Call for Educational Materials

Does your organization provide educational programs for local school groups or the general public? Do you have lesson plans related to local history or environmental stewardship? Are you a content expert in these matters and want to share your learning? 

We are compiling a collection of “ready-made” educational programs, activities, and other resources related to conservation and heritage topics by organizations throughout our region that we will make publicly available. Please contact us about any existing materials related to our themes that we may share. You may also fill out the form linked HERE to let us know what you have to contribute. 

Examples include traveling trunks, instructions for hands-on activities, handbooks or lesson plans, presentation scripts, walking tours, etc.

Highlands Creative Economy Convenes Regional Partners

Highlands Creative Economy is a partnership between Appalachian Forest National Heritage Area and Eastern West Virginia Community & Technical College. The HCE program hosts a monthly networking meeting for tourism-related organizations, training events, workshops, and the annual Tourism Summit. This open forum gives county tourism leaders and local businesses a chance to discuss successes, issues, and solutions, and to engage with guest speakers.

Eric Thompson discussed accessibility resources at the Tourism Summit

In 2024 we hosted a stakeholder meeting in Buckhannon, three “Lunch and Learn” hospitality trainings, the annual Tourism Summit in Romney, online marketing trainings, and an interpretation workshop. Highlands Creative Economy Council meetings, trainings, and gatherings over the past year have included representatives from all 18 AFNHA counties. Participants continue to report that they learned new information or skills, learned about potential funding opportunities, and reported improved connection with other sites or initiatives in the region.

At our Tourism Summit we announced plans for our new Partnership and Discovery Sites programs which will support tourism assets and other partner organizations in our region.

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Minigrants

AFNHA awarded minigrants to five regional tourism events during the spring and fall of 2024. Each event brought together multiple local or regional organizations to share information about common goals or promote local assets and resources. Below are quotes from three of these event organizers:

West Virginians for Public Lands gathering:

“West Virginians for Public Lands (WVPL) held an in-person meeting May 15, 2024. Your support helped make this event a success:

The gathering included panels on recreational trails

• 21 attendees, and publicity to 95 public lands activists, groups, and stakeholders

• Increased knowledge to attendees about trail-related issues, forest-related issues, and the latest research on vehicle/wildlife crashes and wildlife corridors. 

• Attendees had the opportunity to network and build relationships during the lunch provided through the mini grant, and from other break times. All local, Appalachian Forest-based area businesses were used for lunch and coffee. 

• Representatives of agencies attended (US Forest Service, WV Department of Natural Resources) and municipal groups (Mon Forest Towns). New groups were engaged into the work of WVPL (WV Scenic Trails/Allegheny Trails as one example) 

• Social media from WVPL, WV Rivers Coalition, and WV Highlands Conservancy highlighted the meeting and the presentations. 

We consider this a great opportunity to network and build alliances in the Appalachian Forest region on recreation as conservation, and the importance of proper construction and maintenance of recreation economy assets for conservation of the opportunities now and for future generations.”
-Mike Jones (Public Lands Campaign Coordinator, West Virginia Rivers Coalition)

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Petersburg Art Walk:

“We had a fantastic art walk with many in attendance. We hosted events throughout Petersburg including a chainsaw carving demonstration, a painting demonstration, 3 art gallery shows (some with working studios), a new mural by a local artists and a screening of a documentary showcasing the meaning behind the mural, live music, children's arts and craft stations, a theater performance, food trucks, henna painting, a woodworking demonstration, and a historic photography exhibit.”
-Carla Kaposy (Director, Pendleton County Convention & Visitors Bureau)

One of several interactive activities available at various businesses during the Art Walk

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Allegheny Highlands Trail 50th Anniversary Celebration

“It was fabulous to have the AFNHA $500 Tourism Grant for the ALT 50th, along with two people tabling and sharing about your organization in the “partner canopy section". We had 178 people from 15 states attend our ALT 50th celebration with the furthest participant coming from Seattle, Washington.

Due to the AFNHA Tourism Grant, WVSTA was able to pay for Julie Gayheart from Jester Wallis Productions to attend the ALT 50th Celebration and help us introduce the premier of the ALT short film. Julie shared about the 17-month collaboration with WVSTA, what it took to manifest the film, she shared her experience working with the ALT volunteers and exploring the beauty along the trail through WV. She also welcomed a short Q and A period prior to presenting another film creation from Jester Wallis Productions. We were also able host a screening of their documentary "Safe and Found”, an intensely moving safety film for ALL recreational users (has over 15K views on Youtube).

