OAC REORGANIZES APPALACHIAN PROGRAMS
Since 1994 the Ohio Arts Council has funded three programs that serve artists, arts organizations and the citizens of Ohio's 29 Appalachian counties, as well as urban Appalachians living in Columbus, Cincinnati and Dayton.
These programs focus on the cultural richness of Ohio's Appalachian region.
Ohio's Hill Country Heritage Area Program, the Appalachian Arts Program and the Ohio River Border Initiative promote individual and community pride and sustainable community and economic development. Following a yearlong effort to better coordinate the services of the three programs these changes have taken place:
Ohio's Hill Country Heritage Area Program, initiated by the OAC in 1996, has become an independent non-profit organization. The Hill Country program has worked to develop strategies to help communities identify, conserve and develop the natural, cultural, recreational and economic resources that make up the region. The OAC will provide funding to the program for one more year.
The Ohio Arts Council will continue to provide services to the region through the Appalachian Arts Program and the Ohio River Border Initiative. The Appalachian Arts Program, formerly called Ohio Appalachian Arts Initiative, will continue to help artists and organizations in the region who are interested in using the arts as a community development tool.
ARTIST SPOTLIGHT ON KENNY SIDLE
Born in Toboso, Ohio, in 1931, Kenny Sidle made his fiddle debut at the age of five. He played fiddle with his father in a medicine show and his pay was a box of chocolate-covered cherries. Since then Sidle has played all over the United States and in Canada, has appeared on television and radio and has performed with several symphony orchestras.
In 1996, Sidle and his All Star Band were featured on National Public Radio's A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor. Sidle has recorded with other musicians and recorded two of his own fiddle albums, Favorite Fiddle Tunes and Fiddle Memories. He is a five-time Ohio state fiddle champion, three-time Pennsylvania fiddle champion, twice Kentucky and West Virginia fiddle champion and Ohio Country Western Musical Association instrumentalist of the year for 1973-1981. Sidle has won the Dr. Perry Harris Distinguished Fiddler's Award and a National Heritage Fellowship Award from the National Endowment for the Arts. He served two years in the U.S. Army. He and his wife, Evelyn, have three children and seven grandchildren. Sidle has composed several waltzes named after his granddaughters.
With funding from the Ohio Arts Council's Traditional Arts Apprenticeship program Sidle trained two students who have received recognition for their fiddle playing. "The Ohio Arts Council's Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program has been a great help in keeping this tradition alive," Sidle said. "The Ohio Arts Council has helped keep many different cultures alive, and I hope they are able to continue doing so for years to come."
The Ohio Arts Council's Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program supports collaborations between master artists and dedicated apprentices. For more information call 614/466-2613.
