Pete Tedrow from The Starfish Throwers visits Winder Cultural Arts Center, Morris Museum of Art, Wallace State Community College

From Impact Producer Pete Tedrow of The Starfish Throwers:


Winder, Georgia - Sunday, March 15, 2015
The second stop on our Southern Circuit Tour, and my first as Impact Producer, landed me in the lovely small town of Winder, Georgia. The Winder Cultural Arts Center is a true gem. Cultural Arts Director Don Wildsmith and film programmer Christopher Childs of Wilder Television make an excellent team.

The Q&A led Christopher after the film showed just how engaged and well-versed Winder audiences are with documentaries and independent film in general.  It was a special pleasure to have members of the local First United Methodist Church youth group in attendance, and to chat with them more after the Q&A. It’s young people like them who can inspire a generation of young people to throw starfish and make a difference in their own communities.

Augusta, Georgia - Tuesday, March 17, 2015
On the banks of the historic Savannah River in Augusta, Georgia, lies the Morris Museum of Art, the third stop on our tour. Director Kevin Grogan and Michelle Schulte, Curator of Education, were gracious hosts! Even though it was St. Patrick’s Day and over 80 degrees outside, it didn’t stop a highly engaged audience from attending our screening.

Katie Stagliano’s story was especially moving to the seniors in the audience - always so uplifting to see how a young girl can inspire older adults to work for positive change in their communities. Being that Katie lives just a few hours to the East in Summerville, SC, there was definitely some southern pride in the room.

Hanceville, Alabama - Thursday, March 19, 2015
The last stop for The Starfish Throwers on the tour was the small Alabama town of Hanceville. Wallace State Community College and its Burrow Center are top-notch facilities! Staff writer Russell Moore and the whole team at Wallace State (Gail, Jesse, Stefany) helped run two very smooth screenings, one in the morning and one in the early evening.

Most impressive, though, were the students of Wallace State. I had the pleasure to chat with many of them after the morning screening—hearing about how they themselves throw starfish, and how inspired they are to begin lives in which they do just that through their future work as doctors, nurses, and artists. Young people like these definitely give me hope that the future has good things in store for all of us.