The Appalshop’s 27th Annual Seedtime on the Cumberland Festival of Traditional Mountain Music & Arts will take place THIS WEEKEND, June 7-8, here at the Appalshop grounds in downtown Whitesburg, Ky.  Consider this your formal invitation to come visit us here at WMMT!  There’s a wide array of amazing things happening, including:

• All sorts of musical performers, ranging from old-time to bluegrass to honky tonk, including: Lee Sexton, Karen Collins, Rob McNurlin & his Cowboy Band, Sheila Kay Adams, The Whitetop Mountaineers, The Clack Mountain String Band, The Stuart Brothers, Rich & the Po’ Folk, Jimmy & Ada McCown, Will Caudill & Route 7, Cari Norris, The Railsplitters, the Cowan Youth String Band, & more!
• The Carcassonne Square Dance, the longest continuously-running square dance in Kentucky, on the Appalshop grounds on Saturday, June 8
• A series of film screenings from the Appalshop Archives and the Appalachian Media Institute
• Handmade Artists, Vendors, & Demonstrators of all shapes & types
• A brand-new play by renowned playwright & performer Angelyn DeBord
• A book-signing with the inimitable Gurney Norman of the newly re-released Ancient Creek
• The Youth Bored Annual Punk Showcase & Flea Market
• A Shape-Note Singing Workshop with Dr. Ron Pen
• A live performance of the Floyd Radio Show
• An exhibit from the Kentucky Folklife Center in the Appalshop Gallery: The Makings of a Master: Kentucky Folk Art Apprenticeships
• A guided hike up Whitesburg’s Town Hill

And, as always, the festival will be broadcast LIVE on WMMT!  So if you can’t make it to Whitesburg, you can do the next best thing, and listen from wherever you are through our 24/7 online stream.  For a full schedule of events & more information on Seedtime, including a history of the festival, photo galleries of Seedtimes past, and lodging info, check out the Seedtime website at seedtimefestival.org.  For any questions, feel free to get in touch with us at WMMT at (606) 633-0108 or through email at wmmtfm@appalshop.org.

We’ll see y’all this weekend!

Click here to support the effort! 

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/support-youth-media-in-the-appalachian-mountains/x/2902763

Appalshop (www.appalshop.org) is a multi-disciplinary arts and education center in the heart of Appalachia producing original films, video, theater, music and spoken-word recordings, radio, photography, multimedia, and books. This forty-year-old organization is home of projects such as The Appalachian Media Institute, Roadside Theater, WMMT-FM, and Thousand Kites.

Although New York City lies just outside the extended Appalachian region, the issues and interests of central Appalachia echo across the whole nation. Screening short films and clips from the Appalshop archive such as Stranger with a Camera, we will engage in conversation about environmental, social, and economic justice, and the connections between central Appalachia and our home in New York City.

Appalshop in the Big Apple will serve as an introduction to the work of Appalshop and a kick off event to many future film screenings and gatherings throughout the greater New York area.

Visit http://www.appalshopnyc.org/#!events/c13nu for more information.

Appalshop Filmmaker Ben Zickafoose

Appalshop Archive has been awarded a grant by the National Film Preservation Foundation to preserve Coal Camp: Life Below the Tipple (1972, color), a never-released Appalshop film by Ben Zickafoose documenting life in Harlan County's Brookside coal camp, and amateur films from Bell County, KY including a silent 1938 film document of the Civilian Conservation Corps in Pine Mountain Resort State Park and seven color 16mm home movies made by Pineville resident Dr. John Parrott in the 1950's.

The preservation work being funded by this grant will result in the creation of new 16mm prints on fresh film stock--the most durable format for preserving moving images--as well as digital access copies.

http://www.filmpreservation.org/about/PR-2013-04-30

"The process of taking objects apart, of breaking them down to rearrange them is an attempt to navigate issues that sometimes feel out of control and difficult to comprehend. Ripping heads off dolls, or symbolically shoving nails through a heart are an effort to solve problems of the heart, social justice, and spirituality. Each piece is something of a self-portrait and an approach to live life closer to Earth. By re-purposing objects and giving them new life, it makes my soul a little greener and my head a little clearer."

The closing reception for Donna's show will be from 6-8pm on Friday, April 26th in the Appalshop Gallery. For a look at her work, visit her Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Donna.Williams.Art?ref=ts&fref=ts

The Rural Route Film Festival is widely known for its program of cutting edge independent work by and about people and places outside of the mainstream media. For more information about the Festival visit ruralroutefilms.com.

To order your copy of this featured product and newest audio release from Appalshop, go to: http://appalshop.org/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=45&products_id=381

Old Cove Press has published Gurney Norman’s story in book form for the first time as a novella-length folktale telling the story of resistance among “the folks” against an evil King. The story describes a mythic “hill domain” that has been exploited by the forces of a colonizing empire. The hero Jack is the fugitive leader of the people’s revolt and the nemesis of the King. Wounded survivors of the revolution find solace and healing on Ancient Creek where old Aunt Haze is the guiding spirit.

Gurney Norman is the author of the folktale Ancient Creek, the novel Divine Right’s Trip, and Kinfolks, a collection of short stories. He co-edited the essay collections Back Talk: Confronting Appalachian Stereotypes and An American Vein: Critical Readings in Appalachian Literature. After graduating from the University of Kentucky in 1959, he studied writing as a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University with literary critic Malcolm Cowley and the Irish short story writer Frank O’Connor. A former newspaper reporter, Norman has written and narrated three documentary programs for Kentucky Educational Television that explore Kentucky and Appalachian history, landscape and culture. Three stories from the Kinfolks collection have been adapted as short dramatic films. In 2009, he was appointed Kentucky Poet Laureate, 2009 – 2010. He has been a member of the University of Kentucky Department of English since 1979.

