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.