On Monday I made the trip down to Southern Oregon for a few meetings, events and a nice meal or two! I was asked by NBC Affiliate KOBI to come in and talk about the recent film and video success in Oregon. Here’s a link to the second half of the interview. I’m still hoping to get the first part but General Manager Bob Wise was nice enough to organize the visit. From that I hosted another OPIF tax credit info session – don’t forget the OPIF auction begins July 9! After the info session I was off to a red carpet screening of Scot Blum’s film “Walk In” which was based on his book. It was a nice event and I got a chance to meet several of the actors in the film who are also members of the Oregon Shakespeare Company. After the screening I had the chance to meet up with Ashland Independent Film Festival’s Executive Director Anne Ashby Pierotti to hear what she’s cooking up for next year’s festival. I don’t want to spill be beans before they are ready to be spilled but you will not want to miss next year’s festival. Anne is continuing the tradition of AIFF’s first class event. Of course attending all the events is the ever present Gary Kout, Executive Director of SOFaT and producer of “Walk In”. Gary’s commitment to keeping the community connected and headed in the right direction is truly admirable.
Finally before I left town I had the chance to meet with SOU’s Bobby Arellano and Robert Cliff. The two of them are hard at work developing SOU’s Emerging Media and Digital Art program. Recently they worked with Ashland’s Chamber of Commerce as well as the City of Ashland to put together a first ever Digital Innovators Conference. Above is the video covering the event. It was great to see a broad and diverse group come together to discuss future economic development. What is clear to me after my visit with all is that Southern Oregon has a tremendous amount of creative energy and there will surely be good things coming from the area soon!
-Vince Porter