JA00887D • Total Running Time 71:11 minutes • Appalshop Project Director Elizabeth Barret • Design by Nyoka Hawkins and audio editing for CD release by Doug Dorschug • Audio Preservation and Digital Restoration made possible by Appalshop Archive • Special thanks to Caroline Rubens and Chad Hunter • Featured painting on the CD and book cover by Kentucky artist Pam Oldfield Meade

The schedule is:

• KET: Monday, November 12 at 9:00 pm EST
• KETKY: Tuesday, November 13 at 11:00 am EST
• KET: Wednesday, November 14 at 4:00 am EST
• KETKY: Wednesday, November 14 at 4:00 pm EST
• KETKY: Friday, November 16 at 9:00 am EST
• KETKY: Saturday, November 17 at 11:00 am EST
• KETKY: Monday, November 19 at 10:00 am EST
• KET: Tuesday, November 20 at 3:00 am EST
• KETKY: Friday, November 30 at 11:00 am EST

Braden biographer Catherine Fosl and film co-director Mimi Pickering are interviewed on Connections with Renee Shaw airing Friday, October 19 at 5 pm on KET 2 and Sunday, October 21 at 1:30 pm on KET. The program will be available online viewing after airing on Friday at www.ket.org/connections.

Anne Braden was hailed by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in his 1963 "Letter from Birmingham Jail" as one of only five white southerners who he could count on as an ally. Braden's story explores not only the dangers of racism and political repression but also the power of a woman's life spent in commitment to social justice.

The KET Schedule:
• KET: Monday, October 29 at 9:00 pm EST
• KETKY: Wednesday, October 31 at 9:00 pm EST
• KETKY: Thursday, November 1 at 2:30 pm EST
• KETKY: Friday, November 2 at 7:00 pm EST
• KETKY: Saturday, November 3 at 3:00 am EST
• KETKY: Saturday, November 3 at 10:00 am EST

Portraits and Dreams: A Revisitation is a creative collaboration in photography and media led by Wendy Ewald and Elizabeth Barret and is a project of Appalshop, Inc.  Read more about them, their work, and the the project:

http://www.gf.org/fellows/17203-wendy-ewald

http://www.gf.org/fellows/17162-elizabeth-b-barret

For more information, visit http://kcaah.org/content/anne-braden-southern-patriot

http://www.gf.org/fellows/17162-elizabeth-b-barret

http://www.gf.org/fellows/17203-wendy-ewald

Follow this link to view the announcement of the 2012 Guggenheim Fellows in the New York Times, April 13, 2012, (New York Times, A13).

Extensive historical background as well as information on the disaster and resources on current environmental issues in the coalfields are available at a companion Buffalo Creek Flood website http://appalshop.org/buffalo/

On Wednesday, February 8 Appalshop will host a free community square dance workshop from 4-6 PM.  Come learn how to call a dance, how best to start a tune for dancers, and how to swing your partner just right!  Instruments welcome. For more information call WMMT at 606-633-0108.

1) "Movements, Litigation, and Legislation"
A new "digital divide" has emerged with Latinos and African Americans being the hardest hit by the recent FCC vote on net neutrality. Phones not only keep us connected, but cell phones play an increasing role in social movements.

2) "Radio that Cross Prison Walls"
This session will provide the hands on tools and resources needed for community educators, teachers, and other practitioners who want to integrate cell phone literacy, mobile broadband policy, wireless issues, an open Internet and other media policy issues into a learning environment through teaching modules, multimedia, and interactive workshops.

3) "Fighting No Parole in Virginia"
What do people-centered media policies look like? How can we shape our local communication infrastructures to create greater access, participation and community ownership?  Digital Justice Coalitions (DJCs) are emerging across the country to explore these questions and take actions that shape media policies at the grassroots level.

4) “Phone Justice for Prisoners and Detainees”
Whether wireline or wireless, phones and phone calls are a vital part of our communication system, and a piece of technology that many of us take for granted. Yet for prisoners, the homeless, immigrants and immigrant detainees, it’s a different story—phone calls are a privilege, not a right. This panel will feature audio, video stories, action research tools and case studies to expose the communication rights challenges these communities face.

5) "Flipping the Script on Detention & Deportation"
The Obama Administration and DHS have identified the so-called "criminal alien" as the primary target of the current deportation machinery. This workshop will give a brief overview of the US immigration detention and deportation system and will explain how immigration law, the War on Drugs and the War on Terror have used similar language such as “criminal,” “alien,” “illegal,” and “terrorist” to garner support and dramatically increase rates of detention and deportation. The workshop will highlight current campaigns and strategies to fight the negative framing and also create space for dialogue on how to shift the debate away from this harmful terminology.

6) "End the School to Prison Pipeline!”
This intergenerational workshop/strategy session brings together youth organizers, participatory researchers, filmmakers, game designers, policy advocates, and mobile media activists to create a transmedia strategy about the School to Prison Pipeline. The workshop is designed to get hands on and share knowledge to connect to education, organizing, framing, and policy advocacy. We'll brainstorm as a group, break down into small groups to focus on specific platforms facilitated by experienced media makers, then reconvene to create a production and distribution strategies that will engage multiple audiences, from the communities most affected, to policy makers, to broadcast audiences.

