Center Opens (continued on page 2 & 3)

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Inside This Issue

Photo of the Month- Fans get their faces painted

Dixie Swim Club

Fire House Gallery News

Publications Update

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The location of the new Jefferson County Information Center at 107 W Broad Street

FTP (continued on page 4)

Jefferson County Information Center Opens

By Helen Aikman

FTP Turns a Wide Angle Lens on

County Life for New Information

Center…By Jordan Pilgrim

A handsome new sign – inspired by the graceful masonry arches so common in our local architecture and topped by bright blue keystone “i” – already adorns the plate glass window at 107 West Broad Street, and this week the doors will finally open, giving the public a first look at the Jefferson County Information Center – a versatile new enterprise born of a remarkable public-private partnership that will change the way County residents and visitors experi-ence life in Jefferson County.The Information Center, which will be open Tuesday through Saturday from 9 am to 4 pm and Sunday from 1 to 4 pm, will be managed by Friends Community Design Fel-

low, Casey Sullivan, with staffing support from Friends Fellows and Interns. Executive management will be provided by Friends president Helen Aikman with guidance from the Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce, the Louisville Down-town Development Authority, and the Friends Board.A Multipurpose Resource Complex for Jefferson CountiansSo what exactly is the Jefferson County Information Center and what will it do for you? The answer is delightful, but not exactly simple. First, think front office versus back office. Walk in the Information Center’s front door and you find yourself in a bright, attractive, ample space buzz-

With the opening of the new Jef-ferson County Information Center steadily approaching, you may ask – What would an Information Center be if it failed to introduce newcom-ers to the flavor and offerings of the area? (Not very effective, I would think….) So, as Friends Documen-tary Fellow and resident Fire Team Productions filmmaker, I set out to chronicle and document what Jeffer-son County is – a pretty big subject – for a 10-minute documentary to be featured in the Information Center along with past and future episodes of Jefferson County Goods and other FTP productions.Pursuing vibrant images of this charming Southern community has led me all over the County – from

The Downtowner and Countian The News Letter of Friends of Historic Downtown Louisville

September 2011 Volume 7 Issue 8iLouisville.org

ing with multimedia information about the County. This is the front office, devoted to the display and distribution of information.• On your left you see the Info wall, lined with brochures promoting County businesses, organizations and events.

• In front of you hang four floor-to-ceiling frosted acrylic panels plastered with images, announce-ments, messages about County attractions and current events. The leftmost panel boasts a large county map highlighting the County’s scenic roads and attractions – north to south and east to west – cross-referenced to the brochures on the info wall. The information on the remaining panels is organized around key strengths of County life – health, education, history, recre-ation and arts, with a separate panel for promoting upcoming events.

•The right wall is the fun wall, where a TV will stream Fire Team Productions videos capturing the extraordinary beauty of our County and exceptional character of its people. Right next to the TV – SOUVENIRS! – gorgeous postcards depicting scenes from all over the County and cute County tchotchkes – whimsical magnets, pins, bottle openers, and even rubber bracelets bearing the message Jefferson Coun-ty Strong – all for sale at the low, low price of a dollar!

But don’t stop there. Walk through the opening between the acrylic pan-els and you’ll find yourself in a sleek, modern work and meeting space – a combination of think tank and design studio – where the exchange of ideas fuels activism – all focused on one, single thing – enhancing life in Jefferson County. Sounds good, but what does that really mean as a practical matter?

The Power of DesignGraphic design powers effective marketing, and effective marketing bolsters growth. In the back office of the Information Center you’ll find tools that will put the power of graphic design and video at the fingertips of County businesses and organizations.Foodies live by it – the truism Presentation Is Everything – and it’s no less true in community development – even in economic development. At Friends, we put it another way – if you want to attract cool, you have to project cool; to attract professionals, project professionalism; to bring indus-try, project industry…. In the back office, current Friends Fellows Casey Sullivan, Philip Muller, and Jordan Pilgrim (and their future counterparts) will be casting graphic and video spells to help the County put its best foot forward – to locals and outsiders alike – and to help attract industry and visitors from afar. They will work with County governments, businesses and organizations to create attractive and effective designs and messaging – logos, brochures, posters, and so on – affordably and accessibly. Indeed, the design machine is already fired up and running. Have you re-ceived an invite to this year’s Jefferson Hospital Foundation fundraiser? Do you like the kicky Harvest Hop theme and imagery? Guess where they came from! And right now, designs are in the works to promote the Louisville Garden Club’s Tour of Homes next March. These are just the beginning.

