North Georgia gets NEA grant to feature 'Affrilachian' poetry, art
1/8/2012 8:39:43 PM
(Jan. 6, 2012) North
Georgia College & State
University has received a $10,000
grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to fund "Affrilachia in
Words and Images," a series examining the African-American experience in Appalachia
through expression in poetry and art.
Programs
planned throughout the spring and fall include events featuring poet Frank
X Walker and an installation by visual artist Marie T. Cochran. The
series is collaboration by the Library
Technology Center,
the Georgia Appalachian Studies Center, the Department of Visual Arts, the
Visiting Writers Committee and the Office of Multicultural Services and builds
on a previous photography exhibition shown at the Vickery House.
Walker,
a Kentucky writer and an English
professor at the University of Kentucky,
is credited with creating the word "Affrilachian" to refer to
African-Americans living in the Appalachian region. A native of Danville,
Ky., Walker
has lectured, conducted workshops, read poetry and exhibited at over 300
national conferences and universities.
In
2011, Walker was honored by The Oxford American: The Southern Magazine
of Good Writing for his creativity in the classroom. The magazine named
Walker to its list of "The most creative teachers in the South" for
its fall issue. A founding member of the Affrilachian Poets, he is the editor
of two poetry collections and the author of four more.
In
addition to the Feb. 27 keynote event, Walker also will meet with various
classes and community groups during his two-day visit. He will read and discuss
his poetry and share his thoughts on Affrilachia and hold a writer's workshop.
In
addition, Marie T. Cochran, artist and director of The Affrilachia Artist Project, will be on campus to participate in planning for the
fall 2012 visual arts exhibition featuring works by students from North Georgia
and North Georgia Technical College. She currently serves as curator
for the exhibition "Common Ground Affrilachia! Where I'm From"
at the August Wilson
Center for African American
Culture, Pittsburgh, Penn.,
on view through March. Cochran is a visiting lecturer in the School of Art
and Design at Western Carolina University.
Nationally,
the awards total $22.543 million, encompass 15 artistic disciplines and fields,
and support projects in 47 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. More
than 1,600 applications were received. In Georgia, 21 grants totaling $394,000
were awarded.
The National Endowment for the Arts was established by
Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. To date,
the NEA has awarded more than $4 billion to support artistic excellence,
creativity, and innovation for the benefit of individuals and communities.