Catch Up With Chuck | Episode 27

Rural Futures Institute Author

05/23/2018 Added

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Jeanne Wiemer

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[00:00:02.890]Welcome to the Rural Futures Institute
[00:00:04.920]at the University of Nebraska.
[00:00:06.780]I'm Chuck Shroeder, Executive Director of the Institute
[00:00:09.280]and this is our weekly conversation
[00:00:12.109]with difference makers in rural Nebraska and rural America
[00:00:16.030]that we call Catch Up with Chuck.
[00:00:17.900]So, with me today is a rural entrepreneur
[00:00:21.688]with a very unique focus.
[00:00:23.490]Jeanne Wiemer is the owner and director
[00:00:26.640]of Red Path Gallery and Tasting Room in Seward, Nebraska.
[00:00:30.328]Welcome, Jeanne, we're glad to have you here.
[00:00:32.390]Welcome, Chuck.
[00:00:33.390]I've looked forward to this little chat.
[00:00:35.380]Yes, well thank you for having me here today
[00:00:37.368]to talk about Seward and Red Path Gallery and Tasting Room.
[00:00:41.900]Well, you're here really for a very specific reason.
[00:00:45.921]Followers of this broadcast will remember,
[00:00:49.500]a few weeks ago we did an interview
[00:00:51.316]with a professor of practice at the College of Architecture
[00:00:56.094]here at the University of Nebraska Lincoln, Stacy Spollen,
[00:00:59.660]and one of her students, Kenzie Kline from Cozad,
[00:01:03.202]and they had been part of a very interesting
[00:01:07.310]class project this semester.
[00:01:08.664]Stacy had challenged her design students
[00:01:11.928]to investigate their creative class
[00:01:14.957]and discover what relationships and opportunities
[00:01:19.070]there might be in their relationship with rural Nebraska.
[00:01:22.274]How do we attract the creative class to rural communities?
[00:01:26.328]So, she had 26 students, if I remember correctly,
[00:01:29.869]that developed a host of ideas for using unutilized
[00:01:35.500]or underutilized buildings in rural communities
[00:01:38.765]to create a very attractive intersection
[00:01:44.503]between fine culinary, even dramatic arts
[00:01:48.984]to create a welcoming culture for artists,
[00:01:52.420]musicians, thespians, artisans,
[00:01:54.680]who might prefer a rural community environment.
[00:01:58.030]Well, I have to tell you, it was fantastic.
[00:01:59.730]We at the Rural Futures Institute had the opportunity
[00:02:02.140]to engage with these kids and we loved their projects,
[00:02:05.603]but the question remained, how do you
[00:02:07.987]really make that happen in a community?
[00:02:10.893]So, Jeanne, who I've known for some time now,
[00:02:15.221]is an artist and a writer in her own right,
[00:02:18.445]and she took up that challenge of attracting
[00:02:22.030]the creative class in one of our poster child communities
[00:02:26.744]in rural Nebraska, Seward.
[00:02:29.270]So Jeanne, I want you to take us back to the big idea
[00:02:32.629]for Red Path Gallery and tell us what the heck
[00:02:36.030]you were thinking. (laughing)
[00:02:37.440]What was I thinking?
[00:02:39.107]It takes a lot of passion, it takes an idea
[00:02:42.104]that has probably been with you from way back.
[00:02:46.400]I mean, I've always been very creative.
[00:02:48.355]You meet people along the way and then,
[00:02:51.999]things start happening when you
[00:02:54.350]set that dream and goal out there.
[00:02:56.824]And I'm from Seward, native to Seward County,
[00:03:00.579]and so my parents knew the people
[00:03:04.130]who owned the building before we purchased it,
[00:03:06.580]so there was a link there.
[00:03:08.630]So all of those things fit into this puzzle of life
[00:03:11.750]and if you set your goals, magic happens.
[00:03:14.851]Well, you've really made magic happen there,
[00:03:18.030]and so there you are on the historic town square in Seward.
[00:03:22.040]When you drive there today, you would think
[00:03:24.220]Red Path had been there forever, because it just fits.
[00:03:25.964]It just fits. It does.
