The Walkabout Company, LLC is a film, television, and multimedia company that develops programs and resources for the classroom and general public in partnership with West Virginia Public Broadcasting. The Walkabout Company has produced quality productions for WV PBS and the classroom since 1992 when it produced its first weekly series for young people. Since that time, owners Richard Warmuth and Debra Keddie have expanded the business to develop programming for the evening/prime-time audiences. Currently, The Walkabout Company is focusing on the development of video and multimedia materials related to West Virginia’s scenic byways, the 1st Campaign, and preservation activities.

The Mollohan Family Foundation previously awarded The Walkabout Company a grant to develop classroom materials and broadcast television programming for the Travel West Virginia course that is offered in West Virginia high schools. Travel West Virginia is a one-year high school elective course that combines the study of West Virginia history, geography, culture and preservation with an understanding of marketing and how the various elements combine to create the state’s tourism industry.

The Walk About Company will create an interactive CD that will feature the major historic, cultural, and recreation sites from each of the nine travel regions of the state that are tourist attractions. A DVD will be created and used for interviews at major sites with destination managers, while the interviews will be representative of the major industries and attractions in the tourism industry. Print materials will be used as a guide to the CD and DVD and will include lessons and activities for the students. Finally, nine, thirty-minute broadcast quality programs will be made, with each program dedicated to one of the state’s travel regions. These broadcast programs will take viewers into the historical and cultural stories that make each region unique. The programs will be broadcast to the evening/primetime audience at least twice a year for five years beginning in the fall of 2007.

The following year, the Mollohan Family Foundation awarded The Walkabout Company a grant to support the enhancement to the Metropolitan Theatre classroom website that was funded by the previous Mollohan Family Foundation grant.

For more information about The Walkabout Company, please contact Debra Keddie at 304.242.8884.