7)"Using Media to Fight the Police"
This session will use a recent campaign against gang injunctions in Oakland, CA, to explore the power and possibility of using media tools in service of a multi-pronged campaign strategy. Combining, mainstream media pieces with viral video, visual art, music, and social media, Oakland's Stop the Injunctions Coalition has been able to successfully shift the terms of the debate on gang injunctions and make a strong case against the use of policing period.
In this session presenters will offer an overview of the approach taken by this coalition and solicit ideas about ways to augment the effectiveness of media strategies related to grassroots campaigns.

8) “Artists Against Incarceration”

This session will focus on the role of art in building a movement against the prison industrial complex by formerly and currently incarcerated people and their allies. We will look to past movements, such as the Civil Rights movement, for models of how art (songs, poems, images) can sway mainstream cultural consciousness on issues of human rights. Furthermore, we will examine how art can be taught in prisons in ways that empower incarcerated people rather than pacifying them. Finally, we will discuss how to support the work of formerly incarcerated artists and provide opportunities for them not only in prison but after they've been released. We will explore the humanizing, transformative potential of different artforms, and how they have been used by incarcerated artists and their allies.

For more information visit http://alliedmedia.org

Featuring a variety of characters, topics, film styles, and production dates, Appalshop@40 reflects both the place-specific nature and universality of Appalshop media work. The films in the series include some of Appalshop’s earliest productions (Coal Miner: Frank Jackson and In Ya Blood) as well as a series on the history of the region (Strangers and Kin, Long Journey Home and Beyond Measure) that was made in the 1980s/early 1990s. A number of the individual films have been preserved and remastered as part of the work of the Appalshop Archive.

In 2001, Appalshop released “Hazel Dickens: It’s Hard to Tell the Singer From the Song,” a documentary film on Hazel’s life and legacy. Also that year Hazel was awarded the National Endowment for the Arts’ National Heritage Award, our country’s highest honor for a traditional artist

Above is an excerpt from “Hazel Dickens: Its Hard to Tell the Singer From the Song.”

WMMT will host StoryCorps for 4 weeks to help record the stories of local residents

StoryCorps, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to recording, preserving, and sharing the stories of Americans from all backgrounds and beliefs, will record interviews in Whitesburg from April 21 to May 14 as part of its cross-country MobileBooth tour. StoryCorps’ MobileBooth—an Airstream trailer outfitted with a recording studio—will be parked in the public parking lot at Veteran’s Memorial Park in Whitesburg, KY. Reservations will be available on April 7 at 10am EST and can be made by calling StoryCorps’ 24-hour toll-free reservation line at 1-800-850-4406 or visiting storycorps.org. Additional appointments will be available on April 22 at 10am EST.

StoryCorps’ MobileBooth interviews are conducted between two people who know and care about each other. A trained StoryCorps facilitator guides participants through the interview process. At the end of each 40-minute recording session, participants receive a complimentary CD copy of their interview. With participant permission, a second copy is archived at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress for future generations to hear.

Visit http://appalshop.org/wmmt/node/2296 for more information.

Congress will take a critical vote in the next few days to eliminate all federal support for local public television and radio stations. The loss of federal funding would have a devastating effect on public radio and television stations across the country, including WMMT. WMMT hopes you will call your representatives in Congress and tell them what you think of public broadcasting and the proposed cuts. Congress could take action on these cuts in the next few days, so please act now. For more information visit www.170MillionAmericans.org

The Starry Mountain Trio was born from the nine-voice ensemble, the Starry Mountain Singers, and performs a wide range of traditional music from around the United States and abroad. The group’s members are all lifelong musicians who share a deep love of traditional vocal styles and a dedication to studying and performing them. The Starry Mountain Trio members have all toured extensively with Northern Harmony and Village Harmony. In addition, trio members have worked with Meredith Monk and the Revels International, and have participated in international recording projects of traditional Georgian music. The American repertoire includes shape-note songs (a traditional New England song style), and haunting folk tunes from the Appalachians, supplemented by traditional British ballads. The Georgian and Corsican songs are a mixture of sacred and secular pieces that demonstrate the incredible range of unique singing traditions from those countries. Each member has contributed songs from his or her particular area of musical knowledge and expertise, resulting in a dynamic and eclectic program that will delight world-music fans and lovers of choral performance.

For more information call 606-633-0108 or visit http://appalshop.org/wmmt/node/2238.

Featuring a variety of characters, topics, film styles, and production dates, Appalshop@40 reflects both the place-specific nature and universality of Appalshop media work. The films in the series include some of Appalshop’s earliest productions (Coal Miner: Frank Jackson and In Ya Blood) as well as a series on the history of the region (Strangers and Kin, Long Journey Home and Beyond Measure) that was made in the 1980s/early 1990s. A number of the individual films have been preserved and remastered as part of the work of the Appalshop Archive.

Visit www.appalshop.org/tvseries for complete details, listing, and schedule.

Also visit KET for additional broadcasts.

Appalshop Films Featured at the Southern Appalachian Independent Film Festival in Kingsport, TN October 28, 30 and 31.

Thursday October 28 6:25 pm at the Kingsport Renaissance Center

The Electricity Fairy directed by Tom Hansell 2010, 52 minutes

Coal produces half of America’s electricity, according to the Federal Department of Energy.  The energy policy currently before Congress identifies coal as a key to America’s "energy independence.”  The Electricity Fairy is a documentary that examines America's national addiction to fossil fuels through the lens of electricity.  Appalshop Filmmaker Tom Hansell follows the story of a proposed coal-fired power plant in the mountains of southwest Virginia, connecting the local controversy to the national debate over energy policy.  Present day documentary footage is remixed with old educational films, connecting past policy to America's current energy crisis.

