With friends like these: Seeing Possibility in East Liverpool and the Ohio River Valley

Caveat:

I have never been to East Liverpool, and not driving, has prevented me from exploring the area more deeply, which is the main reason I don't post much about it. I have been around Wheeling a few times.

What press regional cities like Wheeling, Weirton, Steubenville and East Liverpool do get tends towards the negative.

Rust Wire hosted a typical post-(By a girl allegedly trying to help) playing on every stereotype- starting with a highly inaccurate headline, "East Liverpool and the Unforgiving Economy of Rural Appalachia".

"It’s a city where almost every second or third house seems to be abandoned, and not just abandoned. Some are burnt out. Some are falling down. The locals talk about the incessant and merciless drug traffic. They say dealers have come up to the city from the east coast – having found a robust market for heroin and other opiates. The drug trade wreaks constant havoc on the streets. In late September, five people were shot there in a single night."

Crime, abandonment, drugs, toxic chemicals, high cancer rates, sadly all too true. But.. this is hardly more Appalachia (Some stretches of the river better fit that description) than Pittsburgh itself is. East Liverpool is about a 35 minute drive from Pittsburgh International Airport. You can't really be near a major Airport and in "Appalachia" at the same time, these places lack the isolation that defines Appalachian poverty.

What makes their condition so tragic is how they are being left behind in an increasing thriving regional economy. A few clicks on street view, shows what are still very beautiful towns with the remains of deluxe main street amenities- mini Pittsburghs.

Two major issues seem to come to mind.

1) The huge impact the loss of rail links. River towns on often narrow flood plains are not well suited to auto-centric development.

2) The strong tendency to still see often destructive heavy industries as their only chance at jobs, even as automation has radically shrunk the need for workers.

This post will hopefully trigger a conversation about better leveraging the awesome assets, history and location of these communities and better linking them to greater Pittsburgh.

2010 West Virginia Flash Animation Festival: April 22nd and 23rd

Sadly, I can count the number of honest, sincere attempts to develop creative interactions between artists, in West Virginia, Western Pennsylvania and Ohio, let alone a wider area. There is the recently developed small press festival and publishing of Open Thread. There is the juried show at The Erie Art Museum, which allows submissions (unlike, the Associated Show which is keepin it Yinz) from within 250 miles. The Pittsburgh Visionary Arts Festival included a few Ohio Artists and there are occasional conferences often held in Youngstown, to which it seems nobody comes.An Urbanophile post rightly referred to Cleveland as a cultural Cul-de-sac. We know hyper local in these parts.

Ironically, it's often the little schools and more isolated communities in the region that see the point of reaching out. Ever, heard of this school? Well, I sort of have and it seems they now have a pretty good media arts program-- a medium that obviously transends normal geographic limits.

"The tenth annual West Virginia Flash Festival will take place on the campus of West Liberty University on Friday, April 23, 2010. Free Entry for students from colleges and universities throughout West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and Kentucky to compete for $2,000 in cash prizes in three different categories: Animation, Electronic Music, and Video. See the Call for Entries link for more details. (now closed)

The West Virginia Flash Festival began as a class project ten years ago. Students in my Animation for the Web class worked hard to create some great animations, and we wanted to create a public venue to display their work. The event grew through the years to include college students from the states of West Virginia and our neighboring states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, Virginia and Kentucky. This tenth anniversary is our biggest event to date. We are bringing in some outstanding media professionals to juror the entries and to share their tips and techniques."

See the full event schedule here

Glad I'm now aware of this event!