Blue Ridge Region Cultivates Media-Arts Colony
Published Mar 23, 2009
Kurt Mann, pictured with producer Azure Samuels, is CEO of American Green Media Strategy and one of several media entrepreneurs in the region.
From film and video production studios to live multimedia performances to designers to interactive artists, Western North Carolina is becoming a hub of media arts, drawing young professionals and industry veterans.
“Over the past 10 years, the artistic and technical community has grown quite a bit,” says Paul Bonesteel, CEO of Bonesteel Films Inc., an Asheville production company. “I can comfortably say that almost all of our needs creatively, and most of our needs technically, can be met in the region.”
Bonesteel says that for many artists, the region’s superior quality of life and sense of community are a draw.
“It magnetically pulled in a lot of people,” he says. “All of the things that make Asheville an attractive place to do business and to live are also responsible for bringing people with a high degree of creative abilities.”
Asheville resident Kurt Mann’s company, American Green Media Strategy, creates films promoting “green” lifestyles, technologies and business to improve the environment.
As more opportunities emerge, the region’s young people are staying close to home when they choose to pursue media-arts careers.
“There are definitely a lot of talented students coming out of the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and I think as there are more opportunities in town, you’ll have more opportunities to stay here,” says Robert Klein, owner and operator of Klein Digital Inc. and adjunct instructor at UNCA.
The Creative Commerce Commission has generated 115 film projects and a more than $10 million economic impact for the region since 2004. The commission, part of Advantage West Economic Development Group, maintains a comprehensive database of film- and production-related expertise.
HATCHfest, an effort designed to connect new filmmakers, musicians, photographers, designers, architects, writers, performance and fine artists with award-winning veterans in the arts communities is making Asheville its second home five years after its launch in Bozeman, Mont. (For more, go to www.hatchfest.org.)
The nonprofit Media Arts Project promotes arts and technology through exhibition programming, professional development, outreach and education, and produces the comprehensive Media Arts Directory.
The three-year-old Fine and Performing Arts Center on Western Carolina University’s campus hosts multiple series, and since the first performance, nearly half of the shows have sold out.
“We want these cultural programs to be enriching beyond the classroom,” says Paul Lormand, director of the center. “We want them to promote the understanding of the fine arts.”
The universities’ commitment to the performing arts serves to emphasize the region’s diverse artistic scene, encompassing everything from the latest editing technology to filmmaking to classic theater.
“There is a great variety, and that lends itself to the region. A lot of these trades, a lot of these crafts, a lot of the media arts are very entrepreneurial,” Bonesteel says. “Whether it’s graphic design or Web-site design or music composition, you can usually find it here.”
Story by Michaela Jackson
Photo by Ian Curcio
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