Free Art Is Coming to Every Corner of Buncombe County
ArtsAVL’s Arts Build Community grants are paying for murals, workshops, concerts and plays this year, and every one of them is free to the public.
Over the next year you can learn to mend your clothes in West Asheville, paint a mini-mural at the Asheville Tool Library, keep a nature journal in Swannanoa, or watch a free “A Christmas Carol” performed by kids. All of it is paid for by ArtsAVL’s Arts Build Community grants, which this year went to 21 local groups and artists.
The awards add up to $37,997, with support from Buncombe County and Pete and Cindy Perez. Every project has to be free and open to the community. This is the program’s ninth year.
Katie Cornell, ArtsAVL’s executive director, said the program is “about making sure the arts are happening throughout Buncombe County in ways that are accessible.”
A few to put on your calendar
- Oct. 25: The Asheville Tool Library wraps up its mini-mural project around the Smith Mill Works building with a community paint day during its free fall yard sale.
- Nov. 14: Swannatopia holds a free, all-ages night of large art installations, live music and dance on Warren Wilson College’s farmland.
- December: Montford Moppets Youth Shakespeare Company stages a free “A Christmas Carol” with about 20 students.
- Feb. 20: The Wortham Center and the YMI Cultural Center host a free masterclass with Ballet Hispánico dancers, with at least half the spots held for YMI participants.
Art as part of the recovery
Several of the grants go to places Helene hit hard. Carolina Corona of Corona Fine Art will lead two bilingual nature-journaling workshops in Swannanoa, ending with a display at Bounty and Soul Latino.
“This underserved community has had a lot of loss and destruction after the hurricane,” Corona said. “They might not have other opportunities to experience the creative process.”
The Glitter Sisters are bringing their youth fashion and music programs to Swannanoa through a partnership with the Swannanoa Resilience Hub. In West Asheville, The Odd is spending the year on free music and art shows it calls the Creative Recovery Series.
The full list of projects, from Burton Street oral histories to a documentary on Asheville’s Black marching-band tradition, is on ArtsAVL’s website.
Sources: ArtsAVL.