Theatre Group to Perform Play About Hindman
News Date:
03/11/2010
Looking for Lilith Theatre Company of Louisville, Kentucky will be re-staging their first play, Crossing Mountains: To Teach All We Can and To Learn All We Can, which premiered in 2002 for the centennial of Hindman Settlement School, after debuting in New York City in November, 2001.
The play celebrates 100 years of education and change in the Kentucky Mountains and explores the many obstacles against which an Appalachian mountain community struggled to create exceptional educational and cultural opportunities for youth and adults of the region.
Hindman Settlement School has remained vital by responding to the needs of its community, from its founding by two ladies from the Bluegrass and the cultural clashes and reconciliations that ensued, to the present, as it provides educational services for students with dyslexia and other learning differences, maintains a Folk Arts Education Program, and hosts cultural events such as the Appalachian Writers Workshop and Family Folk Week.
The play explores the school’s inspiring history, its significance to the local community and its resonance with the entire human community. At the play’s core is the universal struggle to achieve progress and growth while continuing to treasure one's heritage and culture.
Performances will be March 18, 19, 20, 25, 26 and 27 at 7:30 pm, with a March 27th matinee at 2:30 pm, at The Rudyard Kipling in Louisville. Tickets are $15, with special discounted tickets for students and seniors. For dinner and show reservations, call 502.636.1311. For show-only reservations, call 502.638.2559.
The upcoming production will be directed by Kathi E.B. Ellis and the cast includes company members Shannon Woolley, Jennifer Thalman Kepler and Trina Fischer as well as Karole Spangler, of StageOne Children's Theatre and Laura Ellis, who is also the sound designer. Graphic and costume design is by company member Typh Hainer Merwarth. Christe Lunsford is the set designer and the stage manager is Elden Richard Neal.
Local musicians will provide acoustic pre-show music 30 minutes before each show. The schedule for these musicians is as follows:
March 18 (7 pm) Sue Massek;
March 20 (7 pm) Jeff Guernsey & Tammy Burke;
March 25 (7 pm) Troubadours of Divine Bliss;
March 26 (7 pm) Dewey Kincaid;
March 27 (2 pm Twisted Sisters; and
March 27 (7pm) Tim Morton & Friends
Also for the first time, Looking for Lilith will be collaborating with MotherLodge for their MotherLodge Spring 2010: Live Arts Exchange which runs March 22 - April 18, beginning in Louisville, then traveling to Summit City Lounge (April 7th) in Whitesburg, KY and ending up in New York City's West Village.
Started by Louisville native and New York musician Ray Rizzo, "MotherLodge develops live shows with artists, venues, organizations and individuals who want to approach their work, their neighborhood and their place from a new perspective. Their programming gathers diverse artists and cultural creatives from local communities to cook up a stew of populist, absurd, abstract and communally motivated perspectives, doling out game changing art and life-affirming organized chaos to artists and audiences simultaneously, creating a community of the moment."
LOOKING FOR LILITH THEATRE COMPANY is a nonprofit, ensemble theatre company, founded in New York City in 2001 by Shannon Woolley and Trina Fischer, both Louisville natives, along with Jennifer Thalman Kepler of Winchester, VA. Its mission is to present plays that re-examine history through women’s perspectives, mainly through the collaborative creation of original theatre, based on historical research. The company is funded, in part, by the Kentucky Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Settlement Offers Digital Photography Workshop
News Date:
03/10/2010
Malcolm J. Wilson, digital artist/photographer and Harlan County Kentucky native, will lead an intermediate digital photography workshop May 20-23 at Hindman Settlement School.
"Documenting Appalachia: An Intermediate Digital Photography Workshop" will focus on photocomposition, lighting, camera settings and preparation of photo files for archival display. Drawing inspiration from the historic Settlement School campus and Knott County’s cultural heritage, participants will have the opportunity to capture the splendor of Appalachia in the spring, using Hindman and Knott County as backdrops.
For nearly 20 years, Wilson has worked with digital photography. Before moving to Bristol, Tennessee several years ago, he worked as a commercial photographer in Cincinnati for 19 years. He currently uses his digital photography skills in advertising and marketing work and for his personal fine arts projects. His photography has been exhibited in the Appalachian region and nationally. His work is included in permanent collections at University of Kentucky Appalachian Center, Southeast Community College Appalachian Archives and The Kennedy Center Gallery & Archives in Washington, DC.
