Tag: Quality of Place
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Is One Town’s Gain Another’s Loss?
One misperception that can persist is that if one neighboring town thrives, the other one will suffer. It’s a “zero sum” mindset that assumes that resources are very limited, and if a competing town is winning, you’re losing. The folks in Ronceverte could have maintained that mindset in comparison to the nationally-recognized town of Lewisburg…
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Coal: Energy, the Environment and West Virginia
Recently, Imagine West Virginia, the research and policy arm of A Vision Shared, put out their research paper on the future of coal and its potential for West Virginia’s economy. We encourage you to read it and post your feedback: http://www.imaginewestvirginia.com/ We hope to host a discussion on this at the Create WV Conference featuring…
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Who Says Big Ideas Are Rare?
A great article on the nature of innovation and idea generation by Malcolm Gladwell in The New Yorker. What could West Virginia be like with a culture of dreaming big ideas?
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We Are…A Creative Community!
In Huntington Vaughn Grisham, a sociology professor and director of the McLean Institute for Community Development at the University of Mississippi, lead a community planning session at Marshall University’s Memorial Student Center that attracted over 60 citizens. The topic? Huntington’s future and how to engage young people in the development of it. From the Huntington…
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4C Region Getting Serious About Creative Communities
On May 1 in Beckley, over 50 leaders and interested citizens from Fayette, Nicholas, Raleigh and Summers Counties convened at Tamarack for a regional Create WV Summit. From the Mayor of Beckley to a whole contingent from Sophia, WV, participants learned about and discussed the power of the new economy and attracting creative workers and…
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Art Warriors by the River
On Wednesday, April 30, over 20 artists gathered into Café Cimino’s beautiful “Little Dishes” bar by the Elk River (www.cafeciminocountryinn.com) to provide feedback and support for the 2nd Annual Create WV Conference. createwv.typepad.com Originally, we weren’t sure how many folks would really want to take time out of their week to spend an afternoon doing…
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Creativity…It’s All Over Us!
One of my favorite lines from the kids movie Madagascar is from Melman, the hypochondriac giraffe: “Nature! It’s all over me!” Well, I just felt the need to report this morning that creativity is all over West Virginia. A year ago the Creative Communities team was wrangling over the final edits of the white paper…
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The Power of Third Places for Attracting Young People
Sitting here in the Cathedral Cafe, you might think you were in the Pacific Northwest at perhaps a hip coffee shop hangout in Portland or Seattle. But no, you would be here in Fayetteville, WV, in the nerve center of the whitewater rafting, rock climbing and general “extreme sports” capital of the state. Energizing rock…
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Marketing West Virginia to the Creative Class
Richard Florida, the academic who captured the data and created the nomenclature of the “creative class” to start a new way of thinking about economic development, has a new book out – Who’s Your City? How the Creative Economy is Making Where to Live the Most Important Decision of Your Life. From a reviewer on…
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Berkeley Springs #7 Arts Destination in U.S.
BERKELEY SPRINGS, WV —- The list of top art destinations in America released recently by American Style magazine places Berkeley Springs, WV at #7 among small cities and towns, the smallest in population of the top 25. “It’s our seventh year on the list and we’re at #7, back in the top 10,” says Jeanne…