It looks like you're using ad blocking technology. We are a local company, and our advertisers are local as well. Please consider allow listing our website in the future.
Asheville Parks + Recreation Adult fall athletic programs + sports leagues
Sep 29 @ 7:00 am
Various Locations
With multiple parks featuring ballfields and volleyball, pickleball, tennis, and basketball courts, Asheville has plenty of opportunities to join pick-up games or play with organized sports leagues. Asheville Parks & Recreation (APR) offers a broad line-up of youth athletics programs, adult sports leagues, and special events throughout the year with an emphasis on fair play and enjoyment for any level of experience, including the fall opportunities below.
Limited spots available, so advance registration at AVLREC.com required. Some activities offer discounted registration for early sign ups. Most team sports also offer “looking for a team” options for free agents. Some activities charge a higher rate for participants who do not live in Asheville.
Registration ends August 24, games begin September 12
Asheville’s newest team sports league provides an opportunity for community members over 40 who want to get back into the game or prefer to play with others around the same age. Sign up as an individual to be placed on a team based on height, position, and skill level for games played at Linwood Crump Shiloh Community Center.
Registration ends September 5, tournament on September 16
Six sets to 21 in pool play for advance and intermediate divisions in which all teams advance to the playoffs on a day of music, fun, and volleyball at Carrier Park.
Intro to Golf, $10 for series with players responsible for their own green fees
Registration ends September 28, games played each Wednesday from October 4-25
Travel to a different golf course each week for one-on-one coaching to learn the game. For more info, contact Colt Miller at [email protected] or (828) 707-2376.
Registration ends September 30, tournament on October 7
All players hit a 16-inch softball in games played on a 200-foot distance field with unlimited home runs with a three-game guarantee. Winning teams receive prizes and trophies. For more info, contact Zack Stewart at [email protected] or (828) 545-1644.
The City of Asheville, in partnership with Buncombe County and the Natural Resources Defense Council, is offering a FREE Food Scrap Drop-Off program in two locations for all Buncombe County residents. This organic matter will be collected and turned into good clean compost, keeping it OUT of our landfill and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Need a handy kitchen countertop food scrap bin? Let us know on the registration form! We’ll be having bin giveaways at city and county facilities and would love to give you one.
Biltmore Estate: Ciao! From Italy Sculptural Postcard Display
Sep 29 @ 8:30 am
Biltmore Estate
Included with admission
Embark on a scenic journey across George Vanderbilt’s Italy with a large-scale outdoor display that combines brilliant botanical designs with authentic messages written by Vanderbilt himself.
Beautifully handcrafted of natural elements, each sculptural postcard depicts a location or landmark Vanderbilt visited more than a century ago. This captivating complement to Biltmore’s Italian Renaissance Alive exhibition reveals Vanderbilt’s passions for travel, culture, architecture, and art as well as his personal experience of such renowned Italian cities as Milan, Florence, Venice, Pisa, and Vatican City.
Adding to the charm and visual appeal of Ciao! From Italy—sure to be a hit among kids of all ages—is the G-scale model train that travels in and out of each postcard in this enlightening display!
Exhibition: NEO MINERALIA
Sep 29 @ 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Center for Craft
Photo credit:
Sae Honda. Courtesy of the Artist.
NEO MINERALIA suggests that recent rock formations no longer fit within the traditional groups: Igneous, Metamorphic, and Sedimentary. Instead, the Anthropocene, the era of human influence on the climate and environment, has introduced two post-natural rocks: Synthetic and Digital.
NEO MINERALIA presents a selection of new geological specimens crafted by ten international artists exploring rocks as reflections of our effects on human and nonhuman ecologies. By embedding synthetic materials (plastics, e-waste) and layers of data points (critical, financial, social) into the craftsmanship of these artifacts, the artists transgress the definition of rocks, turning them from passive aggregates of minerals into metaphorical aggregates of data. Within their apparent “rockness” we can decode hopes, warnings, and speculative future scenarios.