[00:03:27.170]Here's this beautiful, beautiful rural setting,
[00:03:29.720]here's this really terrific gallery that you've developed,
[00:03:33.389]but listen, I've lived long enough to know
[00:03:36.640]that businesses that are successful
[00:03:39.050]and organizations, even communities,
[00:03:40.680]don't just emerge from the mist,
[00:03:42.179]so they really begin in the lives
[00:03:45.336]of the people who create them.
[00:03:47.100]And you've touched on that just a little bit.
[00:03:49.210]I want you to talk a little bit more
[00:03:51.230]about your upbringing, kinda who you are,
[00:03:54.723]where and how you were raised,
[00:03:57.453]because you were raised in a creative environment.
[00:04:00.333]Yes, yes, I guess I was raised in a creative environment,
[00:04:03.960]and that could be in rural Nebraska,
[00:04:06.477]so that to me, when we talk about how I was raised,
[00:04:11.630]I guess I go right back to where I grew up on an acreage,
[00:04:16.740]which could be considered a farm when I grew up, 80 acres,
[00:04:20.984]and we had cows and chickens, and I went out there
[00:04:25.203]and watched the cows and chickens and had visions
[00:04:30.430]of things in my own head and so,
[00:04:33.370]I didn't have a cell phone or anything like that,
[00:04:35.700]but I was always dreaming and visualizing,
[00:04:38.691]and we had a flat top roof on our garage
[00:04:41.860]and I'd go lay up there and look at the stars,
[00:04:44.840]and like, where the heck did I come from?
[00:04:46.883](laughing) Sure.
[00:04:48.333]So is that answering your question in a way?
[00:04:52.404]I know that you had art in your home,
[00:04:54.904]you had that kind of activity going on,
[00:04:58.220]so the idea of an artist being a serious...
[00:05:03.395]Serious thing, and you know, my parents took us
[00:05:07.280]to different art events, which Seward has
[00:05:10.990]the oldest arts council in the state of Nebraska.
[00:05:14.080]And Reinhold Marxhausen was kind of an instigator
[00:05:17.770]in having that all created with some other
[00:05:20.630]very key people in the Seward community,
[00:05:23.020]and I knew that from a very young age,
[00:05:25.360]and some of these art events were out in the country.
[00:05:29.150]They were very rural and how to look at art
[00:05:32.360]in a different way and life in a different way
[00:05:34.510]and it was promoted that way, so to me,
[00:05:36.909]the artist's life was looking at life in this unique way
[00:05:42.371]where I had the opportunity to visualize
[00:05:44.952]and the time to do that as a child.
[00:05:50.840]I could go sit on the swing or look at the stars
[00:05:54.169]in rural Nebraska, and to me, that was real,
[00:05:57.940]but yet it was this majestic thing that happened.
[00:06:00.526]And so the artists in your community were respected?
[00:06:04.720]Yes. Respected members
[00:06:05.760]of the community? Yes.
[00:06:07.905]The idea of engaging seriously in art
[00:06:09.721]was not frivolous. Right.
[00:06:12.840]It was considered part of you becoming a human being.
[00:06:16.660]Right, in my mindset, that's how I felt about it.
[00:06:19.748]Absolutely. Right.
[00:06:21.040]I think we lose some of that today.
[00:06:22.840]I think so.
[00:06:23.897]And that's part of why you and I are getting connected.
[00:06:27.126]That's right. (laughing)
[00:06:28.650]So listen, I wanna talk just a little bit more
[00:06:30.740]about Red Path Gallery and Tasting Room.
[00:06:33.593]You're a visual artist, a literary artist,
[00:06:37.433]but Red Path has grown to accommodate
[00:06:41.420]a broad variety of artists including musicians and others.
[00:06:45.156]Tell us a little bit about what all
[00:06:47.880]goes on at Red Path today.
[00:06:49.370]Well, when we first started, it was an art gallery.
[00:06:53.323]That's what I wanted to make sure that it was,
[00:06:55.710]to include all Nebraska artists,
[00:06:57.430]and so that's where we started, along with wine tasting,
[00:07:00.730]because I was very involved with tourism,
[00:07:02.870]and I knew how to bring people into the building.
[00:07:06.250]And it just happened that my art work is on the wine label,
[00:07:09.460]so that's kind of a neat thing, but then people came in
[00:07:13.156]and artists wanna be around other artists,
[00:07:16.700]and they're drawn in, and then musicians are drawn in.
[00:07:20.550]And so now we have music in the building and we have art,
[00:07:24.720]and it's all Nebraska people that are very talented.
