In this episode of Small Town Big Arts, we travel to Bath County, Virginia—one of America’s most arts-vibrant rural communities—to explore how Virginia funding, local and statewide, fuels creative life in a small town. 

Host Geoffrey Kershner sits down with leaders from the Garth Newel Music Center and the Bath County Arts Association to discuss the powerful role of the arts in education, economic development, tourism, and community connection. You’ll hear how modest investments from the Virginia Commission for the Arts help sustain year-round programming, nurture local talent, and turn small grants into big impact. From chamber music in the mountains to new community art spaces in Hot Springs, this episode highlights why rural arts matter—and why public funding is essential to their future. 🔗 Learn more at vaforarts.org

What do old Pizza Huts, small-town entrepreneurship, and the American dream have in common? In this episode of Small Town Big Arts, we sit down with filmmakers Matthew Salleh and Rose Tucker, creators of the documentary Slice of Life: The American Dream. In Former Pizza Huts.

Traveling across the country—from Texas to Illinois—Salleh and Tucker uncover how communities breathe new life into familiar spaces, transforming once-iconic red-roofed pizza parlors into churches, dispensaries, community hubs, and more. Together, we explore how reuse becomes a form of storytelling, how entrepreneurship echoes artistic practice, and what it means to represent small towns on screen with honesty and respect.

Whether you’re an artist making work about a small community or simply fascinated by the ingenuity that defines small town America, this conversation explores how "outsiders" can explore how smaller communities build, adapt, and dream. Join us for a thoughtful look at place, identity, and the creative spirit that turns empty buildings—and entire towns—into canvases of possibility.

You can find the film on Amazon Prime: https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B0DZY4M1XF/ref=msx_wn_av

The RiffRaff Arts Collective is a dynamic creative hub located in the heart of Princeton, West Virginia. Since its founding, RiffRaff has reimagined what arts-led revitalization can look like in an Appalachian town navigating post-industrial challenges. With a bold vision for community transformation, the organization has anchored a vibrant downtown renaissance—bringing together visual artists, musicians, performers, and civic leaders to activate public spaces, support local talent, and cultivate a thriving cultural ecosystem. I had the privilege of speaking with founder Lori McKinney, whose unwavering belief in the power of creativity has shaped RiffRaff into both an arts collective and a movement for community healing. Her insights offer a compelling look at how sustained artistic investment can build pride, belonging, and opportunity in places too often overlooked. To learn more about RiffRaff Arts Collective, visit their website at: https://riffraffartscollective.com/

Geoff takes his annual September visit to Keene, NH for the Radically Rural Conference.
At the conference he took the opportunity to interview two of the conference panelists. The second is Roy Schlieben of the MAXT Makerspace in Peterborough, NH (pop. 6,418). Their vision is that by unlocking the community’s creative potential we feed community vitality and drive innovation in the region.

Geoff takes his annual September visit to Keene, NH for the Radically Rural Conference.
At the conference he took the opportunity to interview two of the conference panelists. The first is Andrew Huckins of the Lupinewood Collective. This queer and trans community of artists have been living and working collectively since 2017 when they moved in to a falling-apart mansion with a dream to transform it into something beautiful and lasting. Out of this sprang the Lupinewood Collective, part collective living community and part arts organization, this unique org saught a space to live and work together and found it in Greenfield, MA (pop. 17,768). 

Celebrating two years of Small Town Big Arts!
Small Town Big Arts is collaborating with the University of Lynchburg on a new online course called Thriving Community Arts: Strategies for Sustainable Success. A limited number of discounted seats will be available to those who work at a nonprofit organization.  Please email [email protected] from your nonprofit account to receive a discount code.
This month we are continuing a tradition. In 2022, Small Town Big Arts was formed out of a strategic planning process Geoff facilitated at Second Stage Amherst in Virginia. Geoff discovered there were few online resources for an organization like Second Stage, a community arts space in a town of 2,200 and a county of 31,000. We check in with Second Stage's Executive Director, Jessy Shipe and see how they are doing. Spoiler: They are doing well.  m

Sometimes the catalyst for artistic output isn’t an artist or an arts organization but an economic development office or a community development corporation. I call this "The Cultivator."
I had the good fortune the last couple of months to colaborate with SMU DataArts as they released their Top 30 Most Arts-Vibrant Rural Counties study. This collaboration involved taking a deeper look at these fantastic communities and put me touch with Kay Decker with the Freedom West CDC in Woods County, Oklahoma, one of the top 30 most arts-vibrant counties identified in the study. 
Kay opened my eyes to another category of organization that can thrive in a small community. In this month's podcast, we talk about how a non-arts focused organization can be the catalyst to arts vibrancy in a community.

As we move through the summer and many look to the 2024/25 academic year, Small Town Big Arts wants to put a new textbook on your radar. The book, Rural Arts Management, written by Elise Lael Kieffer and Jerome Socolof, provides a valuable resource for scholars, advanced students and reflective practitioners at the intersection of the arts and rural studies. 
From the book's description: "The arts and arts management exist in every corner of the world, from the largest city to the smallest town. However, just as a metropolis and a hamlet bear little resemblance to each other despite similar basic needs, arts organizations in the former frequently bear little resemblance to those in the latter, and many foundational arts management texts give little attention to rural settings. This book combines insights from research and practice to fill that knowledge gap and help readers understand arts administration in rural communities."
Geoff sits down with Elise and Jerome to discuss the goals of the book, their findings, and the importance of rural arts. To order the book (starting June 19th) follow the link below: 
Rural Arts Management: Routledge and CRC Press

This month, we are sharing another and fantastic podcast about small town life.

Small Town Secret Sauce is a show all about empowering you to create the life you want in a small town. Join Barton Quigley as he explores the joys of living a simpler life while succeeding in your business or community organization and overcoming the unique challenges of a smaller population. With inspiring interviews and stories of entrepreneurial success, you will be motivated to take charge and thrive in your small town community.

In Episode #16, Barton inteviews Small Town Big Arts host Geoffrey Kershner. 

Make sure to subscribe to Small Town Secret Sauce on Spotify or Apple Podcasts and share!

Strategic planning is not merely a bureaucratic exercise—it's a vital tool that small town arts organizations can use to define their future and ensure their relevance and resilience in their community. With all this said, strategic planning can be extremely difficult for small organizations in small communities. Bandwidth is at a premium and this includes bandwidth of time, finances and people. Strategic planning facilitation can be expensive and time consuming. 
This month we welcome back Virginia Commission for the Arts Executive Director Margaret Hancock. The Virginia Commission for the Arts worked with the consulting firm Spark Mill to create an open source and FREE strategic planning workbook. As a grant giving agency, she speaks to the importance of a strong strategic plan and a pathway to execute a plan with limited and stretched resources.