The featured works stemming from places as varied as Mexico, Japan, Poland, and Australia (including a curated artists’ books library), collectively signal a new era of planetary and geological consciousness where we are asked to read, feel, and listen to rocks in new ways.
Exhibition: Something earned, Something left behind
Sep 29 @ 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Center for Craft
Photo credit:
J Diamond, “Pony II,” 2022. Courtesy of the Artist
Something earned, Something left behind is an exhibition of objecthood; a critical analysis of the transactional and political languages of everyday and culturally significant objects. This exhibition challenges a history of exclusion and inclusion of People of Color (POC) and their narratives from the canon of craft based on subject matter. It dissects this history’s origins and precedent as an economic transaction to gain access to white spaces.
Racial and ethnic identity influences the way individuals perceive themselves, the way others perceive them, and the way they choose to behave. For this reason, People of Color are expected to perform certain roles in order to fit into hegemonic institutions. These roles can be an active shrinking of themselves and the racialized part of them, or a personal exploitation of their racialized selves. This exhibition addresses and redresses the ways narrowed populations have been included, and the ways in which they have been asked to participate.
Together, this work creates space for and legitimizes POC narratives with depth and care. The exhibiting artists’ practices work against institutionalized expectations of POC work, expanding discourse and inserting new subjectivity into the canon of craft art. It engages with a community hungry for the revitalization and resuscitation of non-Western voices within art spaces. This exhibition challenges the expectations of art from artists of marginalized backgrounds and embraces a new subjectivity of interrogating one’s inherited experiences.
Exhibition: Crafting Denim
Sep 29 @ 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Center for Craft
Photo credit:
Photograph by Bowery Blue Makers
Jeans – with their standardized pockets, rivets, and denim – are so much a part of everyday wardrobes that they are easy to overlook. Yet, in workshops across the nation, independent makers are reevaluating the garment and creating jeans by hand, using antiquated equipment and denim woven on midcentury looms. Crafting Denim explores how and why jeans have come to exist at the intersections of industry and craft, modernity, and tradition.
A product of industrial factory production for over a century, jeans are being recast by a new cohort of small-scale makers including craftspeople like Ryan Martin of W.H. Ranch Dungarees, Takayuki Echigoya of Bowery Blue Makers, and Sarah Yarborough and Victor Lytvinenko of Raleigh Denim, who favor choice materials and small-batch fabrication. The jeans they make merge craft traditions with industry and extend the conversation between hand and machine.
Each maker creates a distinctive product but shares a deep appreciation for materials, tools, history, and denim. These jeans are in dialogue with the past and in line with contemporary interests in sustainability. The small workshops featured here are sites of innovation and preservation, and visitors are invited to take a close look at an everyday item and imagine alternative contexts for making and living in our own clothes.
Fall Canvassing Launch
Sep 29 @ 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Buncombe County Democratic Party HQ
It’s time for us to learn more about what issues concern voters in Buncombe County! This canvassing training/launch will prepare you to reach the people in your precincts who tend to vote for Democrats, but not often enough!
All Buncombe Democrats who are willing to knock on doors should attend.
Food Scraps Drop Off: West Asheville Library
Sep 29 @ 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
West Asheville Library
Food Scraps Drop Off
The City of Asheville, in partnership with Buncombe County and the Natural Resources Defense Council, is offering a FREE Food Scrap Drop-Off program in
two locations for all Buncombe County residents. This organic matter will be collected and turned into good clean compost, keeping it OUT of our landfill and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Need a handy kitchen countertop food scrap bin? Let us know on the registration form! We’ll be having bin giveaways at city and county facilities and would love to give you one.
Locations
West Asheville Library – “Food Scrap Bin Shelters” on the south side of the building
Through Oct. 29 the center will showcase hundreds of glass-blown pumpkins available for purchase from local artists. . Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m., closed Tuesday.
