Contact: Jack Bailey (304) 766-4109

INSTITUTE, W.Va. – Two West Virginia State University (WVSU) graduate students have been selected as fellows for West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s Inside Appalachia Folkways Project.
Leeshia Lee and Angelica Willis were recently selected for the fellowships, which span a nine-month period during the regular college academic year.
“Leeshia and Angelica are outstanding candidates for our fellowship,” said Eleanor Gould, Folkways Project coordinator. “Our goal is to support the growth and development of the fellows in their storytelling and leadership skills.”
Butch Antolini, interim executive director for West Virginia Public Broadcasting, said the fellowship will provide the graduate students hands-on reporting skills and generate content highlighting African American folk life, arts, and culture in Appalachia.
Public Broadcasting representatives said that mentoring student producers of content focusing on the African American Appalachian experience, actively building a diverse corps of Folkways reporters, and partnering with African American teachers, trainers, and producers, is an integral part of the project.
Gould said the long-term goal is greater diversity, not just in content, but to begin to foster an atmosphere where greater diversity can thrive across the organization.
Lee and Willis will produce at least two stories, participate in all aspects of the Folkways Reporting Corps, be mentored by esteemed African American content producers from across the region, learn the basics of audio reporting and Folkways storytelling, and expand the Folkways Project to purposefully include exploration of the African American experience in Appalachia.
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