Saturday, October 30 at 10 am in the Kingsport Public Library

Three youth produced films from Appalshop’s Appalachian Media Institute:

Searching for an Appalachian Accent by Charity Quillen and Kelli Caudill 2002, 17 minutes

Searching for an Appalachian Accent explores how traditional culture and ways of speaking have been stigmatized both by people from eastern Kentucky who feel compelled to drop their accent and by those from outside the region who don't question stereotypes about hillbillies.

Mayfield by Jake Sexton, Brittany Mullins, Ashleigh Johnson, and Keyana Polly 2009, 12 minutes

Former professional boxer Mayfield Pennington returns home to Pikeville, Kentucky and finds that it's youth is in serious need for a positive outlet. With the help of the community, Mayfield raises the funds to provide a creative alternative to keeping the local kids off the streets and away from drugs in this central Appalachian city.

Gathering Akin by Cecily Howell, Steven Hall, Cheyenne Thomas, and Barry Jensen 2010, 14 minutes

Though every collector is different, they share one commonality which is passion. Gathering Akin looks into the lives of three unique individuals, their beloved collections, and why these collections are so important to preserving the our cultural and heritage.

Sunday, October 31 at 4pm in the Kingsport Public Library

From Wood to Singing Guitar directed by Shawn Lind, 2009 32 minutes

Nestled near the foot of Mount Rogers is the small town of Rugby, Virginia.  It is here that one can find the home and workshop of Wayne C. Henderson, the master musician and master luthier who has made guitars for the likes of Doc Watson and Eric Clapton.  Wayne was generously taught and encouraged by those around him. Learning much more than just guitar building and playing, Wayne continues to do the same for the younger generations.

For more details, including directions, go to http://www.soapiff.com/

Appalshop’s work will be showcased in New York at Documentary Fortnight, 2010: MoMA’s International Festival of Nonfiction Film. Join us in celebrating Appalshop’s 40 years of independent media making and multidisciplinary arts activity that amplifies the voices and reflects the concerns of people living in Appalachia and rural America. For the most current information, please visit moma.org.

Friday, February 19 at 4:30pm

Appalshop 1: Media Representation

Stranger With A Camera (2000) preceded by two short films:
Whitesburg Epic (1971) and Searching for an Appalachian Accent (2002), from the Appalachian Media Institute

Followed by a discussion with Elizabeth Barret, film archivist Caroline Rubens, and AMI's Natasha Watts

Friday, February 19 at 8:00pm

Appalshop 2: Appalachian Treasures

The Ralph Stanley Story (2000)
The Electricity Fairy (2010)
Followed by a discussion with Herb Smith

Saturday, February 20 at 2:00pm

Appalshop at 40: Experiments in Place-Based Media

This program of moderated discussion and presentation will feature excerpts from a wide range of work, including archival films, recent coal-focused documentaries, youth media, and collaborative productions from Appalshop's Appalachian/Indonesian Exchange Project.

Presentations by Elizabeth Barret, Rebecca O'Doherty, Bruce Parsons, L. Somi Roy, Caroline Rubens, Robert Salyer, Herb Smith, and Natasha Watts

The panel will be moderated by Alyce Myatt, Executive Director of Grantmakers in Film + Electronic Media (GFEM), an association of grantmakers committed to advancing the field of media arts and public interest media funding.

Sunday, February 21, at 1:30pm

Appalshop 2: Appalachian Treasures

The Ralph Stanley Story (2000)
The Electricity Fairy (2010)

Sunday, February 21, at 4:00pm

Appalshop 1: Media Representation

Stranger With A Camera (2000) preceded by two short films:
Whitesburg Epic (1971) and Searching for an Appalachian Accent (2002), from the Appalachian Media Institute

Special Archive Showcase

Thursday, February 18 at 7:00pm

Millenium Film Workshop
66 East 4th Street
New York, NY 10003

Join us for a free screening and reception featuring select media preserved by the Appalshop Archive. Co-sponsored by the Standby Program.

Events made possible in partnership with:

MoMA

The event is presented as part of the Al Smith Fellowship Filmmaker Tour and sponsored by the Kentucky Arts Council. For more information about the program, visit dcplibrary.org or contact Ryan Henry at rhenry@dcplibrary.org or (270) 684-0211 ext. 5

To view additional media, visit the Appalshop Channel

Monday, December 14, 2009
7pm - 9pm
Screening of Stranger With A Camera followed by discussion with producer/director Elizabeth Barret
An Al Smith Fellowship Filmmaker tour event supported by Kentucky Arts Council

Maiden Alley Cinema
112 Maiden Alley (downtown)
Paducah, Kentucky
(for more info, contact Landee Bryant, Paducah Film Society 270-441-7007)

Tuesday, December 15, 2009
8pm - 10pm
Screening of Stranger With A Camera followed by discussion with producer/director Elizabeth Barret
An Al Smith Fellowship Filmmaker tour event supported by Kentucky Arts Council

21c Museum Hotel in Gallery 2 off the Atrium
700 W Main St.
Louisville, Kentucky
(for more info, contact Louisville Film Society, Ryan Daly 502 - 299-9226)

To view additional media, visit the Appalshop Channel

Call us toll-free at 877-518-0606 (sing a song, read a poem, and speak from the heart to those incarcerated.)

Record your calls on our answering machine between Nov. 23rd - Dec. 6th or call our live recorded program on Dec. 7th and get the completed program December 8th.   The phone-line is toll-free at 877-518-0606.

Get involved now at callsfromhome.org!

Want to help get Calls From Home heard all over the country?