[00:07:27.290]And young people that can take off
[00:07:30.970]and make this world a great place,
[00:07:33.030]and people can enjoy the artwork along with the wine,
[00:07:36.070]and it's a super place and it enhances
[00:07:39.010]the historic downtown in Seward,
[00:07:40.920]so it's a great location, too.
[00:07:44.035]Okay, you have one really unique story
[00:07:47.172]going on there right now, the young woman
[00:07:49.880]who came to Concordia, a terrific musician.
[00:07:54.635]You and your husband created an opportunity for her
[00:07:58.048]to remain in the community and offering...
[00:08:01.170]Anyway, you tell the story.
[00:08:02.490]I think it's beautiful. (laughing)
[00:08:04.012]Yes, Julia Marble with Marble Music
[00:08:05.740]came to us through JD's Coffee Shop actually,
[00:08:09.300]down the street, kinda working together
[00:08:11.830]in a collaborative effort in Seward, and said,
[00:08:14.657]"Hey, if you're doing music, talk to Jeanne at Red Path."
[00:08:18.610]And so we created a studio and she at that time
[00:08:21.870]was teaching Sazuki violin method in our downstairs
[00:08:25.905]when we weren't open and then it grew
[00:08:29.450]that we built up the upstairs to studios for her.
[00:08:32.641]There's violin, voice, guitar, piano, cello,
[00:08:36.120]all of this that we include in the building
[00:08:38.721]during the hours that we aren't open to the public,
[00:08:41.610]but open for lessons.
[00:08:43.350]And my husband and I worked with her on her business plan
[00:08:47.189]and to say that this all magically happened,
[00:08:50.068]it doesn't magically happen. No.
[00:08:52.500]It's work. People do come in.
[00:08:54.572](laughing) It is work.
[00:08:56.599]And we had a 40 page business plan
[00:08:57.660]for Red Path Gallery and Tasting Room,
[00:08:59.630]and we worked with Julia to have a business plan,
[00:09:02.572]'cause sometimes those things are overlooked.
[00:09:05.281]In college, we get our basics and we get
[00:09:07.393]a good idea where we wanna go,
[00:09:09.953]but then my husband's been in business and I have,
[00:09:13.409]so we wanted to work with the younger generation
[00:09:17.271]to make sure that they come and go on
[00:09:22.100]with these legacies that have started.
[00:09:25.036]I just think that's so powerful.
[00:09:26.868]For people that are watching, we've had a growing audience,
[00:09:32.210]which we love, many of whom live in rural,
[00:09:36.260]but many of whom are curious about rural.
[00:09:38.250]For people who think living in a rural community
[00:09:40.340]means that you are now a distant reach
[00:09:44.750]to the arts and to arts education opportunities,
[00:09:49.810]here is a rural community, roughly 8000 residents,
[00:09:54.049]and the opportunity to number one, a fine art gallery
[00:09:59.260]that is first class. Thank you.
[00:10:01.881]There are a lot of galleries that,
[00:10:03.736]anyway, it's first class.
[00:10:05.681]Here is an opportunity, music learning opportunities
[00:10:10.908]that you'd have trouble finding in Omaha in some cases.
[00:10:16.240]Right, and then we have the auditorium at the Civic Center
[00:10:19.580]where they do their concerts and she's with
[00:10:22.540]the honor choir in Seward, so we have
[00:10:24.604]a lot going on in that area, all kind of
[00:10:26.541]under the Seward Arts Council umbrella.
[00:10:30.310]The honor choir and then Marble Music, a private entity
[00:10:33.400]under Red Path Gallery, and collaborating with them.
[00:10:37.000]So yeah, the awning says both our names
[00:10:39.400]and we are just on the go. (laughing)
[00:10:41.521]I love it.
[00:10:43.130]Well, listen Jeanne, it's no secret
[00:10:45.169]that Seward is really a special community.
[00:10:48.970]It has, just as you've told your story,
[00:10:51.810]we know that it's a community that's benefited from
[00:10:54.340]very capable leadership, from bold visions for the future.
[00:10:58.500]We talk a lot at the Rural Futures Institute
[00:11:01.253]about the power of a bold vision backed by grit.
[00:11:04.647]Yes. It takes all of that.
[00:11:07.370]It's not all unicorns and rainbows.
[00:11:09.873]No, no.
