Creative Aging & Lifelong Learning Project
With support from a 2022 Arts Access Assistance Grant through the Creative Aging and Lifelong Learning program of the Kentucky Arts Council, ASPI conducted a community-engaged oral history interview project with creative elders and artists who exemplify an active commitment to and practice of lifelong learning.
This project addresses the need for gathering, listening to, and learning from the stories and development of people who have found ways to make art and live continuously creative lives despite economic challenges, limited access to materials, and health and environmental issues. It builds directly on ASPI’s oral history work with Appalachian elders going back to the 1990s and renews that commitment for new audiences.
Interview Participants
Five artists and cultural organizers, each 55 or older with connections to ASPI, Kentucky, and/or the Appalachian region:
Father Albert J. Fritsch
Author & Priest of St. Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic Church, Ravenna, Estill County, Kentucky
Ron Owens
Woodworker, Mt. Vernon, Rockcastle County, Kentucky
Judy Sizemore
Author & Teaching Artist, Jackson & Madison Counties, Kentucky
Warren Brunner
Regional Photographer, Berea, Madison County, Kentucky
Yolantha Harrison-Pace
Author & Performance Teaching Artist, Danville, Boyle County, Kentucky
Interview Team
Mark Spencer (Media Specialist) and Jocelyn Lee (Office Assistant) comprised the primary paid media team. Mark designs and produces the ASPI Appalachian Simple Lifestyle Calendar and worked on multiple ASPI oral history projects with Appalachian elders in the 1990s. For decades, he has produced the Earth Healing video series and daily reflections featuring ASPI founder Father Albert J. Fritsch. Jocelyn brings video experience and training in ethnographic methods, with a focus on ethical documentation and representation.
Timi Reedy (Board President) served as in-kind administrator for the Kentucky Arts Council grant. Dr. Tammy Clemons (Board Secretary) served as in-kind project consultant and administrative assistant for all phases of the project.
Archiving and Future Plans
ASPI is collaborating to archive these recordings in Berea College Special Collections and Archives alongside other organizational records and oral history projects. The publicly accessible interviews will help inspire and model different art-making paths for creative aging, as well as intergenerational engagement as part of lifelong learning.
ASPI is also producing a short video trailer with interview excerpts and developing individual profile pages on each participant to feature their stories and creative work.
Partners
This project was developed in connection with the Kentucky Arts Council and the Kentucky Folklife Program. In summer 2023, ASPI also served as the organizational site for a pilot hybrid cohort of the Kentucky Community Scholars Program — bringing together training in folklife and fieldwork practice that complements this work. Four graduates — Aaron Banther, Bugz Fraugg, Kyra Higgins, and Mark Spencer — joined more than 250 certified Kentucky Community Scholars.
For the full list of ASPI’s regional partners, see Partners & Collaborators.
Support This Work
Donate or get involved to help sustain oral history, archives, and community programs in Central Appalachia.
Appalachia-Science in the Public Interest was awarded a 2022 Arts Access Assistance Grant through the Creative Aging and Lifelong Learning program of the Kentucky Arts Council, the state arts agency, which is supported by state tax dollars and federal funding from the National Endowment for the Arts (funded through a grant from the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies and Aroha Philanthropies).