Good things are happening in Elkins, West Virginia, as the Augusta Heritage Center, home of the state’s largest music and arts educational program, joins forces with local businesses to revitalize the community.
Recently moving its headquarters from Davis & Elkins College to the historic Wilt building located at Davis Avenue and Third Street downtown, Augusta’s new location will host events that include live performances, symposiums, cultural sessions, and dances.
Seth Young, the center's executive director and CEO, is honored to lead the program that ignited his passion for the heritage arts as a youth. Sharing his enthusiasm about Augusta’s new location, he spoke about the bright future for Elkins’s residents.
“The building had been owned by the bank for five or six years,” the CEO explained. “Before that, it was already on its way downhill. So, we purchased it with the idea of redeveloping it into a downtown cultural center to celebrate the culture of Appalachia and beyond,” adding that it will cause a positive rippling effect.
While setting its sights on attracting arts and culture enthusiasts, the Augusta Heritage Center plans to collaborate with other businesses to revive Elkins’s economy.
“Elkins is a small Appalachian town. It’s very vibrant culturally, but it does suffer from a lot of the same afflictions that a lot of Appalachian communities suffer from. The job opportunities might not quite be there, so young people would want to move away to pursue opportunities.”
Young is excited about Augusta’s role in helping Elkins. “In recent years, things have started to turn around, and there has been a lot of reinvigorated investment into some of these small Appalachian towns,” he says, adding that Augusta is one of the driving forces behind improving Elkins. Young anticipates that the project will drive tourism.
“A lot of folks, some traveling from as far away as Australia, who enjoy engaging in Augusta center content, also enjoy engaging in outdoor recreational activities. Providing a mechanism through which someone can visit our town, enjoy [the outdoors], coupled along with cultural activities, we believe, is really going to put the place on the map.”
Reuniting in partnership with the historic Tygart Hotel, Augusta’s original location, they plan to host events together.
“In many ways, we are going back home,” explains Young, who is knowledgeable about Augusta’s history. The Tygart Hotel was where the offices were held and where the programming was delivered.” The idea of partnering with the hotel came during its redevelopment. “We just had this vision of bringing [Augusta] back home.”
Young and his colleagues are committed to sharing their experiences as former Augusta students. “It’s one of the driving forces behind the work that we all do. Everybody that is in this organization has had a transformational experience.” Admitting that he and his colleagues have benefited from the program, “we have all had some sort of opportunity come our way.”
An ardent music lover and touring musician with over twenty years in the arts, Young, an Elkins native, earned the title of master instrumental music instructor for the West Virginia Governor’s School for the Arts. The former educator credits his years of teaching for giving him an understanding of the importance of cultural arts education.
“I taught in public schools for about fifteen years, so that really helped forge my philosophy on music education,” Young remembers, saying that it showed him what it means to be a well-rounded person when it comes to expressing yourself creatively.
Honoring rich Appalachian traditions, the center also invites other cultures in what Young calls a “free cultural exchange.” He described a recent project that included Cubin and Ukrainian singing artists.
“We were doing school assemblies where we got everybody in grades three to five together with the tagline ‘We’re celebrating the joy of community singing.’” He added, “We understand Appalachian music and Appalachian culture, but through that deep understanding, we engage in the traditional art of the world.”
With a host of events that include Fingerpicking Guitar Getaway, Cajun and Classic Country Week, and Blues and Vocal Week, Young shared his goals for Elkins and Augusta. “I see a hub that empowers music educators with the resources they need to enact their vision: a place where people live and make a positive impact on their community through the sharing of ideas and art.”