KyArtsCast

Kentucky Arts Council spring intern Ashanti Grace Castleberry and arts council communications director Tom Musgrave learn more about Hip Hop Into Learning (HHN2L), a Louisville-based nonprofit arts education organization that received a $500,000 Accelerator Award from The Lewis Prize for Music. Ashanti chats with The Lewis Prize CEO Dalouge Smith and Tom continues the conversation with HHN2L cofounder Nyree Clayton-Taylor.

Episode footnotes:

• HHN2L homepage
• The Lewis Prize for Music
• 2023 Accelerator Awards cohort

The Kentucky Arts Council's Chris Cathers and Tom Musgrave travel to the Kentucky Artisan Center's Todd Finley and Aly Norton about holiday gift giving, what the Artisan Center has planned for the season, and how you can give the gift of Kentucky-made art.

Episode footnotes:

• Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea
• Kentucky Crafted Directory
• List of Kentucky Crafted Retailers

In this seasonal episode, we explore the intersection of the arts and the macabre with a trio of segments featuring storyteller Octavia Sexton, folklorist and podcaster Camille Maria Acosta and theatre professional Bo List.

Episode footnotes:

• Octavia Sexton's links Performing Artists Directory Teaching Artists Directory
• Floaties for Krakens Podcast site
• Leeds Center for the Arts
• Haunted Theatres

In this episode of KyArtsCast we introduce the new Kentucky Arts Council arts education director Cynthia Warner, and talk to teaching artist Jane Dewey and high school student Cooper Bartlett, a member of Kentuckians for the Arts' Youth Arts Council.

Episode footnotes:

• Kentucky Youth Arts Council Instagram
• Kentuckians for the Arts website
• Contact Jane Dewey: [email protected]

In early 2023, the National Endowment for the Arts announced its first round of funding for the year, which included $350,000 awarded in Kentucky. Among those awards were two for Kentucky literary artists. Poet makalani bandele received a $25,000 Literature Fellowship for creative writing, and Kristen Renee Miller received $10,000 for a Literature Fellowship for translation projects. Listen as Kentucky Arts Council spring intern Sophie DeCorte chats with makalani and Kristen about those fellowships and their plans for the funding.

The holidays are upon us and our hearts and minds turn toward gift giving. We join Todd Finley and Aly Norton on location at the Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea to talk about giving the gift of Kentucky-made art and craft, recordings of your favorite Kentucky musicians and storytellers, season tickets to Kentucky theatre organizations or musical groups, memberships to Kentucky museums and galleries, and other creative ways to give the gift of Kentucky creativity this holiday season.

Episode footnotes:

• Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea
• Kentucky Crafted Directory
• Kentucky Crafted Retailers
• Kentucky Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet holiday page

Asia Institute Crane House in Louisville was one of 17 organizations to be designated a Southern Cultural Treasure by South Arts. In this episode we talk with AICH Executive Director Joel Buno and South Arts Vice President of Programs Dr. Joy Young. We'll learn about what it means to be a Southern Cultural Treasure and how Asia Institute Crane House fits into that tapestry.

BONUS AUDIO: Dr. Joy Young discusses other South Arts programs

Episode footnotes:

• Asia Institute Crane House website
• South Arts website
• About Southern Cultural Treasures
• Contact Dr. Joy Young - [email protected]

In this episode, which is taken from the Kentucky Arts Council's Arts Day(s) in Kentucky presentations in March, Community Scholars and curators Maxine Ray and Wathetta Buford join Kentucky Museum Director Brent Bjorkman to discuss joining forces to rescue treasured art, artifacts and documents of Bowling Green's African American Museum in the aftermath of the December 2021 tornado.

Episode footnotes:

• African-American Museum website
• Team Western Kentucky Tornado Relief Fund resources

We return to presentations from Arts Day(s) in Kentucky for this episode, which focuses on the impact of the devastating tornado that tore through western Kentucky in December 2021. In this presentation we'll hear from Ice House director Nanc Gunn about efforts to re-establish space for the gallery while continuing to serve the artists, arts community and the region in the wake of the disaster. We'll also hear from Lexie Millikan, director of the Yeiser Art Center in Paducah.about the effects on the arts community after the loss of the Ice House.

Episode footnotes:

• Ice House Gallery website
• Yeiser Art Center website
• Team Western Kentucky Tornado Relief Fund donation site

We're excited to be recording in-person again, and in this episode we go on the road to the University of Kentucky campus to talk with Crystal Gregory, an associate professor in the university's school of art and visual studies. Crystal was recently named the Kentucky State Fellow in the 2022 South Arts Southern Prize Competition. That distinction carries a $5,000 cash award and puts Crystal in the running for the $25,000 or $10,000 Southern Prize.

We chat with Crystal about her work, her journey to art, and what she has been doing during the pandemic to energize her creativity.

Episode footnotes:

• Crystal's bio and artist statement
• The South Arts Southern Prize
• Photos of Crystal's work she described in her studio – image 1, image 2