Ken Burns’ THE DUST BOWL “Screening and Community Conversation” Event at Woodward

September 10, 2012

**More than 300 people attended the “Screening and Community Conversation” at Woodward for Ken Burns’ THE DUST BOWL.**

More than 300 people turned out for a special preview screening of Ken Burn’s new documentary THE DUST BOWL at Woodward. The “Screening and Community Conversation” event, featuring excerpts from both episodes of the film, was held at the Woodward Conference Center on Aug. 16, 2012. The complete documentary will air on Public Broadcasting System (PBS) stations on the evenings of Nov. 18 and 19 beginning at 7:00 p.m. In Oklahoma, member stations of the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority (OETA) are the PBS network stations.

**More than 30 Dust Bowl survivors attended the Woodward “Screening and Community Conversation.”**

Following the preview screening a panel of speakers discussed the Dust Bowl and fielded questions from the audience. From left are Greg Scott, NRCS state soil scientist; Clay Pope, OACD executive director; and Bill Collier, a Dust Bowl survivor from Taloga.

The public was invited to the Woodward preview screening of THE DUST BOWL, sponsored by OETA, the Oklahoma Conservation Commission (OCC), USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts (OACD). Dewey County and Woodward County Conservation Districts had display exhibits along with displays from OCC and NRCS.

John McCarroll, OETA executive director, welcomed the audience and introduced the film screening. Following the 45-minute excerpted preview, Bill Collier, a Dust Bowl survivor from Taloga, Okla., participated in a panel discussion along with Greg Scott, NRCS state soil scientist, and Clay Pope, OACD executive director. At the end of the discussion questions were taken from the audience that included more than 30 individuals who experienced the Dust Bowl growing up in Oklahoma.

More preview screening events for Ken Burns’ THE DUST BOWL are planned for other locations around the state leading up to the November broadcast of the documentary.

More THE DUST BOWL Screening and Community Conversation Events:

August 26 — OETA Studios, Oklahoma City, for state agriculture organization representatives

September or October — Guymon, location and date to be announced

October 4 — Western Oklahoma State College, Altus

November 5 — Oklahoma State University Student Union, Stillwater

November 8 — Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Oklahoma City

November 12 — OSU-Tulsa Campus, Tulsa