The following column was originally published in the May 5 edition of The Herald Dispatch. For more information, go to www.herald-dispatch.com.
One of the joys of attending the Create Huntington Chat ‘n Chews on a regular basis is that every few weeks a person offers an idea that reminds me of the creative genius and creative energy that exist in our community. That happened last week when Bill Rawlinson proposed a new way to support local artists and creative projects. The idea is simple, creative, sustainable, and being used elsewhere with …

Join us at the Create Huntington Chat ‘n Chew this Thursday, 5:30 – 7:00 in the lobby of the Frederick Building, 940 Fourth Avenue
The Chat ‘n Chew this Thursday is shaping up to be one packed with very cool projects. Here are a few of the things going on:

Starving Artist Foundation to provide micro-grants to artists and creative projects: www.herald-dispatch.com/news/briefs/x540213341/Starving-artist-foundation-could-be-useful-to-city
Recycling: www.herald-dispatch.com/news/x540212889/Cabell-County-pursues-recycling-program
Culture Center to create a space where people from different backgrounds can share their culture’s food, music, dance, language, history, and art with others: www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=104793586232582&v=info
New downtown Deli/Market – Sylvia Crickard, …

Students from a new musical theatre class at Marshall University will present “A Chorus Line” at 7 p.m. Friday, April 30 and Saturday, May 1 at the Joan C. Edwards Performing Arts Center on the Huntington campus.
The class, “Musical Theatre Workshop,” was open to music or theatre majors and non-majors. It was taught by Bruce Rous, who divides his time at Marshall as adjunct professor for the departments of music and theatre and also serves as Director of Musical Theatre.
The performances are free and open to the public, but since …

“Herding Cats,” an exhibition of work by Marshall University College of Fine Arts students Mark Earnhart and Jason Kiley, will open Friday, April 30 in Gallery 842 and run through May 27. The exhibit and its opening reception, which will take place Friday from 6 to 9 p.m., are free and open to the public.
Earnhart’s and Kiley’s show consists primarily of sculpture, including installations and freestanding forms. Most are new works, but some are collaborative pieces. According to the artists, the work engages the viewer beyond the visual and uses …

Marshall University’s Organization of African Students will present a play, “An African Wedding,” at 7:45 p.m. Friday, April 23. The performance will take place in the Smith Hall room 154 on the Huntington campus and is free and open to the public.
“In addition to the intriguing story of love and marriage, this play will showcase the unique culture, rituals and traditions of pre-marriage and the marital ceremony of a young couple in Africa, strikingly different from our western culture and ceremony,” said Maurice Cooley, director of the Center for African …

The Marshall University Sustainability Department, along with several active student groups, announces a daylong celebration of Earth Day 2010 on Thursday April 22.
“This year marks the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, which brings people around the world together to celebrate the planet,” said Margie Phillips, sustainability manager. “This is the first year the Sustainability Department has existed, so we are quite pleased to partner with students to make this day an eye-opener for our Marshall University community.”
The University will sponsor a bulb exchange program that will give students, staff and …

Poet Mary Ann Samyn and writer Mark Brazaitis, both faculty members at West Virginia University, will read from their work at 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 21, in Room 2W16 of the Memorial Student Center on Marshall University’s Huntington campus. Their appearance is sponsored by the Marshall Visiting Writers Series.
A writer and poet, Brazaitis is the author of An American Affair, winner of the 2004 George Garrett Prize for fiction, as well as The River of Lost Voices: Stories from Guatemala, winner of the 1998 Iowa Short Fiction Award. …

The following was originally published in The Herald Dispatch. See www.herald-dispatch.com for more information.
I am not an artist. My attempts at drawing and painting are so abstract that the subject of my work is entirely unrecognizable. The thought of acting positively terrifies me. And, when it comes to music and dance, well, let’s just say that I am described as “freed from the bonds of rhythm.”
Even with these limitations, sitting in a darkened Keith Albee, lit only by the starlight twinkling from the domed ceiling, I was reminded of the …

HOSPICE OF HUNTINGTON & HUNTINGTON MUSEUM OF ART COLLABORATE TO PRESENT APPALACHIAN FILM FESTIVAL 2010 SHORTS & MICROFILMS CATEGORY ON APRIL 16, 2010, AT HMA’S GRACE RARDIN DOHERTY AUDITORIUM
The Appalachian Film Festival 2010 Shorts & Micro-films Category will be presented April 16, 2010, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Huntington Museum of Art’s Grace Rardin Doherty Auditorium, with a cocktail reception from 5:30 to 6 p.m.
The event is a collaborative fundraiser between Hospice of Huntington and Huntington Museum of Art, with proceeds raised to be divided equally between the …

The following was originally published in the April 7th edition of The Herald Dispatch. For more information, go to www.herald-dispatch.com.
There will be some very special guests at the Create Huntington Chat ‘n Chew this Thursday, April 8th. We will host a conversation with a group of college students and faculty from Malmö University in Malmö, Sweden. They are in Huntington studying our efforts to revitalize the community and to establish a new economy that is competitive in the 21st Century.
What is important for us is that Malmö is a de-industrialized …