Create Appalachia will officially open the doors of the new Johnson City Center for Art and Technology by holding a free community concert on Nov. 19 from 4-6 p.m. at the Tennessee Hills Brewstillery, featuring “Bill and the Belles” and ETSU’s “The Broken Down Ramblers”.
Following the concert, everyone is invited to attend the grand opening reception, which will take place inside the JCAAT. Attendees will have the opportunity to tour the new facility and learn more about what makes Create Appalachia an asset to the region.
With the grand opening of the JCCAT, located at 714 W. Walnut St., Create Appalachia’s impact on the region is just beginning.
For many creative entrepreneurs in the Appalachian region, obtaining a job that utilizes their passions meant relocating out of the area. Despite the abundance of accredited programs in Appalachia that foster the creative arts, students of these programs were not seeing an abundance of opportunities post-graduation.
The minds behind Create Appalachia were seeing this pattern, as well. Then, they decided to do something to break it. Operating as a non-profit, Create Appalachia seeks to create opportunities for people who work in a field surrounding art and business.
Katie Hoffman, the executive director of Create Appalachia, describes some of these job positions to be within the fields of graphic design, game design, industrial design, filmmaking, photography, advertising and marketing.
Both Hoffman and the founder of Create Appalachia, Cher Cornett, have backgrounds in education, which gave them a front row seat to witness both the impressive talent the region has to offer and the amount of talent forced to leave the region in search of jobs.
“What we’re trying to do is keep some of the talented folks who graduate from the colleges and universities around here in the region,” Hoffman said.
Create Appalachia offers three levels of support for creative entrepreneurs. First, it offer spaces that are specifically designed for the creative arts. The JCAAT will boast a full film production studio, photography studio, recording studio, motion capture studio and various streaming media labs, among its other amenities. Users simply just pay a fee to access their desired space.
Outside of the physical spaces, the JCAAT also provides creative entrepreneurs with access to specialized equipment and software.
Finally, Create Appalachia offers classes that are designed to promote professional growth or enhance a particular skill.
“We want the value and the quality and the quantity of creative talent in this region to become even more evident than it already is,” Hoffman said.
For Hoffman, Create Appalachia is special in the way that it enriches the region; by providing creators with the spaces and tools to grow their businesses, it is also bringing them together and promoting collaboration.
“I am an educator by trade, and I think that’s why I am so excited about what we do,” Hoffman said. “What I’ve noticed is that if you get creatives, and especially young creatives, involved in things and you honor what they have and what they bring to the table, amazing things happen.”
Hoffman is also excited to continue to celebrate and promote Appalachian creativity, something that she shares will change the way people outside of the region will view the community of Appalachia.
“My observation about Appalachia is that people outside of the region often have some misconceptions about who we are,” Hoffman said. “I think that this is an opportunity to show the innovation and the talent that is so much a part of Appalachian culture.”
For more information about Create Appalachia and its upcoming programs, events and available spaces, visit its website at: www.createappalachia.org
