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Case study appalshop
- 1. Appalshop Tradition Music Project Whitesburg, KY Presentation by Zachary Doyle
- 2. Appalshop The History began in 1969 War on Poverty Project designed to equip young people with skills to make the marketable to job markets outside the Appalachian region now a nationally recognized media center working in film, video, recordings, literature, theater, presentation of live performance, and radio.
- 3. Traditional Music Project Community Music in Action Mission Statement The mission of the Traditional Music Program is to strengthen and support the infrastructure for traditional Appalachian music, story, and dance culture in the Central Appalachian region with an emphasis on communities in southeast Kentucky and southwest Virginia.
- 4. Traditional Music Project The Practice radio broadcasts, concerts, & festivals jams, dances, and storytelling visiting masters Passing the Pick and Bow after-school program Old Time Days workshops
- 5. Appalshop & the Trad. Music Proj. The Funding Private Funders Appalachian Community Fund Ford Foundation Rockefeller Foundation Time Warner Public Funders Kentucky Arts Council Kentucky Historical Society NEA US Department of Ed.
Editor's Notes
- Community music is alive and well in eastern KY—at least that’s what Appalshop is claiming. Appalshop is a community media project that developed in the 1960s and has fiercely developed into a strong educational force in the communities of the Appalachian region of eastern KY. Based in Whitesburg, Appalshop seeks to develop young people in the area of the arts and media, in order to equip them with strong skills to obtain jobs both outside and inside the region, as well as helping them embrace the cultural significance of and create a sense of pride in the region they live in.
- Eastern Kentucky is a region known for many things, but unfortunately economic strength and academic prowess are not at the top of that list. Appalshop began in 1969 as an economic development project of the War on Poverty. The idea was to recruit a group of Appalachian youth and train them in media skills, with an expectation that these young people would be able to take their new found skills and find jobs outside the Appalachian region. What the project came to find was that their efforts were, in fact, strengthening the awareness of their own community within the youth they were training. These students then began to realize that the representation of their community in the world was not consistent with what they knew as “home.” Thus began an exciting cycle of developing authors, musicians, documentarians, and others that would produce various media to help spread their own culture to American and around the world. Appalshop is now a nationally recognized media center working in film, video, recordings, literature, theater, presentation of live performance, and radio.
- Appalshop uses its platform and influence in the region to promote arts in the community. They are especially concerned with preserving their heritage and culture by educating the youth of the area in the musical and dramatic arts of the region, such as the bluegrass music tradition. One program offered by Appalshop that helps further this sentiment is the Traditional Music Project. The mission of this project is to strengthen and support the infrastructure for traditional Appalachian music, story, and dance culture in the Central Appalachian region with an emphasis on communities in southeast Kentucky and southwest Virginia. Their objectives are #1 to organize community arts and education programming that teaches the art of traditional Appalachian music, story and dance as well as the history, culture and community of these arts…#2 to encourage and initiate new activity and support ongoing events which broaden the region’s traditional music, storytelling and dance infrastructure…#3 to build local interest in traditional Appalachian music through outreach and arts programming at schools, senior centers, local festivals and regional performance venues…and #4 to deepen and broaden traditional music education across the region through the development of curricular and program models for mountain string band instruments, storytelling and square dancing.
- The Traditional Music Project is very intentional in its desire to reach the youth of the region. They provide educational opportunities to the community in five primary ways. First is their radio broadcasts, concerts, and festivals. This is their way of presenting masters in the field of traditional “mountain music” to the community. They present traditional radio broadcasts, as well as set up special events that bring in these masters. This provides a special interaction between the community members and those who are keeping their culture alive. Secondly, the project wants the community members to interact with program facilitators and each other. The program helps maintain and establish community jam sessions, square dances, and storytelling events. Thirdly, the Traditional Music Project wants to further develop the community by bringing in masters of the field to interact with the youth of the region. These masters visit schools, senior centers, nursing homes, and community centers. Fourthly, the project has developed the “Passing the Pick and Bow” after-school program. This program puts banjos, fiddles, guitars and mandolins in the hands of nearly 100 students each year. Students are able to receive instruction and perform in yearly jam sessions with other youth throughout the region. Lastly, the Traditional Music Project has put together what it calls “Old Time Days” workshops in an effort to nurture the rich musical traditions of the area. The workshops provide an affordable way to learn old time music directly from master musicians.
- Appalshop and the Traditional Music Project are fortunate recipients of generous donations and funding through both private and public donors. Those listed here are just a few of those who contribute to the organization. The project’s future challenges, however, do include the promise of funding. According to program contact, Rich Kirby, the project really does hinge on the available of funding. They are always promoting their cause to help gain funders. They also continue to promote their cause throughout the community, because without the the participants, the program means little. Appalshop and the programs it facilitates wishes that the importance of Appalachian culture continues to be forefront in the minds of those who are influenced most by it.