The West Virginia Music Hall of Fame’s 8th induction ceremony will take place on Saturday, November 14th, from 7 pm to 9 pm and will be broadcasted statewide. “The best way for people to tune in and see this year’s inductees is by watching West Virginia Public Broadcast or by streaming it on their website or watch it LIVE on Facebook,” said Michael Lipton, Director of the WVMHoF. Participate by using the hashtag #wvmhof2020induction.
The WVMHoF is located in Charleston, West Virginia and was founded in 2005 as a non-profit organization dedicated to documenting and preserving the rich and lasting contributions West Virginians have made to all genres of American music.
This week, Michael Lipton was featured on the Positively West Virginia Podcast, hosted by Jim Matuga. In addition to being an entrepreneur, Michael is also an accomplished electric guitar player. Michael spoke about how he started the WVMHoF, their new facility and some of the many educational outreach programs they have to offer.
One of the WVMHoF’s primary goals is to provide education through themed displays, curriculum development and interactive sessions with students and teachers in schools around the state. Another part of their mission is to establish a permanent facility to house the Hall of Fame and an accompanying museum to exhibit and archive recordings and memorabilia.
“Since 2016, we have been doing something called The Music Career Counseling Program. We bring music industry professionals into high schools and talk to kids about performing careers like songwriting, but we also talk about non-performing careers like wardrobe, catering, management, etc. We like to focus on eleventh graders because they still have some time to give their career some thought,” said Michael.
During COVID- 19, many businesses have had an unknown if they will make it through this time, but WVMHoF is used to worrying every year since they are a non-profit.
“We are a project organization, so when we get an idea, we go after the money and try to make it happen. The biggest challenge for any non-profit is to achieve some efficiency even if it is with annual funding where you do not have to start from scratch every year,” stated Michael.
Michael was a recent guest on the Positively West Virginia Podcast. Listen to the full podcast here.
PWV QUICK BIT | MICHAEL LIPTON
- PIECE OF ADVICE: “Seek out people who are doing something similar and learn as much as you can from them. It will push you way ahead of the game if you learn from their mistakes,” advised Michael.