Using Public History in Storytelling for Community Engagement

Brian Koscho will discuss the multimedia project Invisible Ground, focusing on public history in southeast Ohio communities and beyond and how that process can engage communities in their own stories. Learn about Invisible Ground's work in podcasting and augmented reality Immersive Historic Markers and how media and storytelling can bring history to life and engage communities.

Bio: Brian Koscho is a media artist living in Athens, Ohio. He is the director and founder of Invisible Ground, a project centered on place-based storytelling in local history using a podcast and a series of augmented reality Immersive Historic Markers. Koscho completed his MFA in Communication Media Arts at Ohio University in April 2022. Along with his work in media, Brian is an adjunct instructor at Ohio University in the Scripps College of Communication, teaching podcasting at the School of Media Arts & Studies. Out in the community, he has taught Community Storytelling, Audio Storytelling, and Podcasting and helped with workshops on Documentary Film and Storytelling for high school students in Appalachian, Ohio. Koscho has produced multimedia work and collaborated in various forms with Stuart’s Opera House (where he worked from 2007-2019) and its Nelsonville Music Festival, Inside Appalachia, West Virginia Public Broadcasting, POV, WOUB Public Media, Mid Atlantic Arts, Foundation for Appalachian Ohio, Ohio History Connection, Ohio Arts Council, COAD, Mount Zion Baptist Church Preservation Society, the Southeast Ohio History Center, and many more organizations.