KINGSPORT, TN: After two years at their 714 W Walnut Street location in Johnson City, Create Appalachia is streamlining their structure and moving their day-to-day operations to their Downtown Kingsport headquarters at 225 W Center Street.
Create Appalachia, a 501 (c)3 non-profit founded in 2014, works to build a community of entrepreneurial digital media workers and expand awareness of their importance to the region’s economy. The organization provides affordable coworking and business incubation spaces curated specifically to meet the needs of creative workers, along with professional development opportunities and educational programs. Because Create Appalachia believes that workforce development begins early, they also offer digital media programs for middle and high schoolers interested in exploring careers in digital media and arts.
“We will continue to build programs and partnerships in Johnson City,” says Katie Hoffman, Executive Director of CA.“Leaving this physical building doesnot mean we are leaving the JohnsonCity community. Logistically, we think it’s wise to consolidate our physical operations in Kingsport, where we have a strong partnership with the City and where we’ve seen promising growth in our coworking and private office spaces. This consolidation will let us concentrate on our programming, including digital art and media classes for youth and professional development for adult creative entrepreneurs. Our goal is to use this opportunity to strengthen our outreach and expand to off-site programming that will reach further out into our 33-county service area—including Johnson City—as well as other parts of East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia.”
For the past two years, Tennessee Hills Distillery has been the host and sponsor of Create Appalachia’s 714 W Walnut Street location. “We are deeply grateful to Tennessee Hills Distillery for sponsoring our location and providing us a space to grow over the past two years,” says Hoffman. “They’ve been great hosts. Their support has been invaluable to Create Appalachia. We truly appreciate their partnership.”
Create Appalachiastrives to make our region a better place to live and work by supporting innovation and entrepreneurship centered around the combination of creativity and technology. We work to build and maintain a community of like-minded creative entrepreneurs who will generate new businesses, provide jobs in arts-based businesses, and highlight the important role that creativity plays in the region’s economic vitality.
