Small Town Big Arts

The Artrepreneur Program in New River Valley

What happens when a 48-year-old rural arts center decides to close the gap between making art and making a living from it? In this episode, Geoff sits down with Brandon Phillips (Executive Director), John Ross (Board President), and Katie Shepard (Director of the Blacksburg Gallery) from the Fine Arts Center for the New River Valley to talk about their new Artrepreneur Program — an 8-week cohort-based training initiative serving artists in Pulaski and Blacksburg, Virginia. The conversation covers how the program was built from the ground up using artist surveys and needs assessments, what's actually in the curriculum (pricing, digital presence, business planning, grant writing, and more), and why the cohort model turned out to be the most important feature of all. The team also shares how partnerships with the economic development community have been a game-changer — both for funding the program and for connecting artists to resources most never knew existed. If you're leading a small arts organization and wondering whether something like this is feasible for your community, this episode is for you.

Creating a Sensory Friendly Environment in Rural Kentucky

What does it mean to truly open the doors of a performing arts center, not just physically, but for everyone in your community? Today on Small Town Big Arts, I'm talking with Shannon Kirkpatrick-Daniels, the Executive Director of the Appalachian Center for the Arts in Pikeville, Kentucky, known locally and lovingly as "The App." Situated in the heart of southeast Appalachia, The App is a dynamic home for theater, music, and visual arts that sees its mission as nothing less than championing the stories of their town, their region, and their world. We talk about what it takes to run a community arts center in a rural region, the programming, the partnerships, the community relationships that make it all work. But we spend real time on something that gets talked around more than talked about in our field: accessibility. The App has made a genuine commitment to making the arts reachable for everyone, from physical access to sensory-friendly performances designed for patrons with autism and other sensory sensitivities. It's the kind of intentional, practical work that reflects what it actually means to serve your whole community, not just the easiest-to-serve part of it. Learn more by visiting: https://theapparts.org

The Rural Texas Arts and Culture Network

What does it look like to build a statewide network for rural arts and culture from the ground up? In this episode, Geoff Kershner sits down with Meg Greene, Program Director for Convenings and Collaborations at Mindpop, to explore the Rural Texas Arts and Culture Network — how it started, how it functions, and what it's teaching us about connecting artists and organizations across vast, underserved geographies. As Geoff works to develop Virginia's own version through Small Town Big Arts, this conversation is both a case study and a road map. Learn more about the Rural Texas Arts and Culture Network at: https://texasruralarts.org/

The Department of Public "Transformation"

In this episode of Small Town Big Arts, host Geoffrey Kershner talks with Ash Hanson, Founder and Creative Executive Officer of the Department of Public Transformation (DoPT) — a groundbreaking organization that uses creativity as a catalyst for civic engagement in small towns across America. From their base in rural Minnesota, Ash and her team have helped communities reimagine public spaces, build trust across divides, and celebrate local identity through the arts. In this conversation, Ash shares how DoPT activates local leadership, nurtures collaboration between artists and civic systems, and helps residents see their towns through a new creative lens. https://www.publictransformation.org/

Free Access to the Arts in Southwest Virginia

Founded in 1961 and now a fully accredited partner of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the American Alliance of Museums, Piedmont Arts in Martinsville stands as one of the few cultural non‑profits serving Virginia’s Southwest region—acting as a vital nexus for visual arts, performing arts, and education in a community with limited comparable resources. At the helm of this mission is Heidi Pinkston, the organization’s Executive Director, whose leadership has been instrumental in guiding Piedmont Arts through ambitious initiatives such as the $1 million Growth and Restoration Campaign to fortify infrastructure, expand programming, and enhance sustainability Piedmont Arts [https://piedmontarts.org]. Our conversation explores how Piedmont Arts, under Pinkston’s stewardship, is not only preserving regional cultural heritage but also envisioning a dynamic, inclusive future for the arts in Southwest Virginia.