RiffRaff co-owner calls on community artists

By CHARLY MARKWART

PRINCETON — For many years, local art entrepreneur Lori McKinney has envisioned her native Mercer County becoming what she calls an “arts destination.” Now, the co-owner of Princeton’s RiffRaff Arts Collective is calling on her fellow local artists and art enthusiasts to join her in that dream by participating in the county’s first annual All Together Arts Week.

“Everyone in our circle of artists has been talking for a long time about the desire to connect the artists and arts groups in the county,” said McKinney. “There is a real desire for unity around here. We felt the need for a sort of countywide arts alliance, and I had the idea that we should have a week to celebrate that. There are so many wonderful things going on here, that have always been going on. Just having a magnet to highlight that is what All Together Arts Week is all about.”

Scheduled for March 28-April 4, All Together Arts Week has been unanimously declared by the Mercer County Commission as an annual acknowledgement and celebration of the county’s thriving arts community. The Commission’s resolution further recognizes the “great potential of collaboration and cooperation among artists and arts groups” and notes the “positive effects this cooperation” could have on the entire community.

“That credibility of having the County Commission put their seal of approval on this event is definitely valuable,” said McKinney. “When you’re trying to rally people together, sometimes people don’t take you seriously. Having them behind us gives us a nice leg to stand on so that people will listen, at least for that reason.”

McKinney and other local artists who have collaborated to develop the unique celebration are hoping that the entire community will take an interest in their idea, a plan that first took root in McKinney’s mind at a Create West Virginia summit last summer.

“We at the RiffRaff always knew that we were connected with the ideas of Create West Virginia,” she said. “That program calls creative people a vital natural resource that is extremely valuable to the community; that’s the whole concept they stand upon. At the summit in June, we were brainstorming ways to make our communities better in the area of arts and culture, and I came up with this idea. I just think the artists that exist can be so much stronger when we have a unified front.”

McKinney hopes All Together Arts Week will help to build that unity by placing special focus on the art community that already exists in Mercer County, and by providing special events to showcase the local artists who make that community flourish.

“Our local art community is always thriving, but sometimes it’s hard to get the word out about the events going on,” she said. “Our plan for All Together Arts Week is to give extra publicity to kind of highlight what actually goes on in a week in Mercer County. But, a lot of groups are planning special events for the week, as well.”

Some of those special happenings will include a “Discover Downtown Princeton” event, a “poetry slam” at Bluefield’s Arts & Science Center, and a week-ending activity at the RiffRaff. Perhaps the most exciting and all-inclusive event, though, will be the All Together Arts Week kickoff, a mega arts celebration that will bring many of the community’s creative souls together.

“It will be free of charge for all Mercer County arts organizations to set up a table to promote what they’re doing during the week, and what they do all year round,” said McKinney. “There will be networking activities for the various art groups, and we are going to have this massive all-county arts display. Each group will get to nominate two artists to showcase at the event, too, and we’re planning to have a big community art project.”

At that event, and prior to the celebration, the week’s many arts and cultural opportunities will be promoted in a comprehensive campaign. McKinney’s hope is that such a unified endorsement will inspire artists, art enthusiasts, and community members in general to take in a variety of those activities that are available throughout the county.

“We want to bring people in and give them this whole week to experience all of Mercer County,” she said. “They can just hop around and get a great week of arts and culture. If you like arts or if you just want to see what the community has to offer, this will be a fun and rewarding thing for you to participate in.”

Some of the activities already on the All Together Arts Week schedule include the weekly Friday night open stage and Saturday night bluegrass and old-time music series at the Little Opry, in Glenwood, the regular open mic at Gary Bowling’s House of Art, a Tuesday night performance by the Cashore Marionettes at Concord University, and a highly anticipated concert by the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, at the Chuck Mathena Center.

“Concord has this arts-lecture series that always brings in this really great stuff, and the Marionettes are supposed to be amazing, so that should be really exciting,” said McKinney. “And it is really neat that the Symphony Orchestra happens to be coming that week. It’s great how a lot of events are just falling within that week.”

Many of the week’s events are either established happenings or special activities that have already been planned, but McKinney says there is still much room for more.

“There are several ways people can get involved with this,” she said. “Arts groups can host an event, and any artist can submit one piece of art for the community gallery at the kickoff. They can also volunteer for the kickoff event. And, any idea that anyone has, they should let us know, because that’s what we’re all about.”

McKinney hopes that local residents will stand behind All Together Arts Week, not just for what it means to the area’s art world, but for what the special celebration could mean for the community at large.

“We hope to enhance tourism by developing a unified arts scene that will be attractive to people to come visit,” she said. “And we also want to inspire creative people looking to relocate to come to Princeton. Overall, I think there is just this new sense of pride and identity that will come if Mercer County can establish itself as an arts destination.”

While she acknowledges that this first year is about laying the groundwork and establishing All Together Arts Week as an annual affair, McKinney can’t help but be excited about the potential she is already seeing in Mercer County’s newest celebration.

“There has been an excellent response so far, in the spirit of cooperation,” she said. “Everyone who loves art knows how valuable it could be to have a really thriving arts scene in the community, and people are really rallying behind that goal.”

To learn more about All Together Arts Week and how to get involved, visit alltogetherarts.com, or call McKinney at (304) 425-6425.

— Contact CharLy Markwart at cmarkwart@ptonline.net.

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