about AppIndie

Date: September 11, 2012

One Vision Many Voices is a project from AppIndie (The Appalachian Independent), made possible by a grant from the Maryland Humanities Council and support from the Allegany Arts Council.

One Vision, Many Voices is, at its core, about celebrating who we are and what we love about being an Appalachian Community. But also, in a bigger sense, its an opportunity to talk about how we can hold on to these things that we truly value while working together towards a healthier, more sustainable world. We know we are facing big changes today – energy, the economy, the environment – the question is, how to we create a shared vision for the future that we want to see?

For the next 6 months AppIndie will be running a series of free, public events to celebrate our community and spark dialogues about our visions for the future. There will be music, arts, poetry, history, film and more. At each of these events we are asking members of the community to create a square for our “community vision quilt”. Each square will contain an image depicting what they value most about our community and what their vision is for our future. When the Community Visions Quilt is completed in March it will be handed over to a group of school children and senior citizens who will work together with folk music group, Magpie, to create a song that captures the essence of the images. A music video will then be created for the song by another group of local, amateur filmmakers. At the end of the project the community-generated art piece will be presented to the community.

The programs are being facilitated with support from Frostburg State University students enrolled in SOCI 350: Folklore in Appalachia. The course is a participant in the Appalachian Regional Commission’s Appalachian Teaching Project, involving 15 institutions of higher education providing students with experiential learning opportunities in service to the Appalachian region.

AppIndie is a not for profit online community newspaper based in the Allegheny Mountains of Western Maryland. www.appindie.org AppIndie = Citizen journalists giving voice to a diverse Appalachian community.

In addition to the online newspaper, AppIndie facilitates community building projects such as One Vision Many Voices and The Mountain Traditions Project.

We Value:

* The active involvement of citizens in the democratic process;

* The richness that results from sharing diverse viewpoints and
thought provoking analysis;

* The empowerment of all voices in the dialogue of democracy;

* Respectful conversations about things that matter; and,

* Our rich and vibrant mountain heritage.

The One Vision Many Voices Project was made possible by a grant from the Maryland Humanities Council through support from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities or the Maryland Humanities Council.

Additional support from Allegany Arts Council and the Appalachian Regional Commission have contributed to the support of this project.

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