“With the explosive growth in popularity of digital cameras in the last few years, so many people now have access to the convenience and ease of digital photography,” says Wilson. “Students crave information on how to unleash their full creative potential using the digital camera. That is the precise goal of this workshop.”
Workshop fieldwork will include visits to local Hindman businesses, parks, scenic vistas and the Settlement School campus. The workshop will begin on Thursday, May 20, with dinner at 6 p.m. followed by a course introduction after dinner. Fieldwork will comprise the day sessions on Friday and Saturday. Friday evening will be devoted to class instruction and demonstration. Saturday night, students will exhibit their work “Knott County Heritage: A Visual Diary,” in a gallery-like public reception at Hindman Settlement School.
Participants should have a basic understanding of digital photography and have familiarity with the basic controls of their own camera. The workshop will emphasize creativity, not technology.
The workshop will conclude at noon on Sunday, May 23. The cost is $350, which covers most meals, shared lodging, tuition and print exhibition materials. Those who wish to commute pay $200, plus the cost of any meals.
Participants should bring their own digital camera and equipment. A non-refundable deposit of $100 will be applied to the cost of the workshop at the time of registration.
Hindman Settlement School is located at the Forks of Troublesome Creek in Hindman, Kentucky. Established in 1902, it was the first rural social settlement school in America. The Settlement School’s mission is “to provide education and service opportunities for people of the mountains, while keeping them mindful of their heritage.” While the mission has remained the same, the Settlement’s programs have changed over time to meet the changing needs of the region. The Settlement’s major work today includes education and service programs that address critical needs of the region’s youth and adults, promote cultural awareness and build upon Appalachia’s rich cultural heritage.
Class will be limited to the first 20 registrants. For more information, call 606.785.5475 or e-mail Info@HindmanSettlement.org. A complete schedule and registration forms are available at: www.HindmanSettlement.org/Photoworkshop.
$40,000 Grant Approved by Berea College Appalachian Fund
News Date:
01/12/2010
Hindman Settlement School is pleased to announce it has received approval of a $40,000 grant from the Berea College Appalachian Fund for its 2010 Summer Tutoring Program for children with learning differences. The funds will provide scholarship assistance for children whose families are unable to cover the full cost of tuition.
The 29th Annual Summer Tutoring Program will be held from June 14 through July 23, 2010 on the campus of Hindman Settlement School. The six-week program provides intensive tutoring in reading and math for students with dyslexic characteristics. Students must be evaluated prior to enrollment. Evaluations are conducted monthly at Hindman Settlement School.
The Berea College Appalachian Fund is one of the Settlement School’s Annual Fund Partners and has provided more than $450,000 in grants to the Settlement during the past 60 years. Hindman Settlement School has been affiliated with the Appalachian Fund since the early 1950s when the fund was established through a gift from Herbert Faber and Ruth McGurk Faber. The Fund has supported nonprofits working to improve the general education, health and physical well being of people living in the Appalachian Mountains and surrounding areas.
Learn more about the Summer Tutoring Program.
1943 Alumna Endows Folk Arts Education Program
News Date:
12/04/2009
Sometimes events in our childhood can profoundly affect who we are and what we believe. Hindman High School alumna Marcia Smith Lawrence was born in a house across the road from Hindman Settlement School and raised in Hindman where she was continually exposed to the Settlement’s folk arts programs. Those circumstances led to her lifelong interest in Appalachia’s cultural heritage.
This summer Lawrence, who has served on the Settlement School’s board of directors since 2004, decided to help preserve this heritage by establishing the Marcia Smith Lawrence Folk Arts Education Fund at Hindman Settlement School. The $500,000 endowment will support Folk Arts Education outreach programs at the Settlement School.
Lawrence was among several generations of students from the area who grew up attending folk dances and musical events hosted on Hindman Settlement’s campus. Many Hindman students learned traditional crafts such as weaving and woodworking, or folk arts like dulcimer playing and ballad singing, at the School.
In 1942, when Knott County public schools took over teaching academic subjects, the Settlement School agreed to provide teachers for manual training, domestic science, art, music and recreation. The School continued to provide extension programs in arts and recreation in cooperation with Knott County public schools until 1990 when the program was taken over by the public schools.
In 2006, with the help of her friends, Lawrence donated and raised the funds necessary to reinstate the Folk Arts Education Program. Her goal was to ensure Knott County schools have the resources to teach culturally relevant arts and music. A two-year grant from The Steele-Reese Foundation has allowed the program to continue through 2009. It has been Lawrence’s goal to establish an endowment to support this work in perpetuity.
