Arts & Culture Group Commissions Profiles Project

In 2020, the Arts & Culture Group embarked on commissioning written stories of the power of art in Appalachia. In this series, called How Appalachian People Use Art to Make Change: Stories of the Power of Art, innovative projects in Appalachia are profiled. These projects infuse community economic development with arts and culture in order to contribute to greater impact in the communities they serve. 
Through the profiles, the Arts & Culture Group sought to:

• Bring attention to the ways that arts and culture can integrate into any sector and across just transition issues;

• Lift up arts and culture work in Appalachia as a way to draw in potential new funders to the region;

• Demonstrate to those  funders who typically don’t invest in arts and cultural strategies that these can amplify project impact in new ways;

• Demonstrate how funders are already engaging with and supporting this work;

• Share perspectives of how projects can be funded holistically and across multiple sectors.

The project was originally envisioned before a pandemic brought our economy and in-person social activities to a halt and before the profound national attention on racial injustice. These simultaneous crises and opportunities became the context for these profiles’ debut, and their themes are even more timely: art heals; art builds power; art resonates when other forms of communication fall short; art helps us reimagine new ways of being. These stories illuminate what is possible when communities use arts and culture as the roots for growing positive transformation.

Download the full booklet of stories.

AFN welcomes more stories of the power of art in Appalachia. If you'd like to share a written story, please Contact Us. This Group was thrilled to partner with Elizabeth Wright, who artfully wrote the profiles for this project. Special thanks to Lyz Crane of ArtPlace America and Heather Pontonio of the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation for their excellent guidance on this series.