We hope you and your communities have been having a wonderful, restful summer so far. Check out what we’ve been up to in the past month!
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Through support for artists, culture bearers, artisans, and storytellers – alongside the local organizations that support them – Spillway works to create the conditions for engaged projects that honor diverse lived experience, deepen regional relationships, and build rural-urban networks of knowledge-sharing and exchange that will create opportunities for artists, culture bearers, and artisans to thrive, connect with new colleagues and audiences.
Earlier this week with our friends at Engage Winona, we gathered for a Rural Assembly Everywhere watch party at the Winona County History Center. Kicking off the evening with a community meal, we watched a portion of the Everywhere broadcast centering on mutual aid before hearing a panel discussion about community vitality with local leaders from across the Southeast Minnesota region, including Melissa Gray (Mainspring), Zach Krage (Anthem), and Marcia Ratliff (Engage Winona). Thank you to everyone who gathered with us, and we’re eager to continue the conversation!
A nationally-celebrated leadership network using place-based cultural exchange programming to develop the skills, networks, and capacity of rural and urban leaders to bridge divides and make change.
From July 17-19, the 2026 RUX cohort returned to Morehead, Rowan County, for a Community Intensive weekend. Throughout the weekend, which was planned over the past year by the local Host Committee, these connective Kentucky leaders from across the Commonwealth learned about Morehead & Rowan County through perspectives on local arts, recovery, and ecology.
Together, these locally rooted conversations celebrated the area’s assets and addressed its complexities. This year’s cohort is also the first class to be trained as facilitators of RUX’s Currency of Connection curriculum, and they will have the opportunity to apply for funding to continue this work in their home communities.
We are deeply grateful for the generosity and commitment of our local Host Coordinator Emma Marriner, the Host Committee, the RUX Steering Committee, our RUX Summer Staff Taryn Henning & Nicole Garneau, and the support of our sponsors and partners who made this experience possible: Morehead-Rowan County Tourism, Rowan County Arts Center, MSU Space Science Center, KY Arts Council, Greater Clark Foundation, Snowy Owl Foundation, and the Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky.
Friday, September 25 - Sunday, September 27
Blue Licks Battlefield State Resort Park (Carlisle, KY)
Network Weekend brings together RUX alumni, partners, network members, and their loved ones for a weekend of connection & exploration. Join us for quintessential RUX experiences: dancing, campfires, story circles, connections, and the magic of connecting with fellow Kentuckians from across the state.
Friday, August 7 - Saturday, August 8
Paducah, KY
Join the KY Rural-Urban Exchange (RUX) network in Quilt City with our friends at Hotel Metropolitan, Bricolage Art Collective, Paducah Convention & Visitors Bureau, and more for the annual Eighth of August Emancipation Celebration. The Eighth of August Celebration has been a fixture in Paducah for more than a century.
Saturday, August 29, 11:00am - 2:00pm Central
Winona, MN
Join us with our friends Red Wing Arts & Honoring Dakota Project during this “Gifting Series” of Community Crafting Circles. We are seeking community members to help us prepare gifts for a future event we are hosting. Paint your own pottery - and when you donate your masterpiece, we will gift you another plate for you to paint for yourself. A light meal will be provided. RSVP coming soon!
Submit by tonight! Backwoods Literary Press seeks submissions of poetry, short fiction, creative nonfiction, and hybrid works for its third rural anthology from all geographies. They’re looking for work that explores rural life in all its complexity, with honest, thoughtful writing rooted in place, around the theme of “practice.” Submit by July 31
The National Association of Black Storytellers’ Black Appalachian Storytellers Fellowships honor, celebrate, and support storytellers representing Appalachian counties of KY, NC, OH, TN, VA, and WV. Fellows will show a commitment and proven ability to sustain the traditions of Black storytelling that embody the history, heritage, and culture of African Americans in Appalachia. Six fellowships will provide a $5,000 award. Apply by August 3
Waymakers Collective’s Appalachian Visionary Artist Fund supports visual artists and collectives across Central Appalachia creating bold, public-facing, and experimental work that expands the conversation around contemporary art in our region. A regional re-granting program of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, twelve grants will provide $5,000, with recipients selected by a panel of nationally and internationally recognized arts leaders. Apply by August 4
Arts Midwest’s Midwest Culture Bearers Award celebrates and financially supports the work of Midwest culture bearers and folk arts practitioners. Selected individuals will each receive a $5,000 unrestricted award. Arts Midwest also offers awardees virtual professional development and networking opportunities, and the opportunity to have a story written about their work. Apply by August 18
Art of the Rural is a collaborative nonprofit organization that resources artists and culture bearers to build the field, change narratives, and bridge divides. Our initiatives are long-term, trust-based efforts that co-create spaces for exchange and impact across the traditional dividing lines of place, practice, and lived experience.
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