Appalshop

Appalshop is a non-profit multi-disciplinary arts and education center in the heart of Appalachia producing original films, video, theater, music and spoken-word recordings, radio, photography, multimedia, and books.

Our education and training programs support communities' efforts to solve their own problems in a just and equitable way. Each year, Appalshop productions and services reach several million people nationally and internationally.

Appalshop is dedicated to the proposition that the world is immeasurably enriched when local cultures garner the resources, including new technologies, to tell their own stories and to listen to the unique stories of others. The creative acts of listening and telling are Appalshop's core competency.
Our goals are to enlist the power of education, media, theater, music, and other arts:

* to document, disseminate, and revitalize the lasting traditions and contemporary creativity of Appalachia;
* to tell stories the commercial cultural industries don't tell, challenging stereotypes with Appalachian voices and visions;
* to support communities’ efforts to achieve justice and equity and solve their own problems in their own ways;
* to celebrate cultural diversity as a positive social value; and
* to participate in regional, national, and global dialogue toward these ends.

Current Appalshop projects:

* Roadside Theater: Roadside, a traveling ensemble company, draws upon the rich history and culture of Appalachia to develop original plays that tour nationally and internationally.
* WMMT-FM: WMMT is noncommercial community radio station that airs programming created largely by community members. Broadcast to five states and via the internet, the station brings the voices Appalachian and rural communities to the public.
* Appalshop Archive: Since its beginning in 1969, Appalshop has amassed thousands of hours of film, videotape, sound recording and photography that portray a multifaceted view of life and history in Appalachia. Appalshop’s Archive project works to preserve this material and make it available.
* Appalachian Media Institute (AMI): AMI is a youth media training program devoted to developing the critical and creative skills of local young people through the production and distribution of community-based audio and video productions.
* Community Media Institute (CMI): CMI provides training and technical assistance in digital storytelling, and works with grassroots groups and public interest organizations to develop and implement communication strategies in support of social and economic justice organizing.
* Traditional Music: The Traditional Music Project brings traditional Appalachian music into the daily lives of people by helping communities build and sustain ongoing events such as jam sessions, square dances and storytelling events.
* Holler to the Hood: Holler to the Hood is an on-going multi-media project that explores the economic and social issues in low-income rural and urban communities through the lens of the criminal justice system. Using a variety of mediums (live performance, radio, video, and digital), H2H provides the means for all those affected by the prison system to tell their story in their own voice.
* Thousand Kites: Thousand Kites is a community-based performance, web, and radio project centered on the United States prison system and created with inmates, employees, and their families.
* Appalshop's Web Store: Appalshop's source for films, videos, cds, and more. Come visit our shop in Whitesburg, KY or view our web store.

For more information: Click Here.