We invite you to view the below video of Imagined Art Destination.

It is an AI generated and Founder edited 3 minute viewing.

River Art Works: A Creative Destination for Learning, Art and Community

River Art Works (RAW) is developing a new kind of regional destination in Champion, Pennsylvania—one where art, education, technology, nature and community come together to create opportunities for people to learn, create, work and thrive.

The idea grew from eight years of listening and doing. RAW was founded to strengthen the region’s arts community, but our work has revealed a larger opportunity. Southwestern Pennsylvania has invested significantly in protecting the quality of life of its rural communities. The next challenge is building the creative and civic infrastructure that creates new opportunity: the culture, creativity, independent enterprise and gathering places that give people reasons to stay, businesses reasons to grow, and visitors reasons to experience the region.

We call this the “offense”—building toward the future rather than simply protecting what already exists.

Building the Regional Network

RAW has aligned resources, relationships and expertise so existing rural creative strengths can reach farther.

Since 2018, RAW works with nonprofits and school districts, colleges and nonprofits to bring creative opportunities to people throughout the region. In 2021 ArtTEK for TEENS educational concept was developed and implemented in 2022. The program is now called ArtTEK for TEENS and ADULTS because we were asked to help adults stay job relevant. In 2024, RAW established the Greater Westmoreland Arts Coalition (GWAC), bringing together 16 regional arts leaders and organizations to establish governance of a regional art marketing initiative, identify opportunities and strengthen the visibility of the region’s creative assets.

GWAC Partnerships with Carnegie Mellon University and Westmoreland Community College to build GWAC’s first asset: a digital directory and art trail map of our rural region’s art assets by connecting artists, educators, arts organizations, creative businesses to locals and visitors—turning geographic separation into a connected regional creative network. It has over 200 members.

ArtTEK for TEENS and ADULTS format of learn at your own pace and small teacher to student ratio pays off. . Through hands-on projects involving 3D printing, CAD design, drones, mapping, videography, holography and digital media, students as young as eleven are gaining sophisticated creative and technical CAD skills and prepare to take full FAA exams while exploring career options.

These are not isolated programs. They are the beginnings of a regional system.

From Network to Destination

RAW now envisions a permanent destination near Seven Springs. Reminder: this location is in the center of seven major tourist attractions. We plan to use tourism for self-sustainability.

The campus will bring together advanced digital technology labs, traditional artisan studios, classrooms, exhibitions, a creative business resource center, a supply shop, gathering spaces, an amphitheatre and an interconnected landscape of gardens, sculpture, walking paths and outdoor experiences. A hostel will provide lodging for visiting artists, students and cultural tourists, while a commissary will support artists, visitors, classes and events.

It will be a place where learning happens beyond the traditional classroom, artists and young people work alongside one another, technology expands creative possibilities, and the landscape itself becomes part of the experience.

The business resource center will extend the destination’s benefit beyond its own campus, providing artists and small arts organizations with shared knowledge, technology, business education, grant resources and other tools often difficult to access independently in a rural region. Classes, memberships, exhibitions, events and creative enterprises will create opportunities for participation while helping sustain the infrastructure itself.

This is not simply an arts facility. It is regional creative infrastructure—a physical place capable of strengthening the network RAW has already begun building.

Creative Infrastructure with Economic Purpose

The destination is intentionally planned so creativity and community vitality can generate sustainable economic activity.

At full development, RAW projects 43–55 direct, sustainable jobs and approximately $2.5–$3.5 million in annual earned and operating revenue. Revenue from lodging, classes, memberships, gallery exhibitions, events, retail, the commissary and creative enterprise is designed to support operations and reduce dependence on philanthropy over time.

Located in the Laurel Highlands tourism corridor near Seven Springs Mountain Resort and connected to regional tourism infrastructure, RAW will give visitors another reason to stay longer, return and engage with local creative businesses and communities.

Artists gain places to work, learn and sell. Creative entrepreneurs gain technology and business resources. Young people gain skills and pathways toward higher education and careers. Small arts organizations gain shared resources. Visitors gain a cultural destination. Surrounding lodging, restaurants, retail and tourism businesses gain another reason for people to come to—and remain in—the region.

At the projected $2.5–$3.5 million in annual revenue, the destination would represent an economic activity base equivalent to approximately 20–28% of Westmoreland County’s current $12.4 million creative-industry income.

An Invitation to Be a Vital Partner

RAW believes the most meaningful regional change occurs when organizations become effective partners—aligning resources, expertise and relationships around opportunities larger than any one organization could accomplish alone.

RAW has already begun that alignment: eight school districts connected through education; 16 arts leaders connected through GWAC; Carnegie Mellon and Westmoreland Community College connected through technology and advanced education; over 200 artists and small arts organizations connected through shared resources; and tourism partners connected to a growing cultural destination.

The permanent campus is the next step: the place where these relationships can become physical, visible and enduring. We have already reached out to ARC through the POWER Grant and EDA through the PEWAA2025 Grant and the Laurel Foundation for land purchase and initial planning funds.

We are seeking vital, effective partners who want to help make that vision possible. We believe Eden Hall Foundation has an opportunity to help transform a growing regional network into permanent creative and civic infrastructure—a place where people learn, create, gather, work, visit and return.

Our goal is not simply to build a facility, nor to duplicate existing services.

It is to build an entire arts ecosystem that expands access to the arts, advances useful knowledge, connects people to technology and opportunity, strengthens community resources, supports creative enterprise, and gives a rural region new reasons to thrive.

To directly donate (eliminate charges) :  Mail checks to   River Art Works   35 S 7th St  Youngwood, PA 15697   

(memo: Capital Campaign)

For more information or to ask Founder to speak:   724-547-4121