The Power of IdeasThe striking suspended partitions separating the Information Center’s front and back offices were specially designed to draw visitors into the workspace, just as the work space itself was specially designed to en-courage visitors to set a spell. Why? Because Friends understands the power of ideas – everybody’s ideas – and the redoubled power of shared ideas.So in addition to the Fellows’ draft-ing and work desks, right out in the center of the room you’ll find a long work table with chairs around it, and off to the side, a comfort-able seating area. They are there for you – because we want you to come in and stay awhile, and we want you to bring your musings, your complaints, your observations, your bright ideas – even the wacky ones – especially the wacky ones. Why is that? Because ideas em-power progress, and sometimes the wackiest ideas do it best. There are plenty of local examples. A top-flight regional theater program in an abandoned Bartow schoolhouse? A famous gourd farm shipping to customers worldwide? A regional bank leading its field in technologi-cal advances? A cutting-edge con-temporary art gallery in a busted up old fire station? A high-class bookstore in an old meat market or a stylish gift boutique in an aban-doned warehouse? A super fun, tricky corn maze amongst cotton fields? A family forestry, lumber, and pallet concern transformed into an international business? These are but a few examples that prove it takes fevered brains to initiate and sustain progress that can distinguish one county among all the others.So we designed a place for you to bring your ideas, and share them. But we’re also mindful that big thinking takes more than an inviting setting – it takes – Page 3

The Power of JavaIt’s a scientifically proven fact. Cof-fee clarifies thought. Coffee keeps us on our toes. Coffee fuels conversa-tion. So we’ve brought back the 50-cent cup of coffee – and not just any cof-fee either, but gourmet small batch roasted coffee from Blackbird Coffee in Milledgeville that we’re serving up under the handy moniker Info Joe. That makes the Information Center a coffee shop too… kind of… and why not? Because you can’t have a think tank without a coffee carafe. Every morning that we’re open – Tuesday through Saturday – we’ll have a steaming cup of Info Joe with your name on it – all you have to do is chip in your four bits and… well, your two bits, if you know what we mean.From the Drawing Board to Broad StreetSpeaking of big thinking, we want to share a few words on how this all

An assortment of Jefferson County centric buttons and Blackbird Coffee will be sold at the Infor-mation Center, as well as many other Jefferson County products.

came to pass.The need for a single countywide information center was obvious, but devising a solution took time, en-ergy, firepower, and most of all civic cooperation. Over the past several years the leadership of the Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce and Friends of Historic Downtown Louisville have carried on a dialogue about the need for a storefront in the County seat devoted to promoting the vir-tues of life in the County – its natu-ral recreational attractions, it quality education and health care systems, its unique place in Georgia history, and its lively arts community. Last winter these discussions evolved into a proposal, developed by Friends with input from the Chamber, put forward to the Louisville Downtown Development Authority, to devise a plan and a budget to initiate a

Center Opens (continued from page 1)

Java (continues on page 5)

The Fire House Gallery’s Art of Thinking Program returned to Carver Elementary in August. Over the next six weeks, eleven 4th grade students will be exploring the world cultures by visiting

a new continent each week.

Art of Thinking Returns to Carver Elementary

September 2011 Volume 7 Issue 8

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exploring the late Willie Tarver’s folk art sculptures down in Wadley, to the office of CEO Ralph Randall at Jefferson Hospital. A collection of so many varied perspectives could easily become cacophonous, so I have worked to harmonize them around five notable Jefferson County strengths: the standout quality of the local healthcare, the County’s fascinating role in Georgia’s history, the recreational opportunities with natural assets such as the Ogeechee, the thriving art scene, and – last but not least – the excellent public and private educational options. With these guidelines in mind, I’ve forged trails back and forth across the County filming over twenty interviews; and while the adventure of gathering footage is always excit-ing, what has made this journey so delightful – whether performing an interview midstream while float-ing down the Ogeechee or walking the halls of the hospital getting to know our healthcare providers – has been the people of Jefferson County. There is a warmth of heart to be

