FAYETTEVILLE, W.Va. (WVDN) – Fayetteville is getting a creative boost this winter with the launch of Fayetteville Creates, a new town-wide artist residency program during the month of January 2026. This fall, the program invited artists from all disciplines—painters, photographers, writers, musicians, textile and culinary creatives, and more—to apply for an opportunity to live, work, and share their craft in the heart of the New River Gorge.
The month-long winter residency will transform seven local vacation rentals into creative spaces where artists will live, work and draw inspiration from the natural beauty of the New River Gorge National Park & Preserve.
“The program is made possible by generosity of local vacation rental property owners who are donating the use of their spaces for the entire month of January,” explained Fayetteville Creates committee member Kate Kistler.
Kistler also acknowledged the West Virginia Creative Network (formerly known as the Tamarack Foundation for the Arts) for its role in getting the project started
“As part of its ‘Ripple’ program, they provided a seed grant of $10,000 to the community,” Kistler said, “but a committee of local volunteers came up with the idea and are in the process of putting together all the details.”
Kistler also thanked the Fayette County Community Foundation, which is serving as fiscal agent for the fledgling program.
Residency Programs – A Boon to Creativity
A creative residency is an opportunity that enables a guest artist to work in a new environment, often away from the restrictions and pressures of their everyday lives. Artist residencies are about providing the time and space for a guest artist to develop work and creatively explore new ideas. While not widely known in West Virginia, creative residencies are certainly not new, history of creative residencies dates back centuries to ancient royal courts and 16th-century European art academies. Today, residencies are found in a variety of models, from community-embedded programs to private retreats, reflecting the growing understanding of their value in fostering creative breakthroughs and cross-cultural connection.
Fayetteville Creates aims to put a unique spin on its program by exploiting underutilized assets, vacation rental properties, in the off-season.
Filling Vacancies with Creativity
A bustling tourist destination for most of the calendar year, Fayetteville and the New River Gorge see a marked slowdown in the winter months, resulting in many lodging properties being underutilized. The Fayetteville Creates committee saw this as an opportunity and approached local vacation rental owners with the idea of opening their spaces to visiting artists, writers and other creative people for the month of January.
“We knew that Lafayette Flats had been hosting a wintertime creative residency for many years, and that provided a model for us to follow,” said Kistler, “but we needed to find other like-minded people to expand the idea and make it town-wide.”
The owners of Lafayette Flats Boutique Vacation Rentals, Amy McLaughlin and Shawn Means also serve on the Fayetteville Creates committee.
“We’re happy to share our experience with the committee and are thrilled to see the whole community rallying around creative people,” said McLaughlin. “Seeing the excitement from other property owners has been wonderful.”
Seven properties committed to house visiting creatives in January, so the committee selected seven creatives from over 35 applications it received.
“We’re thrilled with the seven that were selected,” said Kistler, “and we’re very happy with the mix of creative disciplines they represent.”
The seven creatives selected for the January 2026 residency are:
Amy Pabst, from rural West Virginia, is a fiber artist who creates quilts with an emphasis on form, rather than function.
Melia Beckford, of Hurricane, WV, is primarily a painter who works with oils and watercolors to capture an ever-expanding variety of subject matter.
Kat von Hacke, of Oakwood, Georgia, is an Appalachian author, artist and illustrator whose work bridges folklore, ecology and imagination.
Emma Roberts, of Buffalo, New York- A multidisciplinary artist with a background in graphic design and illustration, focusing primarily on children’s book illustrations.
Sam Kimball, of New Milford, New York, is an independent journalist, media experimenter, and communications specialist with 13 years of immersive, on-the-ground reporting across ten countries.
Brian “Blue” Miskelley, of Chicago Illinois, is a cut paper artist and a real renaissance man who is also a licensed boat captain, a pirate entertainer, wood worker, art figure model and interior designer.
Becks Lipshultz, of Morgantown, WV, is a queer singer-songwriter whose Appalachian roots ground their music to place, while pushing the envelope of what it means to ‘belong’ in the folk and old-time music scenes.
Invigorating Fayetteville’s Art Scene and Engaging the Community
While the underlying premise for Fayetteville Creates residency program is providing creative people with the time and space to work on their craft, the committee expects the whole community to benefit from the resulting synergy. Public events, pop-ups, or community workshops that the creatives-in-residence will offer as part of their commitment to the program will bring fresh energy to the town during the off-season. The free and low-cost workshops, youth art events, and public art installations will bring creativity to the streets, shops, and public spaces of Fayetteville.
Local artists will benefit from planned weekly informal gatherings that will encourage networking between local and visiting artists, and the entire community will be invited to share in a closing celebration where everyone—artists, residents, and visitors—can come together, reflect, and celebrate the creative energy of the month’s activities.
Local Guides
Another unique aspect of Fayetteville Creates is that each creative-in-residence will be paired with a local guide who will be available to show the visitors around the area and help connect them with local resources.
“Having local art supporters serving as guides is yet another way the community will be involved in the program,” said Kistler. “We are very excited about this idea. It just seems to naturally fit Fayetteville’s culture where we have lots of river and climbing guides. We thought, why not art guides?”
Building a Lasting Legacy
The Fayetteville Creates committee sees this year’s residency program as an inaugural event rather than just a one-off. The committee plans to evaluate the success of the program after January, collecting feedback from the visiting artists, vacation rental owners and community members and using that data to improve future versions of what it hopes to be an annual affair.
“This is more than just a residency—it’s a community-powered arts initiative that celebrates Appalachian culture, outdoor beauty, and creative connection,” said committee member Kristin Carroll. “It’s a new way for Fayetteville to shine during the slower season and build a lasting identity as an arts destination.”
“Fayetteville has always been a place of adventure and community spirit,” says Kistler. “Now we’re making space for creativity to thrive—inviting the world to come create, connect, and collaborate here.”