While the Settlement will need to raise additional funds to fully cover salary and associated expenses for the program, this gift ensures that the efforts of the Settlement School’s founders to keep area students mindful of their heritage will continue for many years to come.
Folk Arts Education Program Improves Arts & Humanities Scores
News Date:
12/03/2009
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| Folk Arts Education Program Director, Randy Wilson, hauls instruments and recording gear for a class at Carr Creek Elementary. Visit “Photo Galleries” for more photos. |
During the 2007 and 2008 school years, Hindman Settlement School’s Folk Arts Education Program provided dance, theater and music instruction to 5th and 8th graders at five Knott County elementary schools (Emmalena, Jones Fork, Carr Creek, Hindman and Beaver) and to all grades at the Settlement’s full-time school, as part of each school’s Arts & Humanities curriculum.
According to the Kentucky Department of Education’s CATS test in Arts & Humanities from 2006-2008, the average score for 5th grade improved by 54.3% and the average for the 8th grade improved by 8.3%. CATS stands for the Commonwealth Accountability Testing System which is the standards-based test given to all Kentucky school children. Scores for 8th graders at Hindman Elementary were not improved. With Hindman excluded, the improvement for 8th graders averaged 16.36% (comparing 2006 to 2008 results.)
“The CATS scores are a validation that the Settlement’s Folk Arts Education Program has had an impact on student learning,” noted Settlement School Executive Director, Mike Mullins.
Lessons included introduction of the dulcimer and recorder for all the grades and teaching rudimentary skills in sight-reading musical notation. Everybody learned a tune or two on these instruments. Students also wrote and performed brief radio skits and stories based on their own experiences. Much of the students’ work has aired on WMMT’s Kids Radio, which is broadcast every Tuesday evening and Sunday morning.
The Settlement School’s folk artist continues to work with students this year, but because testing no longer focuses on 5th and 8th grades, he is working with additional classes. “I get 30 minutes to an hour a week with each class, so the lessons serve only to reinforce what they are learning. It is really up to the classroom teacher to use these lessons as a springboard to the broader curriculum,” commented Folk Arts Education Program Director, Randy Wilson.
“Teachers have told me this work serves the larger purpose of creating excitement, enhancing student creativity and providing hands-on-learning opportunities. These are the kinds of rewards that make students want to come to school and learn,” Wilson noted.
Arizona DAR Presents Handcrafted Violin
News Date:
12/01/2009
As a young man in the Midwest, Gene Drury loved orchestra music and particularly the sound of the violin. After retiring from the tool design/engineering department at McDonnell Aircraft in St. Louis, Drury decided to challenge himself by learning to make violins. After months of studying, he crafted his own violin-making tools, molds and calibration instruments, and began work on his first violin.
Fast-forward 20 years . . . During the Settlement School’s 32nd annual Appalachian Family Folk Week, another young musician benefitted from Drury’s skill and generosity. Gabe Dansereau, who is the son of Randy Wilson and Suzanne Dansereau, was presented with the 137th violin crafted by Gene Drury.Drury has never sold his violins, always preferring to give them to promising young musicians. Drury explains, “I just want to pass along to future generations the lovely music I hear in my head as I stand at my workbench.”
Jo Andress, State Regent of Arizona State Society DAR, was responsible for connecting the Settlement School with Drury. Drury was the 2008 recipient of a DAR Community Service Award from the Havasu Chapter DAR in Lake Havasu City, AZ.
DAR Establishes Alae Risse Leitch Fund
News Date:
09/10/2009
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| Alae Risse Leitch Photo by Lynn Wright |
The Joseph Habersham Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) in Atlanta, Georgia recently made a $5,000 gift to establish the Alae Risse Leitch Fund. The chapter has pledged to make annual gifts until the fund reaches $25,000, at which time earnings will be used to fund programs for children. The chapter has also provided a $1,000 gift to be used toward current children’s programs.
The endowed fund was established to honor and celebrate Alae Risse Leitch, who has been an active member of DAR for 41 years. Mrs. Leitch served as Joseph Habersham Chapter Regent from 1972-1974 and is an Honorary Chapter Regent for life. She served as Georgia’s state Regent from 1986-1988 and is an Honorary State Regent for life.
Quilt Proceeds to Benefit Writers
News Date:
09/06/2009
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| Raffle winner, Brooke Calton Mulhollem, with Diane Gilliam |
The Appalachian Writers Workshop scholarship fund is $1,335 richer thanks to the generosity of poet Diane Gilliam. Gilliam hand-quilted a beautiful basket pattern quilt and donated it to be raffled during the 2009 Writer Workshop. Proceeds of the raffle were designated to support scholarships for writers who wish to attend the annual Writers Workshop but cannot afford tuition. Gilliam is the author of Kettle Bottom, a collection of poems that use the voices of West Virginia miners and their families to paint a portrait of mining in Appalachia.