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found here that I hope to capture above all else. As a filmmaker, I recognize it’s a very good sign when I have to fight the urge to go shoot more footage just because I want to see how my new acquaintances are doing.All of this work is coming to a head now, though, and my deadlines are looming. It’s time to get a last few important interviews and hunker down to edit all this footage into what will hopefully prove an infor-mative and charming whole. Open-ing day gets closer all the time! … and Fires Up an Old Favorite!I doubt there is a more beloved series in Fire Team Production’s canon than your “one stop shop for news and happenings in Jefferson Coun-ty” – the Jefferson Jet!  As Rob Yates passed the FTP baton and Friends programs took a (partial) summer break, Jefferson Jet went under-ground for a couple of months, but it hibernates no more!Last month the Jet (as we at Friends affectionately know it) made its re-turn with a light-hearted look at the start of the Warriors’ football season

and the upcoming opening of Dixie Swim Club at the Mancin Audito-rium in Bartow.  All things change, and the Jet has evolved some during the summer hiatus.  Now it’s a little more openly satirical. (I guess maybe my sense of humor isn’t quite as el-evated and subtle as Rob’s – oh well!)  But, they’re animated by the same spirit – a love for Jefferson County and a desire to keep everyone abreast of what’s afoot, be it in Bartow, Wrens, Louisville, Wadley, Avera, Stapleton, Moxley, the Grange Com-munity, or just anywhere along the scenic roads that connect the dots.I admit it – I’ve been bitten by the Jefferson Jet bug, and I don’t plan for it to go anywhere any time soon, so get ready for more of the news told with a wink and a chuckle.  We’ll keep our ears to the ground, listen-ing for up and coming events, and you keep coming back to Jefferson County’s, hopefully, most humor-ous fountain of information!  In the meantime, here’s our most recent episode: http://www.vimeo.com/28054917

FTP (continued from page 1)

Above, canoeing enthusiest and craftsman Tim Goodsen is filmed for Jordan Pilgrim’s latest documentary on Jefferson County.

Java (continued from page 3)

The architecturally inspired sign of the new Jefferson County Information Center

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community information center and design studio.After numerous working sessions among the three organizations, help-ful input from the Louisville City Government, and many drafts of the plan and budget, the three organiza-tions undertook a quiet fundraising campaign to move the idea from the drawing board onto Broad Street. In the end, the funding for setting up the Information Center and operating through its first year were funded entirely without government assistance.Friends took the lead in designing the center and implementing the design. Over the summer, Friends fellows Casey Sullivan, who will manage the Center in the com-ing year, Philip Muller, and Jordan Pilgrim have worked tirelessly to bring the Center to life as a uniquely bright, lively, exciting community center that will show off everything good about Jefferson County. Voila!

What the Future Holds – the Drive to Sustain and GrowShort term, here’s what you can ex-pect – a diverse pallet of programs to involve the community in enhanc-ing the offerings of the Information Center. Ms. Sullivan will be hitting the pavement of town and coun-try around the County to be sure every business and organization is represented in the Center. We’ll be building a catalog of business cards, as well as posting brochures, and Ms. Sullivan has a special project on her to-do list to develop welcome pack-ets for tourists as well as families and businesses considering relocating to Jefferson County. In addition, we’ll be developing an on-site mini-Info-Ctr for interested businesses that will feature a nifty acrylic unit to display the businesses’ own brochures and business cards alongside the Infor-mation Center’s brochure and a

rack of Jefferson County postcards for sale, all together with a window decal of the Information Center’s blue and white keystone “i” with the message “Ask about Jefferson County inside!”Cool programs and projects are great, but we still have to answer the big “S” question – how to make it sustainable. While operating costs are minimal – thanks to careful cost containment and the unique Friends Fellowship model that brought you The Fire House Gallery and Fire Team Productions – the utility bills, one Fellowship stipend and other odds and ends still have to be paid to keep the Information Center going.One thing is for sure about Friends – we always have another trick up our sleeve, and we know it’s going to take a big one this time. As luck would have it, we believe we have just the one.Using the same careful planning that charted the path to the Information Center, Friends has mapped out a plan to open a print shop – provi-sionally named Rocky Comfort Press – in the way-back of the Information Center facility. Through carefully targeted grant applications at the

