Century Village to Star in Documentary Short
Burton Village’s Century Village Museum is soon to take the spotlight, with its living history exhibits to be featured in a short TV documentary series called “Empowered.”
Burton Village’s Century Village Museum is soon to take the spotlight, with its living history exhibits to be featured in a short TV documentary series called “Empowered.”
The show, hosted by actor Meg Ryan, runs on public television stations across the United States.
Its main focus is short form educational documentaries, running three to five minutes.
“It’s kind of like if you go on the Discovery Channel and they have a TV show and then at the end of that TV show, there’s that three-to-five minute window before the new TV show starts. They’re gonna place it into that section, from what we’re understanding,” museum Curator Stefanie O’Connor explained.
Along with the short form documentary, the museum’s segment may run as a one-minute educational commercial.
“It can be distributed to Fox News, CNBC, CNN, Travel Channel, the History Channel, the Learning Channel, Discovery Channel,” O’Connor listed, comparing it to the short college commercials viewers may see while watching TV.
The museum will also be provided with a five-to-six minute corporate educational documentary for their own use.
Filming will occur over one eight-hour day and interviews will take place in that time, O’Connor said.
“They (the interviewees) are going to be talking about pioneer education and why it’s important to teach our kids the pioneer history of Burton, Ohio, and the surrounding areas,” she said.
As a living history museum, the day of filming, which O’Connor did not disclose so as to lessen the risk of public interference, will also see docents and their families dressed in pioneer garb as they walk around the village.
Members of the public who may be in Burton at that time are encouraged to stay away during filming so as to not cause issues to the crew.
O’Connor confirmed Meg Ryan would not be present on the grounds, but O’Connor herself would be discussing the industry side of the museum and historical education.
Preservation and restoration are both very expensive, she said.
“Let’s take the Shanower Library for instance. The roof has got slate on it,” she said. “Well, we can’t do slate roofs. So, we have to do something that’s kind of like a slate roof, which companies do do, but it costs two times more than a regular roof.”
O’Connor will also discuss the importance of stories not just coming from one side.
“Back in those days, records were kept by missionaries, the scouts, you had the traders, the trappers, the government, pioneers, settlers. So, all the stories were coming from those types of people,” she explained. “They weren’t coming from the other side. So, what was it like for the Indians seeing all these people coming into their hunting lands?”
At present, the museum is accepting donations to help pay for underwriting fees.
“We have what’s called the Heritage Partner Program,” O’Conner said. “What it is, is that people who donate, especially at the $10,000 level, will have their name put on the credits and on our website as one of the major sponsors for helping Century Village to get this ball rolling.”
The ball initially began rolling in March, when O’Connor received an email from a member of the production team.
“It was like a real shock,” O’Connor said, recounting reading up on Empowered after she had received the email. “And I get on (the website for) Empowered and I’m like, Meg Ryan? I was like, dang! I was like, woah!”
O’Connor is excited to see both Century Village and Burton’s names “put on the map” by the production.
“It’s just a quiet little town. And now it’s about to get put back on the map because of what’s gonna happen here and I’m hoping that it’ll, from this perspective, not only help Century Village out — especially with preservation and getting more people here and having more events and the restoration of the houses — but put some money into the City of Burton, as well,” she said, noting an increase in people would mean more shoppers at the local businesses.
“I want people to get on buses and come here,” she said, adding Century Village has a lot to offer the community.
O’Connor said she hopes viewers will come away with a better understanding of what it was like to be a pioneer.
“I want kids to understand that they’ve got it made with things that they’ve got now,” she said.
