This week, working with filmmaker Erin Derham, we'll record the voices of a dozen pioneers, activists and artists involved in the original development of Asheville's Urban Trail. Once recorded, Erin will carve out a 15 minute documentary which we're hoping to debut in the early spring. What excites me about the project is the whole idea of combining the efforts of a number of interested parties--the city, the public arts commission (I'm a member), the Asheville Downtown Association, and others--in realizing this endeavor and staying steadily behind it. I think it opens the door to all sorts of other cross-agency collaborations in the future--hopefully more films incorporating oral histories and story-telling which, in turn, celebrates who we are.

The finished film, debuted earlier this year.