local and state level, we hope to add screen printing and letterpress functionality to the Information Center’s community offerings. This phenomenal addition, which will be managed through the first two years of start-up by Friends Fellow Philip Muller, a University of South Caro-lina printmaker who has deep busi-ness experience in commercial screen printing, will enable the Information Center to offer high-quality printing – of t-shirts, banners, posters, flyers, and so on – at considerably below market prices for County organiza-tions and businesses, while generat-ing sufficient revenue to pay the minimal costs of operating the Infor-mation Center. As fringe benefits, Rocky Comfort Press will enhance Friends’ educational, vocational, and artistic outreach programs to County children and youth and to the local arts community. Stay tuned for more information on this exciting initiative as it develops.For now, we invite you to join us in celebrating the opening of the Jef-ferson County Information Center – one more great reason to make Jefferson County home and to visit Broad Street in Louisville!

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Photo of The Month

Two young fans have their faces painted by The Fire House Gallery to show their spirit for Jefferson County High School Warriors. The football team had their first home game on Friday, August 26th. The Fire House Gallery will be painting faces at each home game free of charge.

By Kathleen Galvin

toonish cultural stereotypes about the South during the century follow-ing the Civil War – stereotypes that persisted almost unchallenged until the 1960s and still survive at some level to this day. Dr. Cox’s surpris-ing thesis is that those stereotypes

In preparing for the opening of the new Jefferson County Informa-tion Center, I have spent the last two months overhauling the main publication that Friends of Historic Downtown Louisville uses to reach the public – The Downtowner e-newsletter, retooled and updated in this inaugural issue of The Down-towner and Countian – and creating

Info Center Open-ing Spurs Update of Friends Publications

By Philip Muller

Poster announcing the discussion of the book “Dreaming of Dixie” by historian Karen Cox and exhibition of Dixie Icons

September appears to be Dixie Month in the arts in Jefferson County, as the Schoolhouse Play-ers kick off the fall theater season with a fun, exciting new production of The Dixie Swim Club the very same weekend that The Fire House Gallery opens its challenging Dixie Icons exhibit.A perennial favorite of community theaters everywhere (as of this writ-ing Amazon.com only has 11 copies of the script but promises “more on the way”!), this sometimes humor-ous, sometimes gritty, always heart-warming tale of life and friendship will be brought to life by a standout cast under the stellar direction of Atlanta dramatist and Bartow native Brad Smith. Mr. Smith discusses the production at http://vimeo.com/28615312.Don’t miss this great opportu-nity to enjoy a night out at one of the region’s cultural gems. Call 478.364.3340 to make reservations for one of the following performance times – Thursday, September 8 through Saturday, September 10 and Friday, September 16, through Sun-day, September 18. All show times at 8 pm except the 3 pm matinee on Sunday the 18th. Tickets for adults $10; tickets for children 1 and under $5.

Not to be outdone by the opening of the Jefferson County Information Center, The Fire House Gallery is doing a little innovating of its own this month, hosting a gripping twi-light doubleheader of history and art this Saturday, September 7 from 7-9 pm. Leading off the evening will be UNC Charlotte history professor Karen L. Cox, who will discuss her acclaimed new book Dreaming of Dixie – How the South Was Cre-ated in American Popular Culture. Following her talk, Dr. Cox will be available to answer questions and sign her book, as the evening transi-tions to an opening reception for the Gallery’s new exhibit, specially designed to celebrate the publication of Dr. Cox’s book – Dreaming of Di-xie – Re-Visioning the Dixie Myth. FHG executive director Helen Aik-man explains how this novel event evolved. “I’ve known Karen Cox for a long time. In fact, I had the honor of reading her first book [xxx] when it was still in manuscript form. She is an historian of the South – of Southern culture – who has an amazingly perceptive, nuanced grasp her subject. When we talked last winter about the impending publica-tion of Dreaming of Dixie, I was im-mediately struck by the potential for an event examining the intersection of history and art, and somehow the idea wouldn’t let go of me.”Dreaming of Dixie is a thoroughly researched and vastly interesting work that delves into the creation of romanticized and sometimes car-

