This week on the AFM News Hour, we sat down with Lamplight AVL’s executive director Emily McDaniel to discuss her mission for helping artists recover in the wake of Hurricane Helene.
Lamplight AVL is a non-profit organization focused on supporting local artists through grants and funding. Their mission is to provide resources, spaces, and time to artists so that artists can create work and share it with the community. Since the day after the storm, Lamplight AVL has shifted to a recovery-focused program. Emily recognizes that artists need help immediately, and they will also need help in the near and distant future.
The first of three phases of Lamplight’s recovery plan is a rollout of grants of $1,500 to 20 artists. The applications for those grants have been received and are in review, and Lamplight has shifted to phase two: fundraising for the larger grants. The goal is to offer grants of up to $20,000 to an individual, collective, or organization. This is where Asheville FM’s Fund Drive can help! For every donation we receive during the Fund Drive, the Carol Waggle Oliver Fund will give $10 to Lamplight AVL’s Art Remains effort! Phase three will focus on affordable spaces for artists.
Many of us in Asheville have been asked by friends and family outside the community what they can do to help. Emily says that donating to these efforts is a way to help our community continue to recover. She says that this has been “so hard and so terrible but also so beautiful, the way our community has shown up for one another.” Let’s keep showing up!
To hear more about Lamplight AVL and our interview with Emily, listen in the archives.
More Posts for Show: Asheville FM News Hour