Create West Virginia

After four years of grass roots creative community building, it's time to take it to the next level West Virginia!

Here's a brief presentation on how we'll do that together. What do you think?

All Together Arts Week, a celebration of the arts community in Mercer County, will take place March 26-April 2. Now in its third edition, the annual event features a variety of cultural activities at venues all over the county.

This is just a beautiful documentary on the New River Gorge region of West Virginia, one of the most amazing yet under-appreciated natural regions in the country. However, that might change as hundreds of thousands of visitors discover it while visiting the new Summit Bechtel Reserve scouting center (http://summit.scouting.org) due to open in 2013.

There is more history, diversity, and innovation in this state than many realize. Well done West Virginia Public Broadcasting!

Part 1

This is the third year we've attempted to help West Virginia adopt a modern, entrepreneurial approach to economic development by emphasizing the growth of our "new" economy based on innovation.

(NOTE: Apologies for the poor formatting on this post, our blog site is having some issues)

One of the most prescient ideas I have ever heard about West Virginia came from Don Rigby at RED a few years ago.  To paraphrase: West Virginia's biggest identity issue was not a negative one held by outsiders, but rather that to many people across the US and world, there is none at all. 

Make no small plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical plan once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistency. Remember that our children are going to do things that will stagger us. Let your watchword be order and your beacon, beauty.

Think big.

- Daniel Burnham, 19th Century Architect who planned the Chicago World’s Fair

So much of what we all desire as citizens centers on the community we live in. Our friends, our schools, our jobs, our parks, where we shop...Why do some communities thrive while others struggle? What tangible and intangible characteristics make up a "creative community" that delivers opportunities and quality of life for all citizens? 

Quality of Place is the sum of a community’s parts—its built environment, its assets, its personality as experienced through all five senses. In these sessions, we’ll invite participants to assess their own communities in comparison with contemporary American ideals, and we’ll explore Wheeling, a community that is applying creative solutions to its challenges.

Quality of Place is the sum of a community’s parts—its built environment, its assets, its personality as experienced through all five senses. In these sessions, we’ll invite participants to assess their own communities in comparison with contemporary American ideals, and we’ll explore Wheeling, a community that is applying creative solutions to its challenges.