

Largely thanks to a college football rivalry, many people in West Virginia have an unflattering nickname for this once downtrodden steel city to the north.

But the reality is that Pittsburgh has well and truly rebounded from its industrial doldrums, and is now widely regarded as one of the best places to live and work in America.

It has done this in no small part by focusing on arts innovation and creative tech.

And so we will welcome to New Story on Friday, June 16, the architects of Pittsburgh’s Creative Industries Network and the locals behind many of the city’s coolest and most engaging creative spaces and maker initiatives.

Here’s some info about the Pittsburgh contingent that will be sharing ideas with their West Virginia counterparts at New Story.

Nina Barbuto, Founder and Executive Director
ASSEMBLE – a community space for arts + technology

Nina’s passion for art, new media and social learning led her to found Assemble in 2011.

Nina works in a variety of media including architecture, film, sound, and installation.

She also co-founded I Made It! Market in 2007. An idea based on urban acupuncture, (using small-scale interventions to transform the larger urban context) this nomadic market partners with community, arts and nonprofit organizations to raise funds and awareness to improve their communities while allowing local artists and crafters to sell their wares.

Nina holds degrees in architecture from Southern California Institute of Architecture and Carnegie Mellon University, where she is also adjunct faculty.

Ashley Cecil
Artist and Creative Entrepreneur

Ashley is an artist and illustrator, and part of the pilot-year cohort of the Pittsburgh Technology Council’s Co-CREATE Business Ignition Program.

She’s a working artist who has grown her passion for art into a thriving entrepreneurial creative business. Before moving to the Pittsburgh region, Ashley studied with accomplished master painters in London while earning her master’s degree at the Sotheby’s Institute of Art.

Kim Chestney, Founding Director
Pittsburgh Technology Council’s Creative Industries Network

Over the past 10 years, Kim Chestney has built Pittsburgh’s Creative Industries Network to a nationally-benchmarked initiative.

Kim has been establishing programs to support creatives at the intersection of creativity and innovation, including: the annual CREATE Festival in Pittsburgh; the Co-CREATE Business Ignition Program for Creative Entrepreneurs; Creative Clash, Design Matters, DIY Creative Business and CMO Insights event series; Innovation City, creative tech party at SXSW Interactive; Inclusion, Innovation and Integrative Design, 2014 & 2016 Creative Industries Research Studies with Carnegie Mellon University and Richard Florida’s research team at the University of Toronto.

Jim Denova, Vice President
Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation

Jim Denova is Vice President of the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, and directs economic development projects in Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

Jim has been part of the Creative Industries Network’s leadership team since its inception in 2009, and has been instrumental to the network’s establishment as a national leader in the creative industries. Jim holds a Ph. D. from the University of Pittsburgh with a concentration in social research, and has over 35 years of experience in nonprofit administration and philanthropy.

Ryan Lammie, Founder
Radiant Hall Studio Environments for Working Creatives

Radiant Hall founder Ryan Lammie was born in Pittsburgh and educated at the Pratt Institute in New York. In 2011 he was selected for the Yale / Norfolk Summer Residency in Connecticut and graduated in 2012 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts.

As an entrepreneur, Lammie has built Radiant Hall into a nonprofit venture that supports over 50 Pittsburgh artists at three locations city-wide. Radiant Hall has become a framework for creative community building, and has served as a host for school tours, arts patrons, film/photo location scouts, corporate events, interns, nonprofit leaders, and neighbors.

“The Pittsburgh Session” will take place on New Story Friday at 12:40 p.m.

To learn more about this, and all the other sessions happening at New Story, visit newstory17.splashthat.com

The View From The Edge: Is This Brave Gang The New Wave of Film and Photography in West Virginia?

Share

Photo of Anton Krupicka by Joel Wolpert. www.thewolpertinger.com

The runner looks like how we have been trained to imagine Jesus.

Thin, long hair and beard, solemn, lonely, monastic. He’s shirtless, bony. His shoes are thin, his thin legs are bare.

He’s surrounded by rocks and sky, thousands of feet up, huge, desolate peaks, boulders and crags, way above the treeline, the thinning air, dirt and stones. He’s never stopping, running, walking when he can’t run, like he’s being pursued through the mountains. Or searching out a deep eternal exhaustion, a punishment, or a state of meditation in the pain.

A loose but formidable crew who are rapidly making a name for themselves for their singular combination of art, bravery and adventure.

“In The High Country,” a film about iconic ultra-runner Anton Krupicka and his gruelling and epic excursions through the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, is ostensibly a film about running. But the sheer art of it feels more like Jim Jarmusch’s Dead Man than anything you’re likely to see on ESPN.

In The High Country has been called “impressionistic,” and a film that blurs the line “between human and mountain.”

It’s the work of West Virginia filmmaker, photographer, writer and outdoor adventurist Joel Wolpert, based in Bellington, Barbour County, whose unique, arresting photos and films are now highly sought after by the world’s largest running and ultrarunning magazines.

Joel will be one of the many Appalachian media makers, artists and digital entrepreneurs featuring at New Story in Morgantown, June 16 & 17. New Story is a festival of innovation and creativity. It’s free. You should come.

And though he is renowned by his peers across the country, Joel is relatively unknown in West Virginia outside of a small but immensely talented group of photographers and filmmakers who, just like him, are just as comfortable hanging off the side of a mountain or running desert trails as they are behind the viewfinder.

Photo by Gabe DeWitt. www.wv-art.com

Joel is a central figure in what some are calling a new gang of West Virginia’s adventure filmmakers and photographers, a loose but formidable crew who are rapidly making a name for themselves for their singular combination of art, bravery and adventure.

At New Story, we’ll meet this new gang of adventure artists and take a look at some of their most brilliant work.

They are friends as well as colleagues. Through Joel you follow short threads to people like Gabe DeWitt, Dylan Jones, Tara Smith, Matthew Shreve and Emily Hughes Corio. They spend as much time shooting on glaciers in Chile or mountain tops in Colorado as they do at Coopers Rock.

And an exhibition of some of their collected work, which as yet has never happened, would be a magnificent demonstration of the talent and unique strain of creativity flourishing here, in this time and place.

And so that’s what we’re going to do at New Story in Morgantown, June 16 & 17. We’ll meet this new gang of adventure artists and take a look at some of their most brilliant work.

Get along.

Register now. New Story is free.

Celebrate Princeton – Street Fair to Continue The Remarkable Renaissance in Mercer County

Share

Cirque de Vol.

Celebrate Princeton Street Fair will take place Saturday, June 10 from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. on Mercer Street in downtown Princeton.

The event, presented by Princeton Renaissance Project, will feature special performances by Cirque de Vol Aerial Acrobatic Showcase, live music, dance performances, a live art mashup and other demonstrations.

There will be scores of vendors, a zip line, thrill game The Meltdown, a car show by A & R Productions, a quilt show by Mercer County Quilting Bees and bounce houses courtesy of The Friends of Princeton Public Library.

Admission to the event is free of charge and a variety of food, retail and craft items will be available for purchase.

For more information, including a vendor application and guidelines, visit celebrateprinceton.com or call 304-320-8833.