The Kentucky Rural-Urban Exchange (RUX) is excited to announce the grantee cohort for Artists Respond: Community, Culture, and Commonality in the Commonwealth.

This cycle of RUX microgrants issued more than $35,000 in grant support for creative projects that address rural-urban connection, interdependence, or solidarity in Kentucky. Eleven grants ranging between $1,000 to $4,000 will support Kentucky artists in leading these projects with communities across the Commonwealth.

Grantees include:

Lauren Bader & HOBA House Community Arts Organization (Cloverport, KY, Breckenridge Co.) will lead a mural painting project.
Octavia Biggs, Shooting Stars Youtheatre & Hindman Settlement School (Lexington, KY, Fayette Co. / Hindman, KY, Knott Co.) will develop a devised performance art piece based on the children’s experiences of the July 2022 catastrophic flood in eastern Kentucky.
Dorothea A. Davis & Project Speak Life (Paducah, KY, McCracken Co. / Statewide) will develop the RESILIENCE documentary capturing the lives of women who sustain and uplift communities in the face of adversity.
Malcolm Davis & Affrilachian Arts Institute (Berea, KY, Madison Co. / Louisville, KY, Jefferson Co.) are organizing A Living History Showcase and Discussion for young adults in Louisville, uplifting two Affrilachian historical figures, and challenging the typical understandings of our region
Betty Dobson & Hotel Metropolitan (Paducah, KY, McCracken Co.) are creating a garden at the Hotel Metropolitan.
Ceirra Evans (Bath Co. / Statewide) will create a series of large paintings that tell stories of ritual in rural communities around weather, to be exhibited statewide.
Terri Foster, Louisville Youth Choir, & 4-H Treble Chorus (Louisville, KY, Jefferson Co. / Breckinridge Co.) will bring together youth singers for concerts in Jefferson County and Breckinridge County to perform together and share their own repertoire.
Carla Gover & Cowan Community Action Group (Lexington, KY, Fayette Co. / Whitesburg, KY, Letcher Co.) will organize the the "United We Stand: El Pueblo Unido" project to bring together young musicians from Fayette and Letcher Counties in Lexington, KY, for a day of workshops, music, dance, food, and stories.
Rheonna Thornton & Lipstick Wars (Berea, KY, Madison Co.) will organize the "In Bell We Trust" Poetry Slam, a celebration of the remarkable activist, author, and poet bell hooks while highlighting the voices of women and nonbinary students and residents.
Belle Townsend & Backwoods Literary Press (Louisville, KY, Jefferson Co. / Henderson Co. / Statewide) will document rural stories and expand urban and national understandings of rural culture through publications, a website, social media, and events.
Kathy Werking & On The Move Art Studio (Paris, KY, Bourbon Co.) will organize and tour an exhibition featuring visual art and literary work by incarcerated youth.

The Kentucky Rural-Urban Exchange (RUX) is a creative leadership program with over 300 alumni from 65 Kentucky counties and an expansive, cross-sector member and partner network across the state. RUX was founded in 2014 as a program of Art of the Rural and Appalshop, and is supporting two rounds of microgrant cycles this year in celebration of our ten-year anniversary. This funding provides RUX’s experienced, capable alumni and member network with the support they need to try new ideas and solve old problems through short-term projects that foster dialogue, connection, or collaboration among Kentuckians from disparate backgrounds, identities, or experiences.

This round of microgrants was catalyzed by a partnership with the Creative Change Coalition, a new national coalition (led by Springboard for the Arts) of place-based organizations working together to create a stronger ecosystem for communities and artists. Support from the Kentucky Arts Council and Fund for the Arts allowed us to double that initial investment.

RUX’s next round of funding is open through September 2, and will award $25,000 to Kentuckians to support Kentuckians to work together to solve problems and bring communities together. In 2024, RUX will invest a total of $70,000 in projects that improve quality of life in Kentucky. More information about the RUX microgrants and grant recipients can be found at kyrux.org/microgrants

The 2024 Intercultural Microgrant Program pool is open to RUX alumni and members of the new RUX Membership program. Learn more about how to join RUX as a member by visiting kyrux.org/membership.

Want to learn more about our work to bring Kentuckians together? Join us at the Golden Thread, a mainstage event at Kentucky Performing Arts Center in Louisville on October 19, featuring some of the Commonwealth’s most visionary public, private, and third-sector thought leaders who are connecting Kentuckians across diverse cultures and communities. Learn more at kyrux.org/golden-thread

Kentucky Rural-Urban Exchange awards over $35,000 to Artists Respond grant cohort