Media Grant Will Be Used For “Columbus Neighborhoods” Documentary
Contact: Meredith Hart, Marketing & Communications Director
614.247.2675, meredith.hart@wosu.org
COLUMBUS, OHIO, APRIL 1, 2013 – WOSU Public Media is the recent recipient of a grant from the Ohio Humanities Council. The media grant, one of six major grants awarded last month, will be used to examine the influx of Appalachians into Columbus’s South Side neighborhood in a new television documentary.
“Columbus Neighborhoods: The South Side” will premiere this September on WOSU TV. This documentary will be the first to air in the next phase of production for the “Columbus Neighborhoods” series, with six new segments running through 2016.
The documentary will feature the history of the neighborhood, the people who made their homes there, and the impact that Buckeye Steel, Federal Glass and other large industries had on the South Side. For decades, those industries employed thousands, many of whom came to the area from Kentucky, West Virginia and other Appalachian states looking for opportunity in what they called “the three R’s: reading, writing, and Route 23 to Columbus.”
“Columbus Neighborhoods: The South Side” will look at how bluegrass clubs, bars and music stores sprang up in the area to cater to the tastes of these residents. The documentary will also highlight many other aspects of the South Side, including Steelton, Driving Park, Schottenstein’s, historic churches, Hungarian Village and notable residents.
Dr. Patrick Mullen, a folklorist and emeritus professor with the English Department of The Ohio State University, will serve as the humanities advisor for the project, and Ed Lentz, a local author and historian, will serve as a consultant.