History and Art Collide in Innova-tive FHG Event

did not arise from the facts of life in the South, but rather sprang from the drafting tables of graphic art-ists working in Madison Avenue ad firms and from the pianos of Tin Pan Alley musicians. The book pres-ents and analyzes dozens of images from ads, postcards and posters, and

The Dixie Swim Club Lights Up

Mancin AuditoriumBy Casey Sullivan

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Publications continues on page 8

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a new publication – the Jefferson County Information Center website, www.JeffersonCountyGeorgiaInfo.org. The design process for each of the two publications closely tracked the decision as to what information each should include. In the case of The Downtowner and Countian, the challenge was to revise the format to reflect the publication’s move to a broader County-wide focus. To mark the shift, we devel-oped a sleeker, updated look and feel

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September 2011 Volume 7 Issue 8

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History and Art (continued from page 7)

for the newsletter and made it more interactive and easier to view online. The design of Information Center website is loosely based on the older OurLouisville.com site (which will also be updated shortly and continue as the official website of Friends of Historic Downtown Louisville), but, like the updated newsletter, it will feature more County-focused content than OurLouisville.com. In addition to showcasing monthly county events on the main page, JeffersonCountyGeorgiaInfo.org will virtually mimic in look and feel the physical Information Center and serve as an online directory to County businesses, organizations and events. These publications, together with the Information Center itself on Broad Street, will provide people with much more information about what is going on in Jefferson County in a much more accessible, fun, and styl-ish format. As always, we welcome your feedback – if you think we can do better, tell us how and we’ll try!

sheet music of the period to demonstrate that many popular notions about the South were in fact imports from the North.“Even before UNC Press published the book last May, I was talking to Karen about the content, and she sent me dozens of images from the book. Suddenly it came to me – we could build an exhibit around it by asking Southern printmakers to do new work kind of re-evaluating those images from Dreaming of Dixie – inviting them to take a look back and, if you will, re-vision them. From there it was a short step to the title for the exhibit – Dixie Icons – Re-Visioning the Dixie Myth. I pitched the idea to Karen – of an exhibit celebrating the book – and she jumped right on board.” The work of organizing the exhibit fell to FHG Curatorial Fellow Casey Sullivan, who attacked the task with her characteristic energy, capitalizing on her printmaking contacts at universities across the South, and got it all ar-ranged short order – a challenging exhibit of work by X Southern printmak-ers dissecting and reassembling stereotypic icons, complete with a forthcom-ing catalog of the exhibit.“Helen and I spent hours talking about the exhibit,” reports Ms. Sullivan. “We hit on the idea of having UGA’s Melissa Harshman participate and also write a piece for the catalog to give the artist’s perspective on the project. She seemed just right because so much of her own work taps into fashion and popular culture.” Prof. Harshman found the proposition intriguing and dove in, reading Dreaming of Dixie as soon as she could lay her hands on a copy.“We asked each printmaker to choose one image from the book and work with it. Other than that we basically left them on their own. The prints they produced in response – the work in the exhibit – is remarkably varied in theme and approach,” says Ms. Sullivan. “Some of it is very political and satirical. Some of it is very upbeat. It’s the whole spectrum of responses you could expect to the images in the book.”To enhance the exhibit experience, Ms. Sullivan and current Curatorial Fellow Philip Muller are mounting each print alongside the corresponding image from Dreaming of Dixie and the printmaker’s artist statement.“We want this evening – and the exhibit – to be thought provoking and memorable,” says Ms. Aikman. “There are important intellectual questions here – questions about the role of art in making history – how sometimes art ennobles, drives us closer to the truth of our better selves, while sometimes it follows a different master and betrays us.”Dr. Cox and Prof. Harshman give their unique perspectives on the book and exhibit in two insightful new Fire Team Productions videos inter-views produced by Documentary Fellow Jordan Pilgrim at http://vimeo.com/28564784 (Dr. Cox’s interview) and http://vimeo.com/28570640 (Prof. Harshman’s interview).

An Evening of History and Art, Saturday, September 10, 7-9 pmHistorian Karen L. Cox discusses her book Dreaming of Dixie – How the South Was Created in Popular American CultureFollowed by Opening Reception for Dixie Icons – Re-Visioning the Dixie Myth