Category: Articles
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Updated! Check Out the New Createwv.com
We are happy to announce the updated createwv.com web site, full of useful links for anyone interested in learning about or developing the Creative Community in West Virginia. Thanks again to Maple Creative for their hard work on this site. Here are a few things you’ll find: Don’t forget we still have the statewide CommunityWalk…
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What is Your Vision for West Virginia?
We talk a lot about vision as human beings, don’t we? We like politicians who seem to have a vision for the country (it helps even more when there is an actual plan behind the vision, but that’s another blog post). The Book of Proverbs states “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” The…
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Can Old Money Fuel New Progress?
One fascinating topic that bubbled up during the Hinton Creative Communities Assessment Workshop was the need for resources to back innovative ideas for growth. Does West Virginia really have a shortage of funding sources to make bold visions become reality? In addition to the normal foundations and government grant programs, one source of potential backing…
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A New Vision Beside the New River
On Tuesday July 24, the second Creative Communities Assessment Workshop was held in Hinton, Summers County. We learn more each time to we do these workshops, and we appreciate Mayor Cleo Matthews and the team of local folks in Hinton willing to be our second guinea pig. Hinton is a town like many in West…
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Nurturing Creativity, Destroying Stereotypes
What are your iconic images of West Virginia culture? A group of old-time fiddlers? Crafts at Tamarack or the Mountain State Arts and Crafts Festival? Most likely these images include older, white folks keeping Scotch-Irish traditions alive in the rural hills. A great avenue towards sparking creativity is combining things that may never have been…
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More Media Innovation in WV
For those who haven’t heard about it, you might want to check out WV Newsline, a news aggregating service started by Paul Helmick. The service pulls headlines from a multitude of state news outlets into one page so you can quickly view what is going on around the state. There are versions for several other…
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Clusters of Opportunity
It’s great to see some progress on West Virginia State University’s Media Center project. Combined with the numerous marketing firms that line Capitol and Summers Streets in Charleston, we could ultimately incubate a nice little marketing-media industry cluster in downtown Charleston. Economists have been learning a lot about the “cluster” dynamic of industries. Basically, independent…
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What Can We Learn From a Model Creative Community?
We just finalized our first Creative Communities workshop here in beautiful Shepherdstown, WV. An impressive group of over 20 local leaders from various categories attended, including the Jefferson County Development Authority, American Public University, Shepherd University, Frontier Communications and many others. Special thanks to Jane Peters, Exec Director of the JCDA for organizing an impressive…
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Creative Community in the Northern Panhandle
Oglebay Institute StratusWave Communications – Justin Seibertdirectom.comDirect Online Marketing
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Succeeding in Different Eras
I was honored to be the invited speaker at this week’s Rotary Club of Wheeling meeting to discuss the Create WV initiative. Some fantastic people in Wheeling. [Quick aside: What is the equivalent of the Rotary Club for young people? Aren’t organizations like that a critical part of developing the next generation of leaders?] Before…