• Host a community meeting or, if you can, play it for a group of prisoners using the CALLS FROM HOME short program and facilitation guide.
• Download a copy of CALLS FROM HOME for your local community radio station and suggest that they broadcast the program.
• Blog about CALLS FROM HOME. Embed the audio, banners, and text from this page. Write a short commentary.
• Join our Facebook Group and follow updates at our Thousand Kites Twitter.

The United States has 2.4 million people behind bars. Thousand Kites wants you to lend your support to a powerful grassroots radio and community project that reaches into our nation's prisons and lets those inside know they are not forgotten.

Thousand Kites is excited to offer community radio stations and individuals the 10th annual national radio program Calls from Home. Now in its 10th year, the program features phone calls from mothers and children, brothers and grandparents, sharing the intimate power of families speaking directly to their incarcerated loved ones.

Poets and musicians read and sing across phone lines and prison walls. Calls from Home, produced in the coalfields of central Appalachia, reaches a national network of prisoners, their loved ones and public listeners through community radio in an effort to educate the public about the criminal justice system. Started in 1998 by artists at Appalshop, the program was first a local response to the growing prison industry in their rural community.

Thousand Kites needs your support in spreading the word. You can help out by playing the program to your community group, church or even inside a prison and then hosting a discussion about the program. This is a simple way to start a discussion in your community.

Right-click this link to download a ten-minute Calls from Home for community use

Calls From Home Facilitation Guide click to download 60.52 Kb

Come join your friends and neighbors and Appalshop and Roadside Theater artists for an evening of traditional songs, stories, and performances of the season.

Donations of non-perishable food and personal items for the Letcher County Food Pantry will be accepted at the door.

For more information: call 606-633-0108 or email info@appalshop.org.

The filmmakers will be joined by scholars: Catherine Fosl, University of Louisville Professor and author of the Braden biography "Subversive Southerner; Jacqueline Dowd Hall, Professor of History and Director of the Southern Oral History Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and J. Blaine Hudson, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Louisville. Panelists will engage the audience in a discussion on Braden¹s life and legacy and how best to represent her contributions to the long civil rights struggle in a documentary film.

For more information, please visit uga.edu/sha/meeting.

From the article: Willa Johnson, a 2007 Summer Documentary Institute graduate who continues to work with AMI on independent film and community projects, was inspired by AMI’s approach. “We learned how to make a documentary film, but the best part about the program is the identity-building work. We learn so much about the community we live in and how to be proud, instead of feeling ashamed about it, which is what I was taught growing up.”

Read the full article and watch streaming media at unicef.org.

Learn more at wfpl.org/state-of-affairs or tune in to WFPL-FM 89.3 at wfpl.org.

WMMT aims to be a resource for you and our communities! As part of our FALL FUND DRIVE we want to hear from you about what WMMT is your community resource for - a few of the things we have already heard about from you are:

• WMMT Plays music music you don’t hear on other radio stations...
• WMMT Presents live performances such as WMMT's Bluegrass Express Live Concert...
• WMMT Appalachian Attitude, Mountain Talk and other programs highlighting local folks, music, writers, and more...

Share your thoughts or make a pledge at wmmtfm.org.

The films will feature old time musicians like Lily May Ledford and Letcher County's Morgan and Lee Sexton, as well as bluegrass legends Ralph Stanley and Hazel Dickens. We will also screen Sunny Side of Life, a film about the Carter Family and the Carter Family Fold. Below are the screening times. If you have other questions please contact Derek Mullins at 606-633-0108.

• Lily May Ledford 11:00am - 11:35am
• Lee Sexton – Whoa Mule – 11:35am – 11:45am
• Morgan Sexton: Banjo Player From Bull Creek 11:45am - 12:20pm
• Hazel Dickens: It's Hard to Tell the Singer from the Song 12:20pm - 1:30pm
• Sunnyside of Life 1:30 - 2:40
• The Ralph Stanley Story 2:40 - 4:10pm

In 1983, Senator Edward M. Kennedy traveled to the eastern Kentucky counties of Letcher and Floyd during a survey on hunger in America. He was accompanied by fellow Democrat Carl D. Perkins, a member of the US House of Representatives from Kentucky's 7th Congressional District who had built a legacy of support for the underprivileged.

This hearing in Neon, Kentucky took place on November 23, 1983 and was documented by filmmaker Anne Lewis. The original videotapes were transferred by the Appalshop Archive, and this clip was edited from the raw archival media. To view additional video clips from the hearing, please visit the streaming video page.

The reception will take place from 6:00 until 8:00 PM on Wednesday, August 26, at the MIT Museum at 265 Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge. Nosh on Boston-themed hors d'oeuvres and meet up with old friends and new just over the Charles River and minutes from Boston and the Conference hotel. Attendees can also enjoy the MIT Museum. The MIT Museum's Connections exhibit explores the social potential of new communication technologies. Art installations and research projects by the Sociable Media Group from the MIT Media Lab challenge visitors to think about the rapidly changing world of social interaction and the ramifications for the future. Exciting aspects of the exhibition include avatar chairs, data portraits and an immersive information cityscape.

Photography students from Wendy’s classes are invited to come share pictures and celebrate plans for the reissue of Portraits and Dreams. Wendy will be returning to Letcher County for this informal gathering taking place: Saturday, August 8, 2009, 4pm – 7pm at the new Educational Center of the Letcher County Extension Service at 478 Extension Drive (turn off is Stone Dr. from Hwy 15 ByPass) Whitesburg, KY 41858   Food served at 6pm. Free event.

For more information or to let us know if you will be attending contact Elizabeth Barret or Caroline Rubens at 606-633-5708 Appalshop; 606-434-5658 cell phone. A message can be left at both number or email portraits.dreams@gmail.com.