Asheville Outlets Hosts American Red Cross Mobile Blood Drive
Sep 29 @ 11:00 am – 3:00 pm
Asheville Outlets
Save a Life. Donate Blood. Giving blood is a simple thing to do, but it can make a big difference in the lives of others. Asheville Outlets is teaming with the American Red Cross to host a mobile blood drive on Friday, September 29, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the parking lot located behind the food court. Donors are asked to register in advance by visiting RedCrossBlood.org/give and entering the sponsor code AshevilleOutlets.
Beyond the Lens: Photorealist Perspectives on Looking, Seeing, and Painting
Sep 29 @ 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
Asheville Art Museum
Throughout the history of painting from the mid-19th century forward, artists have used an
endless variety of approaches to record their world. Beyond the Lens: Photorealist Perspectives on Looking, Seeing, and Painting continues this thread, offering an opportunity to explore a singular and still forceful aspect of American art. Photorealism shares many of the approaches of historical and modernist realism, with a twist. The use of the camera as a basic tool for organizing visual information in advance of painterly expression is now quite common, but Photorealists embraced the camera as the focal point in their creative process.
Beyond the Lens presents key works from the collection of Louis K. and Susan Pear Meisel,
bringing together paintings and works on paper dating from the 1970s to the present to focus on this profoundly influential art movement. The exhibition includes work by highly acclaimed formative artists of the movement such as Charles Bell, Robert Bechtle, Tom Blackwell, Richard Estes, Audrey Flack, and Ralph Goings as well as paintings by the successive generations of Photorealist artists Anthony Brunelli, Davis Cone, Bertrand Meniel, Rod Penner, and Raphaella Spence. Featured artworks in the exhibition include diverse subject matters, but the primary focus is on the common and every day: urban scenes, “portraits” of cars, trucks, and motorcycles, still life compositions using toys, food, candy wrappers, and salt and pepper shakers. All provide opportunities for virtuoso studies in how light, reflection, and the camera as intermediary shapes our perception of the material world.
This multigenerational survey demonstrates how the 35-mm camera, and later technological
advances in digital image-making, informed and impacted the painterly gesture. Taken together, the paintings and works on paper in Beyond the Lens show how simply spellbinding these virtuosic works of art can be.
“Beyond the Lens offers a fascinating look into the Photorealism movement and delves into the profound connection between the artists’ observation and creative process,” says Pamela L. Myers, Executive Director of Asheville Art Museum. “We are delighted to present this curated collection of artworks encapsulating the creative vision and technical precision that defines this artistic genre.”
Photorealism found its roots in the late 1960s in California and New York, coexisting with an explosion of new ideas in art-making that included Conceptual, Pop, Minimalism, Land and Performance Art. At first, representational realism coexisted with the thematic and conceptual explosion but was eventually relegated to the margins regarding critical and curatorial attention. Often misunderstood and sometimes negatively criticized or lampooned as a betrayal of modernism’s commitment to abstraction, the artists involved in Photorealism remained committed explorers of the trail they had blazed. In the decades of the late twentieth century and early twenty-first century, realistic and symbolic painting experienced a renaissance, as contemporary artists are increasingly drawn to narrative and storytelling. Concurrently, using a camera as a preparatory tool equally legitimate and valuable as pencils and pens has made the rubric of Photorealism increasingly relevant.
This exhibition is organized by the Asheville Art Museum and guest curated by Terrie Sultan.
This exhibition is sponsored in part by Jim and Julia Calkins Peterson.
Field of Honor in Black Mountain
Sep 29 @ 11:00 am
Field of Honor
The Kiwanis Club of Black Mountain-Swannanoa is presenting its first Field of Honor®. A field of American flags dedicated to military and first responders will be flying from September 11 – September 30th at the lot between the Black Mountain United Methodist Church and Harwood Home for Funerals (200 W. State Street, Black Mountain, NC 28711). An opening ceremony will be held on Monday, September 11 at 1:00 at the field location and a closing ceremony will take place at 11:00 on September 30 to retire the flags. All funds raised by this event will be distributed to non-profit organizations and used for scholarships in the Black Mountain/Swannanoa area. Donations can be made at: https://www.healingfield.org/blackmountainnc23
Romare Bearden: Ways of Working Exhibition
Sep 29 @ 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
Asheville Art Museum
Romare Bearden (Charlotte, NC 1911–1988 New York, NY), African American writer and artist, is renowned for his collages. He constantly experimented with various techniques to achieve his artistic goals throughout his career. This exhibition highlights works on paper and explores his most frequently used mediums, including screen-printing, lithography, hand-colored etching, collagraph, monotype, relief print, photomontage, and collage.
