The “Creative Class” in Appalachia

Big cities get a lot of attention for attracting the “creative class,” those folks who make their living in the arts, design, architecture or other creative fields. Much has been made of the importance of attracting this community, because, as the Daily Yonder says,”the creative-class thesis holds that communities that attract and retain more workers who are in creative occupations will fare better in today’s economy.” But new research from the USDA shows that there are plenty of rural counties that are attracting the creative class as well. And why not? While many creative types enjoy living in big cities, Appalachia’s storied tradition of arts and culture, our beautiful landscape and the revitalizing downtowns of many of our towns can be inspiration for any creative type. A low cost of living and plenty of affordable office space compared to the big city just adds to the appeal. Plus, as a previous Daily Yonder column detailed, artists (of all types) in big cities can get lost among so many trying to make it, whereas in smaller towns they can make more of a mark. So where do the creative class live in central Appalachia? According to this great interactive map, the top non-metro counties (which are in the top 25% of creative-class counties nationwide) are: Wautauga County, NC – the creative class makes up 26.3% of the working population. Athens County, OH – 26% Jackson County, NC – 23.1% Madison County, KY – 22.6% Swain County, NC – 22.2% Avery County, NC –...

Berea wins “Livable Community” award to support local food...

Berea, Kentucky is one of four winners of a competition held by the Appalachian Regional Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the US Department of Agriculture. The “Livable Communities” award was granted to support Berea’s continued work on expanding the local food system. This grant will help Berea develop a city lot into an “urban farm” (well, as urban as you can be in Berea!) With its popular farmers’ market, the new Berea College Farm Store, groups like Sustainable Berea, and area schools and restaurants buying locally-grown produce, it’s no surprise to us that Berea would be among the winners. Representatives from the federal agencies will be in Berea today to present the award. The other three winners are New Albany, Mississippi and Forest City and North Wilkesboro, both in North Carolina. Local food is an important component to Appalachia’s transition and taps into our deeply-held food traditions. When it seems like everyone is looking for something to fight about, food brings people together and provides common ground. We’re looking forward to seeing the new urban farm come to...

‘Looking at Appalachia’ allows others to see region through Appalachian peoples’ lens...

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the War on Poverty, and the retrospectives about how far (or how little) Appalachia has come have been pouring out of national media outlets like the poverty pictures of 1964 Appalachia poured out into the national psyche. Some of these retrospectives have been very comprehensive, featuring the many complexities of the War on Poverty and the region. And some have not been so kind. When President Johnson came to Inez, Ky., in 1964 and stood on the Fletcher family porch, he inadvertently provided the inception of the national “visual definition of Appalachia,” according to West Virginia photographer Roger May. The Appalachian people have had little say in how they rest of the country sees them and their region, he says. May has started the website Looking at Appalachia to “explore the diversity of Appalachia and establish a visual counter point” to the often one-dimensional and one-sided images that have been mined from the region by national media since 1964. The site is a crowd-sourced photography archive of images from the 13-state Appalachian region as defined by the Appalachian Regional Commission. Images can be submitted by anyone, so long as they come from within the ARC’s defined Appalachian region, and were taken in 2014. Looking at Appalachia is a unique project, and we know it will produce and collect some very interesting photographs of what Appalachia looks like through the lens of actual Appalachian people, an image archive that will be “defined by...

A Place Worth Fighting For

Given all the negative reporting about Appalachia’s problems and the subsequent “brain drain,” it may seem surprising that there are young people who are committed to their homes and communities, who feel an unbreakable tie to the mountains and who want to make their homeplaces better. Earlier this year, we were subjected to yet another “expose” on the region by someone who parachuted in, found what he needed to confirm his preconceived notions and ran back to write an article about it, calling Central Appalachia “the great white ghetto.” Ugh. Clearly, the author of that piece had not met Rance Garrison, a 27-year-old recent college grad from southwest Virginia. He posted an essay this morning called “Appalachia: The Great White Ghetto? Why I am Staying.” Garrison is not blind to the problems of his hometown. He reflects mournfully on the decline of the once-bustling Main Street and the growing drug problem.  And he worries about the growing income inequality in this country that will only make Appalachia’s challenges more difficult to overcome. But that’s no reason not to fight: People tell me all the time that I would be best off leaving this place, this whole general region, but roots are roots, and many times in this modern world, we have a tendency to lose touch with those roots.  In doing so, we lose a part of who we are, a part of our identity, part of the uniqueness of our human experience.  We lose touch with something that...

Welcome to the new Appalachian Transition blog!

Welcome to Renew Appalachia, the new home of the Appalachian Transition blog. We hope you like the new look, and find the site easier to navigate. In addition to our regular blog posts, in the coming months, we’ll be featuring guest bloggers from around the region who will share their own insights and ideas for the region’s transformation. Take a look around, and tell us what you think in the...

Transition Stories: Whitesburg businesses build something together...

One thing Amelia Kirby and David Fisher both knew when they opened businesses in downtown Whitesburg was that they wouldn’t get rich. They knew it was about something larger. I. Summit City When Kirby and her partner, Joel Beverly, opened Summit City Lounge in 2007, they had a feeling they were launching something that would be important for Whitesburg. But they had no clear game plan other than “a belief in having a space that whatever needed to happen in the town could happen.” The town of about 2,000 in southeastern Kentucky lacked a “community convivial space” such as a bar or pub where cross-pollination of ideas and culture could occur. “That is a really, really significant and underestimated piece of how community building happens in a lot of places,” said Kirby. “It puts people who would not necessarily be sitting together together in a space with usually the intent of finding some common ground.” Buildings in downtown Whitesburg were cheap and easy to come by because so many were sitting empty. Beverly bought an old store building to use as office space for his environmental consulting business, Apogee Environmental and Archaeological. As they peeled back layers of dropped ceiling, paneling and carpet, “it just suddenly started to reveal itself as this really lovely space,” Kirby said. The wheels started to turn. “We sort of started thinking about ‘What kind of things could this space be?’ and that led to ‘What do we wish we had in this town that we...

Real leadership for Appalachia necessary in upcoming elections...

Brace yourselves; election season is coming. We’re already seeing political ads claiming this candidate is taking us to hell in a hand basket, or that candidate is going to single-handedly save Kentucky. Unfortunately, so far there have been few candidates with any solid plans for helping eastern Kentucky. With SOAR receiving so much news coverage, I had hoped that we might get some new ideas and discussion about real, lasting economic transition. Instead, it’s just been the same rhetoric about the so-called “War on Coal,” which gets us nowhere. A recent op-ed in the Lexington Herald Leader by a former eastern Kentucky coal miner expresses some real frustration about the power coal operators have in the political process here: It’s true that I’m pretty tired of the coal corporations and coal barons telling our elected leaders what they can and cannot do. But I am absolutely sick and tired of political leaders — or candidates — who let them. We are starved for leaders who will look out for Eastern Kentucky instead of doing what the coal companies tell them. We are ready for leaders who will help us build the bright future we deserve here. There are people in every county working to develop the next economy here in Eastern Kentucky. Slowly but surely — and with precious little help from our elected leaders — we are working to create new jobs in energy efficiency, local food, shops and markets, and more. It’s hard work filled with risk...