14STW Arts & Culture District Plan

Located in the heart of Appalachia, the West Huntington neighborhood is a historic part of Huntington, West Virginia with a rich industrial heritage, a resilient community culture, and a unique, growing arts scene. evolveEA was engaged by local nonprofits in an effort funded by the NEA Our Town program to facilitate a District Plan for West Huntington’s Main Street: 14STW.

Reclaiming the Community Vision

Our process included an assessment of the existing physical conditions of the 14th Street West corridor—its infrastructure, buildings, land use, mobility and connectivity, and its cultural offerings, marketing materials, and organizational capacity. 14STW is known as a hub for antiques, and is also home to a popular year-round farmer’s market.

We helped the community identify key redevelopment opportunities and the uses that could be leveraged into a more vibrant cultural district, ways to attract more visitors with programming and marketing, and ways to lead them to 14STW with wayfinding and public art. To support placemaking and programming, we worked with Wall-to-Wall studios and local leaders to develop a fresh visual identity and branding strategy for the district that references the funky and friendly vibe of the street and the resiliency of the region.

Refreshed District Identity

The District Plan and new brand emphasize reinvention and reuse as a core aspect of the community’s identity. A new organization called RenewAll was formed to steward the plan’s implementation, and several new public art pieces were installed during the year-long engagement process. We also developed a conceptual design for a new museum and event venue that will be co-located with RenewAll’s office in the district’s core.