Portraits and Dreams is on Facebook  Join the group to connect with Wendy, former classmates, and interested friends.

Self-described as the largest coal producer in Central Appalachia with a total of 2.3 billion tons of proven and probable coal reserves, Massey Energy Company is a powerful economic and cultural force in the coalfields. In 2008 the US Supreme Court ruled that Blankenship's financial relationship with West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Benjamin "had a significant and disproportionate influence on the outcome" of a $50 million verdict against Massey Energy Company that the West Virginia court had thrown out.

Mine War on Blackberry Creek reports on the long and bitter United Mine Workers of America strike in 1984; while strikebreakers work inside the mines and security men with guard dogs and cameras patrol the compound, miners on the picket lines detail the history of labor struggles in the region and their determination to hold out until victory.

Blankenship addresses capitalism, social Darwinism, and the global economy, while Richard A. Trumka, Secretary-Treasurer and currently running for President of the AFL-CIO, expresses union values.

To watch Mine War on Blackberry Creek or learn more about the film, please visit the stream page.

Herbie is featured in the Appalshop film Coal Bucket Outlaw and can be seen and heard in the trailer below.

Using a formula developed by Appalachian State University for MerleFest, Seedtime organizers calculated a local economic impact of $177,300 from Seedtime. Data from interviews with 37 festival participants indicated that they attended an average of two days of the festival and spent one and a quarter nights in Letcher County. Not counting tickets, the average Seedtime attendee spent $118 in Letcher.

A happy gathering of more than 200 people for John McCutcheon and the Carcassonne Square Dance at on Saturday the 13th capped this year's festival, which celebrated Appalshop's 40 years with performances and workshops by June Appal Recordings artists as well as many friends and colleagues that have enriched our work in education, media, arts, and regional culture. Seedtime 2010, also part of Appalshop's 40th anniversary celebration, is scheduled for June 10 through 12.

For more about Seedtime please visit the festival website at appalshop.org/seedtime.

Appalshop collaborator Liz Lerman described the meeting of artists and administration officials as "a think tank ... [that] tried to make personal connections."

Read more at washingtonpost.com

The Otto Awards, named after the Guatemalan poet and revolutionary, Otto René Castillo, is the only honor in the United States recognizing the achievement of individuals and theatre companies who conceive, produce, and foster the development of innovative and socially challenging theatre. The award itself is an original sculpture created by the noted Brazilian contemporary artist and designer Sheila Goloborotko.

The Los Angeles Poverty Department, led by John Malpede who produced RFK in EKY with Appalshop, will also receive a 2009 Otto. The Otto Awards Committee includes such luminaries as Laurie Anderson, Linda Parris-Bailey, Rhodessa Jones, and Kathleen Chalfant. All events will take place at the Castillo Theatre's All Stars Project Performing Arts & Development Center, located at 543 West 42nd Street. For more information or tickets to the ceremony, please contact the Castillo Box Office at 212-941-1234 or boxoffice@castillo.org.

Appalshop expresses its appreciation for the life and work of Archie Green, who died at 91 on March 22. Beyond his own scholarship, Archie inspired generations of scholars and culture workers and was truly America’s first traditional arts lobbyist. As with so many others, whenever Appalshop artists needed encouragement, direction, inspiration, and friendship, Archie was there for us.

Appalshop particularly appreciates Archie’s assistance with Mimi Pickering’s 1988 film, Dreadful Memories: The Life of Sarah Ogun Gunning.

The screening of Sludge will take place in Room 100 of Smiddy Hall, at UVA Wise. Discussion and Free Pizza will follow the viewing which is being sponsored by the UVAW Environmental Club and The Clinch Coalition.

Learn more about the Martin County sludge spill at appalshop.org/sludge.

For more information about the panel, download the panel handout.

The Ralph Stanley Story

• KETKY Sunday, February 22 at 1:00 pm EST
• KETKY Thursday, February 26 at 6:00 am EST
• KETKY Friday, February 27 at 7:00 pm EST
• KETKY Saturday, February 28 at midnight EST
• KETKY Saturday, February 28 at 2:00 pm EST

Shelter

• KETKY Sunday, March 1 at 1:00 pm EST
• KETKY Thursday, March 5 at 6:00 am EST
• KETKY Friday, March 6 at 7:00 pm EST
• KETKY Saturday, March 7 at midnight EST
• KETKY Saturday, March 7 at 2:00 pm EST

Upcoming programs include Girls' Hoops / His Eye is on the Sparrow, Rough Side of the Mountain, To Save the Land and People, and Hazel Dickens: It's Hard to Tell the Singer from the Song.

Headwaters Television began in 1980 as an early experiment in community-based television, offering commercial free programs of local interest on commercial television. With support from the National Endowment for the Arts, Headwaters came into being as a regular program on the local NBC affiliate in Hazard, KY, featuring live in-studio productions and selections from the Appalshop Film catalog.

In 1984, Appalshop filmmakers expanded the scope and audience for Headwaters by producing new programming specifically for the series and partnering with KET to air the programs statewide and throughout the Appalachian region. More recently, two Headwaters series aired nationally on PBS stations.

This spill is the latest chapter in a story that Appalshop has been sharing for 40 years as we have witnessed our region's complex and changing relationship with coal - a focal point for understanding Appalachia's history and thinking about its future. Since our founding in 1969, Appalshop's mission has been to tell stories that aren't told by cultural industries and to support communities' efforts to achieve justice and equity. This is an important moment for our region and our nation to share these stories, and to help ensure that the national dialog around Appalachia's environment and economy represents the social, cultural, and economic diversity of the Appalachian region.

