Appalachia
Creating Conditions Favorable for Community Life
We believe Appalachia’s greatest resource is her people. Helping to create conditions favorable for community life is why Grassroots Appalachia exists. We work to connect and cultivate Appalachian people and traditions in Lenoir and beyond.
Upcoming Events
Saturday, Aug. 15 @ 7 p.m. – “Don’t Rock the Boat.” Three stand-up comedians visit us in Lenoir to explore what happens when humor meets our political divide. Read more here. Facebook Event Link:
https://www.facebook.com/share/19BK4KHtrF/
Tuesday, Aug. 18 @ 6:30 p.m. – Opening: “An Exploration: Creating Conditions Favorable for Community Life,” a three-day event, begins with an art exhibit. It considers people and places from the past through the storytelling brush strokes of Fred Boger (1857-1936), a painter of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. An itinerant artist, he wandered the nation seeking out people and scenes which inspired him. Read more here.
Wednesday, Aug. 19 – Arts & Crafts: Karin Davidson, weaving, 11:30 – until; Gretchen Griffith, fly tying, 2 – 3:30 p.m.; Amber Shoemake, crafts, 6:30 – 8 p.m. Read more here.
Thursday, Aug. 20 – Focus on Caldwell County Literature: Foothills Writing Group, introducing themselves, sharing work and inviting others to join, 11:30 – 1:30 with pot luck lunch; Gretchen Griffith, local writer, speaking on her books about women, tying the importance of women to the Conditions Favorable for Community Living, 2 – 3:30 p.m.; Tony Deal, reading from and discussing his book– “But that’s not true!” 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. with illustrator Tonja Smith (invited). Read more here.
Social Enterprise
We embrace a market solution because it will help ensure that Appalachian folkways are preserved and cherished as people learn that they can help sustain themselves through their own creative efforts, whether such creativity is demonstrated in song on the fiddle, on wood with acrylic paint or in the soil with seeds. This method of matching experts with apprentices is ancient, proven, and a lovely use of talented people often overlooked.
Fair Trade Arts & Crafts
We offer a mix of retail products, concerts, plays, concerts, provide learning opportunities, and partner with existing individuals, groups and institutions so that Appalachians can exhibit their talents and earn money.
Our partners wish to pass on vital Appalachian traditions and folkways to subsequent generations. The intention is to create opportunities for cottage industries to emerge to the benefit of Appalachian communities.
Lenoir Artist Fellowship
Teachers, musicians, artists, poets, actors, directors, potters, sculptors and others involved in the creative and performing arts are essential for a vibrant, energetic community. We are committed to helping established and emerging artists to move towards establishing their own cottage industries.
Appalachia’s greatest abundance is her people. Our people are abundantly talented and resourceful. It is only a matter of cultivating and gathering the talent. That is the purpose of LAF.
Grassroots Appalachia 