Annual appeal

Dear Friends,

You have today the opportunity to remember why you support Appalshop and to reaffirm your commitment to our mission and the results you achieve through your social investment in the organization. We, the widespread family of Appalshop supporters will mark the occasion of our 40th birthday with our contributions. Together this year we shall raise $75,000 in Annual Appeal support for what UNC professor Jeff Whetstone calls the "most successful sustained rural arts movement of the past half-century."

Look at what you and Appalshop and have accomplished together: more than 100 films and television productions and more than fifty albums of Appalachian music and stories; the overturn of the broad form deed; documentation of traditional culture; the Appalachian Media Institute (AMI) building a new generation of community leaders and artists; WMMT, now beginning its 25th year of community radio; Roadside Theater; Thousand Kites; and so much more over these forty years.

You belong to the community of supporters that make this possible by investing your resources in Appalshop's work. This community has stood together for decades, united in the knowledge that communities in Appalachia and rural America must solve their own problems. As a longtime leader in the fields of community cultural development and community based arts, Appalshop creates art and media, develops tools, teaches skills, and fosters relationships to this end. Your trust and investment in us gives us heart. It helps us keep on addressing the issues shaping our future and sustaining the traditional culture of our home in the mountains.

We look forward to thanking you for your donation to Appalshop. Your support as financial partner of Appalshop in our 40th year is crucial to our effort to tell the stories and document the historic transition in Appalachia. You make it possible for Appalshop artists to support community-based efforts to determine their own futures. I hope that you will continue to share our work, our joys, and our concerns for many years to come.

Sincerely,
Art Menius, Director