Comments for Radical Restoration

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Produced by Emily Renard

Other pieces by Salt Institute for Documentary Studies

Summary: Radical artists, The Beehive Design Collective and the Machias Valley Grange Hall in Machias, Maine make an unlikely pair... or do they?
 

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Review of Radical Restoration

This is a well-produced piece about the unlikely but successful pairing of an artist collective and a grange in Machias, Maine. The hall becomes a home and workspace for a dozen artists, who then give it back to the grange it to use as well. The piece uses well-written narration interspersed with actualities from members of the artist collective and members of the grange. The piece works well if you know what a grange is, which I didn't. After doing some research, I discovered that a grange's purpose is to bring people together to improve working and living conditions and allow the members to become self-sufficient, and to provide a social outlet for its members. If I had known that going into the piece it would have made a lot more sense to me upon first listening; the piece would have benefited from this kind of setup. Nevertheless, it's an engaging piece from the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies and I recommend it.