Kingsport Arts Council

Arts Symposium features 'Handmade in America' Key Note Speaker, Betty Hurst

Art is communication that stimulates the senses. The Cultural Arts Division of the City of Kingsport will host an Arts Symposium on Tuesday, September 23 beginning at 9:00 AM on the second floor of the Kingsport Renaissance Center. Keynote speaker for the event will be Betty Hurst, Director of Rural Entrepreneurship with HandMade in America based in Asheville, North Carolina. Based in the Blue Ridge Mountains, HandMade in America was founded in 1993 with a belief that economic revitalization wasn't necessarily tied to luring "modern" industry to the region but in making known the hidden heritage and craftspeople that are so vitally a part of Western North Carolina. Betty Hurst will share the HandMade story and how recognition and involvement of artists has created a vital economic segment of the Western North Carolina region. A variety of box lunches are available for $10 for the 11:00 AM keynote speech and reservations can be made at www.KingsportARTS.org or by calling 423-392-8416.

The Arts Symposium is free and open to the public. Box lunches can be purchased for the keynote speech. The day will include a wide variety of arts information from regional arts organizations, a media conference, and break out sessions for musicians and visual artists. The Symposium’s evening session will include a tour of downtown Kingsport arts venues conducted by the Adapt Core Group. Breakout sessions for musicians and visual artists will be repeated at downtown venues for those unable to attend workshops earlier in the day.

Representatives from the following arts organizations will be able to help you answer the question “Where does ART fit in my life?”. If you are an artist, musician, actor or dancer… if you enjoy set construction or costume making… if you want to help usher, answer phones or sell tickets… if you want to have the best seat in the theatre or visit a great gallery… if you want to understand how the creative economy makes a strong community and provides economic benefit… join these organizations and others and explore the possibilities:
Cultural Arts Division City of Kingsport, Arts Council of Greater Kingsport, Arts Alliance Mountain Empire, Kingsport Theatre Guild, Kingsport Art Guild, Kingsport Ballet, Symphony of the Mountains, Women’s Symphony Committee, Fun Fest, Downtown Kingsport Association, The Gallery of Local Artists, Adapt Core Group, The State Theatre, Netherland Inn/Exchange Place Association, Kingsport Town Center, Arts4Kids.

A media conference will be held at 10:00 AM to announce Requests for Proposals for Kingsport’s Public Art Program. Sarah Pope, director of Kingsport’s Riverwalk will update the community on a vision of Kingsport’s river that includes art and artists.



About the Keynote Speaker:

Betty Hurst, Director of Rural Entrepreneurship
HandMade in America www.handmadeinamerica.org

Betty Hurst has more than thirty years experience in a variety of nonprofit organizations involved in grassroots economic development. As Director of Rural Entrepreneurship for HandMade in America, Betty is responsible for securing grants and implementing programs which seek to assist rural residents and rural communities in WNC as they create small businesses, respect their natural and cultural environment, and build more vigorous local communities. At HandMade in America, she helped create the on-line Craft Registry, updated the Craft Heritage Trails of Western North Carolina for the 3rd edition, developed the HandMade in America: Sourcebook of Handcrafted Architectural Elements, and coordinated partnership efforts in a number of communities.

Prior to HandMade, she was most recently the founder and coordinator of Applemade, a nationally recognized access-to-market program of People Inc. of Southwest Virginia, a community action agency. She helped develop and manage Omni Visions Inc. in the Tri-Cities, Mountain Seams in Erwin, TN, Dunn Diversified Industries in Kingston, TN, and Rainbow Homes in Johnson City, TN.
B.A. UT- Knoxville, TN
Graduate study in sociology at UNC-Chapel Hill, NC

About the Break Out Session Leaders:

Lightnin Charlie is a blues man and raconteur. A seasoned musician who calls the Tri-Cities home, Lightnin is willing to share his tricks of the trade along with Gerald Sheppard on how to successfully market your music career. Gerald has been repairing, refinishing, and building guitars for twenty-five years. He has been building guitars exclusively since 1993. Gerald attributes his success and expertise to extensive research, hands-on experience, association with instrument guilds, and feedback from professional musicians and his customers. www.lightnincharlie.com www.sheppardguitars.com


Pattiy Torno is a Designer/Artist, Co-Founder of Asheville's River Arts District & Owner of Curve Studios & Galleries. From her 30 years of experience as an entrepreneur, first as a clothing designer, then adding landlady, gallery owner and artist/ quilter to her repertoire, she will speak about the process of making an arts based business as well as the creation of a thriving River Arts District. www.riverartsdistrict.com