News & Community

One Year of I'm Into This Place — and Ridgefield Has Been Part of the Story

Adriana Baer set out to make Clark County's first arts and culture podcast, and a year in she's already found her way to our corner of the county. Here's why we think you should be listening.

There is no shortage of places to get your national news fix. There's no shortage of regional arts coverage either, if you're willing to piece it together from a dozen different sources. But hyper-local — arts and culture that's actually happening in your backyard, covered by someone who actually lives here — that's rarer than you'd think.

Adriana Baer thought so too. So she built it herself.

I'm Into This Place launched a year ago as Clark County, Washington's first dedicated arts, culture, and heritage podcast. Baer hosts, produces, and edits the whole thing — interviewing artists, makers, historians, and community leaders who are shaping the cultural life of this region. And yes, that includes Ridgefield.

We want to take a moment to recognize what she's built, share a few of the episodes that have touched on our little city, and make sure more people in Ridgefield know this podcast exists.

Who is Adriana Baer?

Baer is not a hobbyist who stumbled into podcasting. She spent over two decades as a professional theater director and arts leader — serving as Executive Artistic Director of Profile Theatre in Portland, Associate Artistic Director of Cutting Ball Theater, and directing at venues including Portland Center Stage, Artists Repertory Theatre, and Houston's Alley Theatre. She holds an MFA in Directing from Columbia University.

She and her family moved to Ridgefield in the summer of 2021, and what she found was a community she describes as hungry for connection around arts, culture, and local identity — with nowhere central to find it. So she created that place. I'm Into This Place goes behind the scenes: into studios, restaurants, performance spaces, and people's homes. As Baer puts it, "When I'm in their home or looking at their art or seeing a work in progress or in the kitchen of the restaurant — that's their domain. That's their creativity. That's what they've made."

The podcast airs on KXRW Vancouver every Wednesday at 4pm, and episodes live at imintothisplace.com with full episode pages, photos, and articles. There's also a weekly newsletter covering arts and culture events across Clark County.

Where Ridgefield Shows Up

The podcast covers all of Clark County — Vancouver, Camas, Washougal, and beyond — but Baer has made her way to Ridgefield more than once. Two episodes in particular are worth your time.

Why We Think This Matters

Meanwhile in Ridgefield is the only digital publication focused exclusively on this city. We know how hard it is to build something from scratch for a local audience, to convince people that the stories in their own backyard are worth paying attention to, and to keep going when the algorithms are not exactly designed to reward hyperlocal work.

I'm Into This Place is doing that work for all of Clark County. Adriana Baer is one person running a full editorial operation — recording, editing, publishing, writing episode guides, maintaining a newsletter, and curating an events calendar. And the quality shows. This isn't a casual passion project; it's a real resource for our region.

We consider her a neighbor and a partner in the broader effort to make sure people know what's happening — and who's behind it — in this corner of southwest Washington. The more ears she reaches, the better it is for all of us.

Happy First Year, Adriana