About
Headwaters
Headwaters
Television began in 1980 as an early experiment in community-based television,
offering commercial free programs of local interest on commercial television.
Young people at Appalshop had been producing documentaries about the
place they lived in for over ten years. Although these films were garnering
awards at film festivals and being screened at museums and universities
in the cities, Appalshop filmmakers were eager to increase their audiences
in rural Appalachia. With support from the National Endowment for the
Arts, Headwaters came into being as a regular program on the local NBC
affiliate in Hazard, KY, featuring live in-studio productions and selections
from the Appalshop Film catalogue. In 1984, Appalshop video makers expanded
the scope and audience for Headwaters by producing new programming specifically
for the series and partnering with Kentucky Educational Television (KET)
to air the programs statewide. PBS stations in West Virginia, Virginia
and Tennessee also joined in broadcasting Headwaters.
Recognizing the
dearth of quality programming about rural America, Appalshop created
an eight-hour Headwaters series that was offered to PBS stations nationwide
via satellite in 1996. Headwaters was carried by over 100 stations in
34 states. This strong response was indicative of a heart-felt need
for public television programs by and about rural people.
Headwaters programs
have been awarded the duPont Columbia Award for Broadcast Journalism,
the Cine Golden Eagle, the Retirement Research Foundation’s Silver
Owl Award, and Channels Magazine’s Award for Excellence in Broadcast
Television.
About
Appalshop
“…Its inspiration originates in Appalachia; its appeal
is universal.” (Louisville) Courier-Journal
“Appalshop
wrote the book on community filmmaking. And then did the film.”
--The Washington Post
“…
an unsentimental exercise in authenticity.” -- Pat Aufderheide,
In These Times
Headwaters
Television is produced by Appalshop, the nationally recognized multidisciplinary
arts and education center located in the coalfields of eastern Kentucky.
Since 1969 when it began as an experiment in community-based filmmaking,
Appalshop has produced media on the issues, history, and culture of
Appalachia and other under-served regions in America. Working from the
premise that local people are best able to tell their own stories and
frame the discourse about issues that matter to their communities, coal
miners, fast-food workers, truck drivers, community activists, homemakers,
high school students, teachers, and traditional artists have all argued
eloquently for a better way of life for their families, their communities
and their country.
Appalshop
productions are largely unnarrated, and encourage viewers to arrive
at their own interpretations of ideas and issues.
Now over
thirty years old, Appalshop has grown to include documentary film
and television production, youth
media training, storytelling theater (Roadside
Theater), cultural festivals, community &
Internet radio (WMMT-FM), and a variety of outreach
projects. The National Endowment for the Humanities has described Appalshop
as one of the nation’s most important community-based humanities
centers, while Jane Alexander, former chairman of the National Endowment
for the Arts, called Appalshop “the jewel in the NEA’s crown.”