Stecoah center bouncing back from COVID
Stecoah – Stecoah Valley Cultural Arts Center is rebounding from the COVID-19 pandemic, with new folks at the helm.
As a result, programs from previous years are resuming and new ideas are formulating.
COVID-19 forced Stecoah Valley Cultural Arts Center to close for most of 2020. Beth Fields was the executive director at the time.
When school closed, the afterschool program followed. When musicians stopped touring and people stopped going out, the center discontinued programs and performances. Only MANNA food deliveries continued.
The Stecoah Center Gallery reopened toward the end of 2020. Last year, the center offered seven of the ten concerts it usually presents, but canceled its 2021 festival because of rising COVID numbers.
Also, the executive director decided to step down and was replaced by Jennifer West, a person who had earlier assisted Fields.
By 2022, funds and recovery money are in greater supply. Amber Benton has been brought in as program manager, to give some new ideas and perhaps attract a younger audience.
New energy
The last class held in 2021 was an ice-dyeing class. Classes that are coming back include rug weaving, fabric dyeing, quilts, sewing and basket weaving.
The 2022 season was already planned by the time Benton arrived, so she is assessing what already happens at the center.
“It’s like when you buy a house and they say not to plant anything for a year, I am trying to do that,” Benton said.
Nonetheless, she plans to make some minor changes that reflect her interests and talents.
“I just want to fill in some small things while I watch and listen and learn and make connections,” Benton said.
She looks forward to creating relationships with organizations like WNC Arts, Western Arts Agencies of North Carolina, the Appalachian Regional Commission, and other programs that help rural counties.
Benton describes the audience for classes as either retirees on a limited budget, or working people who can only attend classes at night or during the weekend. As a result, Benton wants the line-up of classes to be predictable, not necessarily repeating, and to be financially accessible for everyone.
A seed swap in partnership with a community garden, a gardening corner with resources people can come in and refer to, including almanacs, a book exchange and coffee club in the cafeteria are all on Benton’s hope-to-do list.
“We want to create reasons for people to want to come here and feel comfortable here,” Benton said.
Meanwhile, the Card Ladies have returned every day to play. The Women’s Club has resumed meetings. The Sit and Sew ladies are back. Afterschool and Jazz are back and the week-long Jam Camp is planned this summer.
Concerts, festival
For about 30 years, the center has produced An Appalachian Evening Series, a collection of weekend performances that Benton said, “promotes the preservation of mountain music or old-time music, whether Newgrass or roots—music from, of, and for the people.”
The series will be back in full force this summer.
The Harvest Festival remains the center’s single biggest attraction. It returns this year during the third weekend of October.
Music will begin each morning and every hour until the afternoon, a different music or a dance act performs at the pavilion. Artisans will be in place all along the walls during the festival.
The lawn in the center will showcase the heritage section, where people demonstrate their historical hobby expertise by showing, for example, how a sugar mill works or how groundhog stew is cooked over a fire pit. A wood carver and a farm with animals are likely to be there. Benton says that this year’s festival will feature some expansion in its heritage section.
Welcome center
The facility serves as an informal welcome center for the county, and it offers a playground, picnic tables, a walking trail and visitor information. Visitors can learn part of a story there and go elsewhere to learn more.
It is also a community center that anyone in the county can use for free, as long as rooms are not reserved. There’s a fee for exclusively using a room or holding a special event there.