Selected workFestival & Community BuildingHazard, KY

Appalachian Big Ideas Fest.

Three-day storytelling, arts, and community-building experience in Eastern Kentucky.

The challenge

The Appalachian Big Ideas Fest is a three-day experience of insightful storytelling, arts and culture, and community building in Hazard, Kentucky. Appalachian Kentucky is a hotbed of creativity, artists, inspiration, and innovative ideas, and the Fest needed sustained support to explore the future of affordable housing, entrepreneurship, downtown revitalization, community safety, local food and sustainable agriculture, arts and culture, racial equity, and local leadership development.

What we did
  1. 01Built fundraising structure for a multi-track regional festival
  2. 02Developed sponsorship strategy aligned with Appalachian-rooted values
  3. 03Coordinated with regional foundations and community development funders
  4. 04Established the Fest as an annual gathering with multi-year donor commitments
What is true now

The Fest now explores the BIG IDEAS moving Appalachia forward: affordable housing, entrepreneurship, downtown revitalization, community safety, local food, racial equity, and local leadership development.

Additional outcome details and figures are shared with each client’s permission.

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