Places

Places we like: the Stecoah Valley Arts Center

Last modified on 2008-06-22 01:36:57 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

STECOAH–Our friends Jeff and Crim Bassett and their boys Elijah and Booth are living a life that many folks idealize.

They’re on a 35-acre plot in Graham County, not far from Lake Fontana, but not too close to much of anything. They’re craftspeople and artists on the one hand, makers of acclaimed beeswax candles and lanterns; and they’re busy, busy independent businesspeople on the other, contending with the accompanying long hours and stress.

They “incubated” their business, Bee Global Studio, at a restored school building in Stecoah valley, The Stecoah Valley Arts Center, before moving to a custom gallery and studio on their property.

What did the Arts Center mean to them?

“Stecoah Valley Center provided not only a beautiful space to work, but an avenue to become a working studio gallery,” Crim says. “It’s been a real asset to our community. The self-sufficient culture that was prevalent here in times past has been revived through the center, which encourages creative handiwork for satisfaction’s sake, and as a tool for economic development.”

I remember arduous basketball trips to Stecoah as a high-schooler in the early 80’s, but the drive is now a relatively gentle 30-40 minute jaunt from Sylva. That’s for better or for worse, given the amount of construction violence that goes into making a jaunt gentle in the mountains.

Stone-crafted in the mid-twenties, the Stecoah Union School building is wonderful. It was a prized center of the community when it opened in 1926, but after it closed in a school consolidation move in 1994 it fell into disuse.

Before long, a group of Stecoah Valley residents formed Stecoah Valley Arts, Crafts and Educational Center, Inc., a non-profit corporation, and dedicated it to restoring the historic school to its original role as the center of the community. The first part of that job was a complete rehab of the structure.

Stecoah Valley Cultural Arts Center now offers over 20 programs to approximately 7,500 people annually. The Center brings music to the mountains through the summer performing arts series An Appalachian Evening, as well as the annual Mountain Music Championship, Folkmoot USA, Harvest Festival and other events. Additionally, the new Stecoah Artisans Gallery & Guild provides sales promotion and support for over 50 local and regional artists.

The Center also provides many other services to the community, including the award-winning Support Our Students after-school program that serves over 50 students annually. The Junior Appalachian Musicians (JAM) program offers students the opportunity to play stringed instruments such as the banjo, fiddle, guitar and mandolin, thus helping preserve the Appalachian heritage of the area. The Center also provides visitor information services, a library, computer center, and is home to other non-profit organizations as well.