During the month of January, Appalshop will make web streams available for Sludge and The Buffalo Creek Flood: An Act of Man, two films which establish a context for this current crisis.

Read Appalshop's response to the disaster and watch streaming video of Sludge and The Buffalo Creek Flood: An Act of Man.

Chemical Valley documents the Kanawha Valley’s response to the "Bhopal Disaster," otherwise known as the worst industrial disaster in history, which occurred on December 3, 1984 when the toxic gas methyl isocyanate (MIC) was released from the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, killing and permanently disabling thousands. This tragedy brought international attention to the predominantly African-American community of Institute, West Virginia, site of the only Union Carbide plant in the United States that manufactured MIC.

While 25 years later the Institute facility is owned by Bayer CropScience, it still produces and stores more than five times the amount of MIC that caused the Bhopal disaster. The plant still operates right next door to West Virginia State University, a historically black and land-grant university.

Chemical Valley begins with the Bhopal disaster and the immediate response in the Kanawha Valley, an area once dubbed by residents "the chemical capital of the world" because of the many plants operating there. The program then follows events in the valley over the next five years as lines are drawn and all sides heard in the debate between those who fear for their livelihood and those who fear for their lives. Chemical Valley explores issues of job blackmail, racism, and citizens’ right to know and to act as it documents one community's struggle to make accountable an industry that has all too often forced communities to choose between safety and jobs.

Chemical Valley was produced by Appalshop, a nationally recognized media arts center based in Whitesburg, Kentucky, and directed by Mimi Pickering and Anne Lewis.

The event is free and open to the public, though donations will be accepted. The WVSU Student Environmental Action Coalition is accepting old batteries as part of their recycling awareness campaign. This screening is part of People Concerned About MIC’s education campaign.

Appalshop staff and board members are also presenting a session on Common Ground: How community media and community businesses can work together to foster transformative public discourse.  Click here for the complete Allied Media Conference Schedule

Appalshop staff sessions

Communication Strategies and Movement-Building: A Case Study of the Dignity Not Detention Campaign

Presenters: Detention Watch Network, Progessive Technology Project, Grassroots Leadership Texas, Thousand Kites

How can we use media technology, in particular digital databasing, to build grassroots power without losing momentum on pressing issues?  This workshop will kick off with a brief panel of prison activists who are addressing the issue of Immigration Detention Centers through a “Dignity Not Detention” campaign.  They will be followed by a presentation by the Progressive Technology Project to discuss emerging practices in communication strategies

Community Radio Against Rural Poverty and Prison Expansion

Presenters: Amelia Kirby (Appalshop, Summit City Lounge), Sylvia Ryerson (Appalshop, WMMT-FM Mountain Community Radio), Helia Rasti (Critical Resistance)

This open strategy session will bring together organizations and individuals who are fighting against the prison industrial complex. The session will be centered on how community and low power FM radio stations can be used in a multi-sited movement that connects the struggles against poverty and mass incarceration. We will discuss how to build a nationwide radio campaign that increases awareness, dialogue and solidarity around the devastation caused by the prison system; and that strengthens the alliances between urban and rural activists who are working for positive rehabilitation, community development and societal transformation.

Common Ground: How community media and community businesses can work together to foster transformative public discourse

Presenters: Amelia Kirby (Appalshop, Summit City Lounge), Sylvia Ryerson (Appalshop, WMMT-FM Mountain Community Radio), Marcie Crim (Appalshop, WMMT-FM Mountain Community Radio)

Nationwide, issues of social, environmental and economic justice are framed in polarizing terms. In Central Appalachia, this has especially been the case around the issue of coal mining. Community media outlets and community businesses play a critical role in fostering public dialogue that moves people beyond their poles, towards collective social change. This session will highlight two powerful examples of this in the coalfields communities of eastern Kentucky, WMMT - FM community radio station and Summit City Lounge - coffeeshop, bar, gallery and live music venue. Sharing clips of radio and film, presenters will explore the ways in which open media outlets and open spaces can collaborate to find common ground in polarized, marginalized communities. Participants are encouraged to come with examples from their hometowns of for-profit/non-profit cultural collaborations that have resulted in stronger communities.

Appalshop partner sessions

From "My Story" to "Our Story": Collective Narrative Campaigns to End the Prison Industrial Complex

Presenters: Critical Resistance, People Against Injustice, Resource Information Help for the Disadvantaged

This workshop will put low-cost video and radio tools into the hands of participants as they train in using a Narrative Campaign model of organizing.  We’ll hear from Critical Resistance, People Against InJustice, and Resource Information Help for the Disadvantaged on current struggles against the Prison Industrial Complex.  Then, using cell phones, web tools, and low-cost video tools, we will learn how to conduct interviews on the impacts of the criminal justice system, and upload the content online.

Online Infrastructure for Media-based Organizing Against the Prison Industrial Complex

Presenters: Prison Legal News, Detention Watch Network, AdvoCare

How can we build an online platform for collaboration, organizing, communication, distribution, and building momentum around campaigns that address the Prison Industrial Complex?  How can local grassroots efforts, non-profits, artists, and media products continue growing the movement against the PIC by reshaping our communication strategies? Representatives from Prison Legal News, Detention Watch Network, along with prison reform activists Keith Deblasio and Armando Sotelo will address these questions.

From Page to Stage: Turning Prison Writings into Dynamic Performance & Organizing Tools

Presenter: Bruce Reilly (Direct Action for Rights, Equality/1000 lbs Guerilla)
 


This session will present a blueprint for generating maximum impact from the literary talents that live behind the walls.  Bruce Reilly has produced three prison-themed plays since 2006 including Voice of the Voiceless, a collection of writings edited into a reading, then retooled into a full play for multiple venues.  As a formerly incarcerated writer, Reilly learned how to produce with no budget and no connections, and how the promo and talkback are as important as the performance. 

