With a new song and music video and an online directory of Asheville artists impacted by flooding, the initiative is working to help local creatives recover from Tropical Storm Helene.
Middle school student shares a poem about Helene’s impact on the RAD
Alexander Steere, a seventh grader at Francine Delany New School, discusses his love for the River Arts District.
Smart Bets: David Wilcox’s Thanksgiving Homecoming
At the Nov. 29 holiday concert, the WNC folk musician will perform tracks from his current acoustic album, My Good Friends.
Smart Bets: Winter Wonder Walk
An immersive winter storybook experience, lighted trail and holiday market help ring in the season at Adventure Center of Asheville.
Smart Bets: Kenilworth Artists Open Studio Tour
Work from 26 Asheville-area artists will be for sale during the 14-studio, self-guided tour, Nov. 30-Dec. 1.
Unstoppable: Remarkable tenacity in the artists
“Providing resources to help artists stabilize is critical to reviving the cultural heart of our community,” Stephanie Moore, executive director of Center for Craft,
Debut memoir explores the intractability of memory
Like any exquisitely crafted narrative, local author Rachel M. Hanson’s debut memoir, The End of Tennessee, encapsulates the story’s fundamental ache within the book’s opening lines.
Smart Bets: Arts Rising!
The new initiative from the Wortham Center for the Performing Arts offers deeply discounted tickets to designated performances plus discounted classes and pop-up galleries featuring local artists.
RAD members embrace the highs and lows of a long recovery
Though much of the River Arts District was destroyed by Tropical Storm Helene, the recent success of RADFest 1.0 has many artists hopeful that the district can bounce back.
Unstoppable: Second act
“WNC theaters were finally getting close to pre-COVID attendance, and Helene set us all the way back,” says Rose Pillmore, board member of Asheville Theater Alliance
Unstoppable: Creative expression post-Helene
“Our staff stepped up in incredible ways, making home visits to artists and delivering essential supplies where needed,” says Debbie Harris, co-executive director of Open Hearts Art Center.
Smart Bets: Marshall Handmade Market
With Marshall High Studios being renovated following flooding from Tropical Storm Helene, the beloved holiday arts market moves to a new venue.
Smart Bets: Vintage Market Days
This year’s Mistletoe Market will feature three days of holiday shopping with a portion of ticket sales benefiting storm recovery efforts.
Smart Bets: ReClaim the R.A.D.
Opening Nov. 23, the fundraising show and sale features works of art created on pieces of flood debris.
Smart Bets: Off Book: The Improvised Musical
Musical comedy duo Jess McKenna and Zach Reino will turn their popular podcast into a live, improvised musical production at The Orange Peel.
The Snozzberries reconfigures canceled gala event Psychedelic Circus
With its original venue destroyed by flooding, the band reimagined the immersive multimedia experience for a new location.
Smart Bets: Handel’s Messiah
The first post-Helene production from Asheville Symphony and the Asheville Symphony Chorus offers a pay-what-you-can performance.
Unstoppable: An ecosystem of literacy access
“The majority of local students, no matter their race, background and socioeconomic status, were not reading on grade level prior to the storm, and they just lost another month-plus of critical instruction,” says Jessica McLean, co-executive director of Read to Succeed Asheville/Buncombe
Smart Bets: Cocktail Hour: The Show
The pop-infused ballet from Ballets with a Twist lands in Tryon for a one-night show on Thursday, Nov. 21.
Historian Timothy Silver investigates a Yancey County culture clash turned fatal
Timothy Silver’s new book, Death in Briar Bottom: The True Story of Hippies, Mountain Lawmen, and the Search for Justice in the Early 1970s, is a gripping investigative history. He will read from it at two free events: at Malaprop’s Bookstore/Cafe in Asheville, Sunday, Nov. 17, at 5 p.m. (preregister online), and at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva, Monday, Nov. 18, at 6 p.m.
Smart Bets: Caverns of Gold
The compilation album — a fundraiser to support Beloved Asheville’s post-Helene relief work — features songs from 279 local, regional and international artists with connections to WNC.