PRINCETON — The arts community of southern West Virginia put its best foot forward Friday morning as the arts staff of the West Virginia Division of Culture and History brought its listening tour to the Chuck Mathena Center in Princeton.

“This was absolutely one of the best meetings I have attended,” Pete Sternloff, a director on the Bluefield city board of directors said. “There was a great deal of positive interaction. I thing that something very good will come of this.”

In addition to Sternloff, State Senator Don Caruth, R-Mercer, State Delegate John Frazier, D-Mercer and Mercer County Commissioner Karen Disibbio attended the extended breakfast meeting as well as Princeton City Manager Wayne Shumate along with Robert Farley and Marc Meachum, the heads of the Princeton-Mercer County and Greater Bluefield chambers of commerce, respectively.

“This is a great turn-out,” Brenda Frazier, a CMC volunteer and the wife of Delegate Frazier said. “All of the arts need local support as well as support from the state.”

The CMC media center was stylishly decorated, and the soft, piano music provided a pleasant soundtrack to the morning conversations. “When Dr. Jeffrey Greenberg, a Princeton neurosurgeon, found out that the Division of Culture and History’s listening tour was coming here, he volunteered to play piano for us,” Spring Turner, CMC executive director said. “He is classically trained, and his music added such a nice touch to the atmosphere here this morning.”

Turner said she was very pleased with the response to the listening tour. “It’s wonderful to see so many people here this morning,” she said. “We have people here from Bluefield, Athens and Princeton. I think it is so important to get everyone involved in supporting the arts.”

Jeff Pierson, director of arts with the Division of Culture and History said the division is in the process of preparing its application to the National Endowment for the Arts, and the listening tour represents an effort to learn more about “how we can better serve our area.

“Every community in West Virginia is different, and we’re listening to the people before we make our request,” Pierson said. “In times of economic challenges like now, the arts are often among the first things that gets cut. I think this is really good to see Senator Caruth and Delegate Frazier here.

“West Virginia has always supported the arts,” Pierson said. “We are ranked at least 13th in terms of state appropriations for the arts, and our ranking may be even better than that with some programs falling away. We do very well in terms of supporting the arts.”

Eugenia Hancock was also thrilled by the response from the region. “This is a lovely setting for a breakfast meeting like this,” she said.

Beverly Wellman, executive director of the Mercer County Convention and Visitors Bureau was excited by the obvious excitement in the crowd concerning attractions throughout the region.

“It is amazing to see how truly vibrant our artistic community is, and to see the number of attractions we have,” Wellman said. “I think this was an important meeting and I think good things will come as a result of it.”

Division of Culture and History representatives asked the participants what their greatest challenge is, how grant funding could help them, what is the most positive aspect of arts in the community and how can the division communicate with the local artistic community.

— Contact Bill Archer at barcher@bdtonline.com