Prison Poster Project: Understanding the Big Picture (Kid Friendly)

Presenter: Lizzie Anderson (Prison Poster Project)

The Prison Poster Project (PPP) is a collective of artists and activists working in collaboration with prisoners across the U.S. Our mission is to create a public education tool to expose how the prison industrial complex affects our diverse communities and to challenge current reliance on prisons as a solution to social problems. With imprisoned artists, we are creating a mural that will be used by prison activists, educators, incarcerated people and community leaders. Currently, this presentation’s images are in digital form with an accompanying booklet of prisoner writings and stories.

Jim and Ada McCown will join their lifelong friend Paul David Smith to headline the event. Founding members of the Outdoor Plumbing Company, Jim and Ada have been mainstays of the bluegrass and old-time scene for decades. Paul has quietly built a reputation as perhaps the best old-time fiddler in the region.

The Clack Mountain String Band is one of the best young string bands now playing. Based in Morehead, Kentucky, Clack Mountain blends brilliant instrumentals with hard-driving vocals and can switch effortlessly between old-time and honky-tonk.

Rounding out the program and officially hosting the event are Rich and the Po’ Folks. Their music blends dance tunes with ballads, mining songs, and hardscrabble songs from the region’s past.

On Old Time String band day, band members will lead workshops in fiddle, banjo, guitar, and singing. Jam sessions and a ballad swap will round out the day. In the evening, all three bands will appear in concert. The event will conclude with a square dance called by Julie Shepherd-Powell.

Old Time String Band Day is part of the Alltech Fortnight Festival, a series of events across Kentucky mounted to coincide with the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in Lexington. All events are free and open to the public.

For more information, please contact Rich Kirby at rkirby@appalshop.org.

Schedule

10:00 welcome, registration

11:00 workshop session 1
-Beginning Banjo (Brett Ratliff) – WMMT office
-Fiddle (Jesse Wells) – Studio C
-Rhythm Guitar (Karly Dawn Higgins) – Archive Office
-Singing (Rich Kirby) – Conference Room
-String Band (Jim and Ada McCown, Paul Smith, Nate Polly) - Stage

1:00 lunch break

2:00 workshop session 2
-Traditional Song (Brett Ratliff, Rich Kirby) - Stage
-East Kentucky Banjo (John Haywood) – Conference Room
-Kentucky Fiddle (Jesse Wells) – Studio C
-Dance Calling (Julie Shepherd-Powell) – Boone Motor Building

4:00 break

4:15 ballad swap / Jamming

6:00 Concert, Appalshop Theater
-Rich and the Po’ Folk
-Clack Mountain String Band
-Jim and Ada McCown and Paul David Smith

9:00 Square dance, Boone Motor Building (across street from Appalshop)
Julie Shepherd-Powell, caller

As part of the presentation, Ewald will share select images created by her and the students during the era when she was teaching locally.  Archival media as well as contemporary video will also be shown from a new documentary project which follows the process of re-engagement between Ewald and her former students who are now adults in their forties.

This event will take place in the Auditorium of the Belinda Mason Building at SKCTC, 2 Long Avenue in downtown Whitesburg, Kentucky.   It is free and open to the public and is made possible in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. 

For more information, please call Rhona Creech at SKCTC: 606-633-0279 ext 13347, Robert Gipe at SKCTC: 606-589 - 3130 or Elizabeth Barret at Appalshop: 606-633-0108

A quilt—a patchwork of material sewn together into a blanket—what an apt comparison to WMMT. We are a family of almost 50 on-air programmers and a staff of 7. And just like every family; we come in all shapes and sizes. Bluegrass, Gospel, Rock ‘n Roll, Hip-Hop, Old-Time, Soul, Country, and Folk—just some of the different kinds of music you can hear on WMMT. And we’re not only music…in just the last couple of weeks we’ve produced stories about the internet in public schools, dyslexia education, and a live call-in show about children’s health. With the Appalachian Media Institute we’re working with local high school students to produce radio pieces about dropout prevention. We feature local musicians and writers on Appalachian Attitude and spotlight regional artists with Monday’s Art Matters.

Your support is responsible for every song played and every story told on WMMT. You are an incredibly important part of this family. And we know times are tough; that’s why we’re asking you to give what you can. If you’re making a good living and can afford to give more, please do. If you’ve fallen on hard times, please send what you can. Every dollar goes to keeping the station operating and your favorite programs on the air.

Make your donation online, http://appalshop.org/wmmtfm/ or make your pledge by calling 1-888-396-1208!

We are seeking donations (of any size, all of which are tax deductible) for the project and have initiated an online fundraising campaign after qualifying to participate in USA Projects,  created by the non-profit United States Artists to expand its mission of investing in America’s finest artists.  Portraits and Dreams: A Revisitation follows a process of re-engagement by artist Wendy Ewald and the former students she taught during 1975 – 1982 in three rural public elementary schools in Kentucky.  Now through this visual arts/media arts project we are exploring the stories behind the photographs, what is revealed about the practice of collaborative art, and the relationship of images to personal memory.

Please check out our video, project description, and list of premiums available based on level of giving and do consider a contribution in support of our work by going to:  
http://www.unitedstatesartists.org/project/portraits_and_dreams_a_revisitation. 

Our project will only be funded if we reach our goal of $20,000 in total amount pledged by December 30, 2011.  Your generous contributions will support the creation of new work in photography and media arts as well as collaboration between two artists and community members in Appalachia. Thank you!

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