Julie is also the producer of the Allegheny Trail podcast, which is hosted on Youtube, Apple Podcasts (all podcast platforms). Since Julie’s involvement with launching the “Allegheny Trail Podcast", we are getting inquires from hikers across the country that say they heard about the trail from our ALT podcast. This is clearly a direct correlation of tourism growth for the state on our trail. It was great having Julie back in WV to engage with our volunteers, new members and do some face to face planning for our fall podcasts….go TEAM ALT!”
-Nicolle Flood-Sawczyszyn (Outreach Coordinator for West Virginia Scenic Trails Association)

AFNHA to Host Free Interpretation Training

Interpretation Training
Monday, November 18th
Hybrid in-person/online at the West Virginia Wood Technology Center (10 11th St, Elkins, WV 26241)

Agenda:

• 9:30am–10:40am:

• Joe Obidzinski (Program Coordinator – History and Heritage, WVU Extension)

• Introduction to Interpretation 

• 10:45am—11:55am:

• Dave Vago (Supervisory Museum Curator – Thomas Edison National Historical Park)

• Interpretive Planning, Part I: Museum, Site, and Program Planning

• Interpretive Planning, Part II: Project Development and Management

• 12:00pm—12:55pm:

• Lunch

• 1:00pm—2:10pm:

• Katie Thompson (William A. Neal Museum of the Health Sciences, WVU)

• Part I – Research Methodology for Interpretation Projects

• Part II – Tours and Personal Interpretation 

• 2:15pm—3:25pm:

• Danielle Petrak (Watts Museum, WVU)

• Part I – Writing for Non-personal Interpretation

• Part II – Concept Development and Design

• 3:30pm—4:30pm:

• Q&A Panel Discussion with Joe, Danielle, and Dave

  • Interpreting difficult topics and other Q&A

Presenter info:

Joe Obidzinski
Joe Obidzinski is the Program Coordinator for History and Heritage at West Virginia University's Jackson's Mill, where oversees the development and presentation of historic programming, preservation, and interpretation at the site.  Joe earned his MA in History from WVU with a focus on Public HIstory, Interpretation and Nineteenth Century America--focused particularly on the Civil War Era.

Joe’s presentation will offer an overview on the principles of interpretation, including how interpretation is critical to the work of every site; whether that site is focused on nature, heritage, history, or a combination. He will also discuss some trends and concepts for how interpretation can help your site shape their thinking on how to connect their visitors with their site.  He will also offer a number of suggestions of materials which can aid sites in their efforts to develop, enhance, or improve their interpretation in all areas.

Dave Vago
Dave Vago supervises the curatorial and archival staff at Thomas Edison National Historical Park, and has been a museum and nonprofit planner, exhibit designer, program coordinator, and consultant for more than 20 years. His subject interest and expertise lies in industrial history, transportation, and historic workplaces, and he holds a BS in Architecture from the University of Maryland and a MS in Industrial Archeology from Michigan Tech.

The first part of Dave’s presentation will use images and graphics to review some of the most essential processes and concerns for planning and design of museums, historic sites, and interpretive programs. For the second part of his presentation, Dave will facilitate a conversation with the audience around his experience working with contracts and various kinds of organizations and personalities in carrying out project development and management in interpretation and interpretive settings.

Katie Thompson
Dr. Kathleen Thompson is the Curator of the William A. Neal Museum of the Health Sciences at West Virginia University. Prior to her current position she served as a Preserve WV AmeriCorps member for three years, led tours of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater, and taught history at several colleges and universities. She earned her PhD in Nineteenth Century/Civil War America from West Virginia University, and also holds a M.A. from WVU and a B.A. from Siena College.

Part I -- It is important to keep your museum’s interpretation aligned with current scholarship and updated to give your visitors the best informational experience. This session will cover the importance of current research to museums and historic sites, historiography and why our idea of history seems to change over time, and best practices of research to bring to your public history work.

Part II -- Tours are a staple of museum and site interpretation, but is your tour getting your information across and engaging your visitors in a meaningful experience? Unorganized or unfocused tours can be confusing or uninteresting to visitors and purely scripted tours don’t often inspire repeat visitation. This session will cover creating a theme and narrative to tie your entire tour together, strategies for writing tours, dos and don'ts of tour interpretation, and tips for engaging with visitors.

Danielle Petrak
Danielle Petrak is the curator of the Watts Museum at West Virginia University, where she has also taught an exhibition development course in the Public History MA program. Danielle earned her PhD in History from WVU with her research focusing on the interpretation and exhibition of coal mining history at museums and historic sites in Central Appalachia.

The first part of Danielle’s presentation will offer tips for writing clear and effective exhibit panels, object labels, and other written interpretive content. For the second part of her presentation, Danielle will discuss her approach to the conceptual development of interpretive exhibits, as well as design fundamentals that help enhance the visual quality and overall cohesiveness of exhibits and displays.

West Virginia’s four National Heritage Areas featured in West Virginia Executive magazine

Did you know there are four National Heritage Areas in West Virginia? We are collaborating with Wheeling National Heritage Area, National Coal Heritage Area, and Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area to raise awareness about our organizations and how NHAs support our communities. This will include an upcoming video project, and an article and advertisement in the summer edition of West Virginia Executive Magazine, which is out now! Our article is on pages 33-34 and our ad is on page 82.