Creatives Collaborate on Storytelling Journeys “By Any Media Necessary”
“One cannot change the world unless one can imagine what a better world might look like."
Elon Justice was writing stories at just seven years old and hasn’t stopped. Her bio is impressive, and she exudes passion, curiosity, and humility for her craft. Embracing her roots, the Pikeville, Kentucky native is working to change the world’s misconceptions of Appalachia through her documentaries and writing.
She was encouraged by her mentor, Sam Ford, to apply for the Civic Imagination (CI) Incubator, a partnership between Western Kentucky University's (WKU) Potter College of Arts and Letters, its Innovation Campus and the University of Southern California (USC).
Justice joined five selected creatives in Cohort 2 of the eight-month program, after last year’s successful pilot run with a diverse group of six, called Cohort 1.
BUILDING THE INCUBATOR
Ford, the Executive Director of AccelerateKY and Board Chair of Kentucky to the World, co-directs the program with Dr. Sangita Shresthova, Director of Research of the Civic Paths Group at USC.
The partnership was facilitated by AccelerateKY, as Ford has worked with USC for nearly a decade with his mentor, Professor Henry Jenkins. The CI Incubator launched in late 2022, headquartered at the Innovation Campus.
“The program originated out of media fandom,” Ford said. “How do people react to pop culture stories, social issues, civic issues, politics? They were using fictional worlds to tell stories in Appalachia.”
This year, Kentucky to the World (KTW) partnered with the CI Incubator. The mutually beneficial partnership joins these storytellers with an outlet focused on sharing compelling stories of extraordinary people through multiple channels to the world.
“This is a natural partnership,” Ford said. “We’re matching content with an outlet.”
CREATIVES COLLABORATE, BUILD COMMUNITY
The cohorts are limited to six different types of storytellers. Ford says it’s large enough to build community but not too large so that it’s unwieldy.
“We look at who would be a really interesting cohort that would learn from one another,” Ford said. “We want them to be telling stories from a common regional place, but we don’t define that line. Creating the community among cohorts, that’s our prime focus.”
Together they learn world-building techniques, what civic imagination is, and work with creators in very different media formats.
“They’re learning about these methods, applying them to their own projects, and connecting with other media creators from different streams,” Ford said. “Working collectively, they share being from the same region and tackle issues they’re all facing.”
There’s Justice, a full-time documentarian at Kentucky Education Television and writer of all things non-fiction, like memoir pieces, journalistic pieces, and creative non-fiction. Since childhood, she has seen how Appalachia has been misrepresented in the media, and how it affected how she saw herself and those around her. “It was ‘less than’, less tasteful, as if we are banished to stay in Appalachia, or leave to escape,” Justice said.
She founded The Appalachian Retelling Project, an online documentary initiative that shares stories about the life and people of Appalachia in their own words. It melds with partner KTW’s mission: to elevate the cultural and intellectual reputation of our Commonwealth on the global stage.
Another cohort, Lamont Jack Pearley, is an applied folklorist, African American traditional music historian, and traditional country blues practitioner, who works to conserve and sustain blues and black traditions through performance, documentation, and a repository of ethnographic interviews.
Learn more about the cohorts here.
MARRYING ART + TECH INNOVATION
The CI Incubator is largely virtual, with monthly check-ins and a couple of in-person meetings. The meetings may involve learning opportunities with guest speakers from USC’s network, mentors, some formal curriculum, and networking.
2023 Civic Imagination Incubator fellow Madison Whittle presents her completed project at the Sky Arts Film Festival.
The goal is to develop impactful story worlds and media projects that engage participatory practices “by any media necessary”, or “transmedia storytelling”, across multiple and diverse media formats. The cohort works through the process of ideating, planning, prototyping, devising participatory strategies, and exploring funding possibilities for their projects.
“They learn business models, sustainability, and collaboration,” Ford said. “Like a lot of creative endeavors, the Incubator is meant to be a manageable, no residency, appropriate amount of engagement for those with jobs.” Ford said.
The cohort members have full-time jobs outside of the CI incubator and receive a small honorarium for participating. “Part of our goal is to keep the requirements light to provide flexibility and allow them to dive right in,” Ford said. “You have six people in very different career paths trying to coordinate schedules.”
“The idea is that we need to connect the technology innovation and creatives,” Ford said. “There’s diversity of media formats, subject matter expertise, and different age and seniority levels in each cohort.”
“We’re building the plane as we fly it,” Justice said. “I’m learning how to overcome obstacles with my project, make it sustainable, and connecting to other people.”
“They’re trying something new and seeking to learn, and if you get that mix right, learning happens,” Ford said. “We’re seeing the desire for collaboration and how a little bit of structure, permission, and some space allow them to start riffing on things on their own.”
THE RESULTS ARE INNOVATIVE
Cohort 1 was building the format of the program together, resulting in multiple projects from a network of creatives who continue to collaborate. The 8-month pilot ended in a Civic Imagination Worldbuilding Conference, with 75 people attending from across the United States, the Netherlands, and Costa Rica. Cohort 1 showcased their work at the Sky Arts Film Festival.
Cohort 2 wrapped in October, and each fellow presented their work at the second Civic Imagination Conference.
In 2023, the inaugural Civic Imagination & Worldbuilding Conference was held at the Innovation Campus in Bowling Green, KY. The event featured a number of speakers across industries making waves in KY. Watch all conference sessions on YouTube.
Future endeavors include having the cohorts produce a case study or position paper with the goal of replicating the program in other states. “Our focus is to showcase the work of these 12,” Ford said. “We’re interested in what will happen with the cohorts long term, seeing the projects and programs come out of it that didn’t start there.”
There’s an economic development aspect to the CI Incubator as well, with hope to attract more companies through tech innovation and problem solving and for thinking about where creative arts and storytelling come in, according to Ford.
“A lot of pioneers in storytelling and media fields are gone where those industries exist, but we’re producing media from here now, so you don’t have to leave your home,” Ford said. “All storytellers can be pursuing their expertise, living their dreams, exploring them, and with Kentucky to the World involved, we can tell the stories of these creatives.”
“It has been a really rewarding project,” Justice said. “Just being surrounded by people who are creative and want to think differently, that has been a huge inspiration, and meeting others interested in helping Appalachia, that helps give me a framework. The Civic Imagination Incubator is very open-ended; it can be whatever we want it to be.”
