Express Appalachia Wide Open Mic

Express Appalachia Wide Open Mic Developed as part of an Urban Appalachian Leadership Project grant, this interactive literary/musical/dramatic performance features the cross-generational migration and “home” perspectives of young (student) adults, community advocates and teaching artists who wish to inspire empathic communication and identification among diverse groups of people. Group performers will briefly share how various Express Appalachia program designs have worked to creatively engage local youth in Urban Appalachian cultural themes and to provide innovative scenes for storytelling across generational lines and role definitions. Younger members of this performance group will reflect on their evolving sense of Appalachian identity and their personal connections to coal country, Asian- and African-American cultures, the natural world, family music and rural/urban tensions. How might the roots of Appalachia grow adaptively—rupturing binaries and expanding in directions that sustain new voices and perspectives? How might the Urban Appalachian migration experience come to represent matters of value to non-Appalachian groups? One simple response to these questions is to cultivate a space where people feel invited express their unique translations of home, listening to one another with care and curiosity. This collage-style performance will incorporate singing, strumming, poetry, personal testimony, visual and performance arts in the spirit of including audience members directly in the Express Appalachia experience