Maurice Manning: The Gathering at Hindman
News Date:
09/05/2009
Editor’s Note: This year marked the 32nd year for the Appalachian Writers Workshop, a weeklong workshop held each summer at the Settlement School. We asked Maurice Manning, a member of the workshop staff this year, to describe what it is like to take part in the workshop.I had the pleasure of growing up knowing my great-great aunt, Clara Burchell, who lived all her life in Clay County, Kentucky. Aunt Clara developed original varieties of garden seed and sold it in a store in Manchester. The store, not surprisingly, wasn’t a profit-making venture; instead, it was a place folks stopped to pass along a little news or to share a laugh.
Aunt Clara was born in 1882 and lived to be 108. She knew 19th century mountain life—both its pleasures and its hardships; she also knew everybody around, the scoundrels and the local saints, who was kin to whom and how for generations.
A one-eyed black man named Snooks Lyttle ran Aunt Clara’s farm, good bottomland out toward Greenbriar Branch. More than 60 years ago, my father and his mother used to go out to Greenbriar and visit a church that had a lady preacher, which was unheard of anywhere in those days.
All of this might sound like scattered details, but in my mind, everything is organized, fanning out in elaborate patterns that take hold in the folded mountain landscape. These are my deepest roots, full of mystery and fascination, and yes, a little pride. I’ve always felt lucky to be so connected to a place and to feel the depths of time sounding from that place.
It is to drink this old water, to return to the reviving nourishment of our roots, that many of us gather every summer at the forks of Troublesome Creek for the Appalachian Writers Workshop.
Yes, we get serious about literature during the week—the participants in my workshop this year, for example, wrote poems every bit as searching and finely-crafted as the work I see from graduate students. We had an excellent lecture from Ron Rash on the serendipity of doing serious research in order to write accurate imaginative fiction. Every year we have good readings, storytelling, music and square dancing. Late on the final night of the week we’ve taken to passing around the book, to read Jim Wayne Miller’s “Brier Sermon.”
Whether our mountain heritage is firsthand or once removed, we all come to Hindman to understand that heritage—some come to discover it—to engage it and enrich it, and to do our best to preserve it.
For most of us the week is intense and emotional, because most of us have to return to our ordinary lives beset with the concerns of broader American society, which can at times seem wholly ignorant of the value of having roots.
It is hard for me these days not to think the entire Appalachian region is profoundly threatened, first the land itself, and next, the distinct, mythic culture which has grown from that land. However, if we continue to gather and tend this culture through stories and poems, through song and dance, through tales and quilts—and if we hand it on from one generation to the next—we will deepen our roots and find new ways to keep hold of the land that so kindly owns us.
Maurice Manning’s third book of poetry, Bucolics, has just been released in paperback. His first book, Lawrence Booth’s Book of Visions, was selected for the 2000 Yale Series of Younger Poets. A native of Kentucky, Manning teaches at Indiana University and in the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. He has a farm near Danville, Kentucky.
Enhanced Communication Plan Includes E-News
News Date:
09/03/2009
Hindman Settlement School has been in the communications business for many years, publishing its first student newspaper, The Mountain Echo, in 1925. In September the Settlement will be launching its first e-news broadcast. The goal is to provide more timely news of Settlement School programs and events to those who use the Internet.
"Several people have asked to be added to our e-mail list because that is their preferred method for getting news," says Jeanne Marie Hibberd, the Settlement's development and communications director. "With the redesign of our web site, we now have the ability to post information quickly. It just makes sense to use e-mail to keep people connected," Hibberd noted.
The Settlement contracted with Flying High Design, Marketing & Creative Resources to assist with the web site redesign. In addition to ease of management, the new site allows staff to post photo galleries, share audio and video files, and offer online registration for events. Flying High donated design services to enable the e-news broadcast.
While the Settlement will still be publishing a paper edition of its newsletter twice a year, the e-news broadcast will offer shorter and more timely news. The hope is this will reduce the number of newsletters mailed each year, saving paper, printing costs and postage.
Sign-up for the e-news broadcast is easy and you can unsubscribe if you change your mind. The Settlement School's privacy policy spells out the details, but basically the school will not sell or share your e-mail address with others.
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