[00:11:11.210]But also, as you've demonstrated,
[00:11:14.289]one of the keys is people being willing to invest
[00:11:18.260]in the community. Right.
[00:11:20.020]And to say, "Okay, if the calvary ain't coming,
[00:11:23.620]if we want this, and we wanna survive and thrive,
[00:11:27.343]we're gonna be investing in it."
[00:11:29.570]So you've done that, so listen,
[00:11:31.142]Seward has always been forward looking and I know you are.
[00:11:34.820]Talk a little bit about what you see
[00:11:36.530]as the future of Seward. Okay.
[00:11:38.580]Well, I was on the Vision Committee for Seward
[00:11:41.639]that we created pillars of strength for Seward.
[00:11:44.760]In that, I made sure that arts and culture is part of that.
[00:11:49.000]So, we have a pillar of strength that's arts and culture
[00:11:52.519]and we have a vision for 2035, and so,
[00:11:59.207]we are very progressive in that sense,
[00:12:03.360]that we know that we wanna continue
[00:12:05.710]to make Seward a great place, enhance it,
[00:12:09.500]have the younger generation moving forward.
[00:12:11.847]And so, I think all of those things are important.
[00:12:14.919]And people are taking notice, I think.
[00:12:17.730]I think they are. Yeah.
[00:12:19.150]I hear about it around the state.
[00:12:21.552]Well, listen, here at the Rural Futures Institute,
[00:12:24.700]we're proud to have two of our rural serviceship students
[00:12:28.180]in Seward this summer, one from Waverley, one from India.
[00:12:32.283]And they are gonna be doing some, I know,
[00:12:35.889]interesting projects there and Johnathan Jank,
[00:12:39.387]your economic development director
[00:12:41.840]has been a dear friend of the Rural Futures Institute
[00:12:44.400]and one of the great young professionals in Nebraska,
[00:12:46.641]so he's kinda their key mentor for the summer,
[00:12:49.180]which has been great fun.
[00:12:50.865]So anyway, I know that those students
[00:12:53.670]are gonna make their way into Red Path Gallery this summer.
[00:12:55.667]And I had an opportunity actually to meet 'em
[00:12:57.840]at the board meeting on Monday.
[00:12:59.220]Oh wonderful. Yeah.
[00:13:00.273](laughing) They were all there.
[00:13:01.681]They're already rocking and rolling.
[00:13:02.514]They are. Good news, good news.
[00:13:03.620]They're moving in. (laughing)
[00:13:05.200]Well, we're gonna be doing a little project
[00:13:07.680]together there this summer and so,
[00:13:09.351]I'm gonna be hanging around Red Path.
[00:13:11.930]Yes you are.
[00:13:12.763]And you need to tell that story.
[00:13:14.919](laughing)
[00:13:16.156]We're gonna have an exhibit called
[00:13:18.030]Elder's Character Over Time and we think it'll be fun.
[00:13:21.980]So anyway, anything you'd like to
[00:13:23.870]add this morning to the story?
[00:13:25.553]Well, I just would like to say thank you
[00:13:27.390]for having me here today, that's an awesome experience
[00:13:29.628]to come here and get to chat with you
[00:13:32.140]about the rural future of Nebraska,
[00:13:34.311]and people just need to take that passion and follow it.
[00:13:38.428]All the people in Nebraska are hardworking.
[00:13:42.090]We are real people.
[00:13:43.480]All artists in the gallery are real people,
[00:13:46.010]but we have this majestic side
[00:13:47.623]that we promote with the arts that just shines through,
[00:13:52.080]and so just remember that passion
[00:13:54.910]will take you where you need to go,
[00:13:56.280]but hard work in Nebraska's what we do, too.
[00:13:58.865]With both those things, we make it happen.
[00:14:00.956](laughing) Absolutely.
[00:14:02.930]Well, Jeanne, it's been a delight to
[00:14:04.570]have you on the show this morning,
[00:14:06.204]and folks, I just invite you to come back next week
[00:14:10.020]when we're going to be meeting with
[00:14:12.260]more real people in real places
[00:14:13.777]demonstrating that thriving rural communities
[00:14:17.540]are a worthwhile choice for really healthy
[00:14:20.370]and great, productive, majestic living.
[00:14:22.267]Thanks for being here.

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Catch Up With Chuck | Episode 27

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