If you are reading this, you are likely familiar with Hindman Settlement School’s very successful dyslexia program that has been helping children with learning differences be able to read on grade level for over forty years. You have probably heard about our traditional arts programs that preserve the legacy and heritage of Appalachian music, dance, and crafts by teaching these arts in our local school systems. You may even know about our more emerging programs in foodways, in which we provide tools, resources, and assistance to help people in our community grow their own food and learn to market and sell their produce at the local farmer’s market.
However, if you are like many of our constituency and you live outside of the region, your knowledge of these programs may only consist of what you have read in a pamphlet, heard in a presentation at a DAR event, or maybe even what you have seen on a tour of our campus. What you may not realize is that there are opportunities for you to actively take part in these programs from afar through our growing work in media and broadcasting. In an effort to make a more meaningful connection with our broader audience, we have been livestreaming events such as the Appalachian Writer’s Workshop, offering virtual workshops, and even hosting a live cooking show.
Our cooking show, “What’s Cookin’ Now!” is a great way to get connected to our Foodways programming. It is hosted by two local food enthusiasts, Jonathan Piercy and Jenny Williams. Each month Jonathan and Jenny whip up fresh, creative, and inspiring meals in the “opulent” kitchen at Hindman Settlement School, using ingredients from local farms, while promoting and advancing Appalachian food culture. Our most recent episode was held on November 3rd and was based on the theme, “Tailgating: More than Just Wings.” Jonathan and Jenny created a beautiful spread of bite-size tailgating delicacies of vegetarian barbecue sliders, pepper-olive bites, Asian peanut chicken wings, and as always, cocktails, “Orchard 75” and “rum punch.”
What’s Cookin’ Now! is aired monthly and is livestreamed on the Hindman Settlement School Facebook page as well as our YouTube channel. You can also find all these episodes as well as past events from the Appalachian Writer’s Workshop on our YouTube channel as well, among a variety of other content at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/@hindmanschool.
Be on the lookout for future content as well! We are in the process of beginning a new videocast called “Songs on the Forks” on which we bring in a local band to play some of their songs and have a discussion with our Traditional Arts Director, Sarah Kate Morgan.