Bearden’s work reflects his improvisational approach to his practice. He considered his process akin to that of jazz and blues composers. Starting with an open mind, he would let an idea evolve spontaneously.
“Romare Bearden: Ways of Working highlights Bearden’s unique artistic practice and masterful storytelling through art,” says Pamela L. Myers, Executive Director of the Asheville Art Museum. “We are thrilled to collaborate with Jerald Melberg Gallery to present these extraordinary works on paper in conversation with Bearden’s collage Sunset Express, 1984 in the Museum Collection (on view in the Museum’s SECU Collection Hall). This exhibition will also provide a glimpse into the cultural histories and personal interests that influenced his art-making practice, and we hope it encourages introspection and dialogue with our visitors.”
Jerald Melberg states, “Romare Bearden’s groundbreaking artistic practice continues to captivate audiences worldwide. With an unparalleled legacy of creativity and innovation, Bearden’s contributions to art remain deeply influential years beyond his life.” We have enjoyed organizing this exhibition with the Asheville Art Museum to showcase his artistic genius and inspire visitors from the Western North Carolina region and beyond.”
This exhibition is made possible in part by the Judy Appleton Fund. Many thanks to the Jerald Melberg Gallery for the loan of these important artworks and to Mary and Jerald Melberg for their long-standing support of the arts, artists, and the Asheville Art Museum.
The Art of Food: From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation
Sep 29 @ 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
Asheville Art Museum
The Art of Food features works from important postwar artists, like Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Lichtenstein, John Baldessari, Wayne Thiebaud, Ed Ruscha, Andy Warhol, David Hockney, and Jasper Johns, alongside the work of contemporary artists, like Alison Saar, Lorna Simpson, Enrique Chagoya, Rachel Whiteread, and Jenny Holzer, among others.
The Art of Food features more than 100 works in mediums that include drawings, paintings, photographs, prints, sculptures, and ceramics by 37 artists.
Each artist has a unique means of depicting food in their work that, when seen alongside others, creates a nuanced representation of the complex place food holds in everyday life. Cross-historical resonances between artists in the exhibition spark novel meditations on food and its discontents, while speaking to a broad range of audiences.
Western North Carolina Glass: Selections from the Collection
Sep 29 @ 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
Asheville Art Museum
Western North Carolina is important in the history of American glass art. Several artists of the Studio Glass Movement came to the region, including its founder Harvey K. Littleton. Begun in 1962 in Wisconsin, it was a student of Littleton’s that first came to the area in 1965 and set up a glass studio at the Penland School of Craft in Penland, North Carolina. By 1967, Mark Peiser was the first glass artist resident at the school and taught many notable artists, like Jak Brewer in 1968 and Richard Ritter who came to study in 1971. By 1977, Littleton retired from teaching and moved to nearby Spruce Pine, North Carolina and set up a glass studio at his home.
Since that time, glass artists like Ken Carder, Rick and Valerie Beck, Shane Fero, and Yaffa Sikorsky and Jeff Todd—to name only a few—have flocked to the area to reside, collaborate, and teach, making it a significant place for experimentation and education in glass. The next generation of artists like Hayden Wilson and Alex Bernstein continue to create here. The Museum is dedicated to collecting American studio glass and within that umbrella, explores the work of Artists connected to Western North Carolina. Exhibitions, including Intersections of American Art, explore glass art in the context of American Art of the 20th and 21st centuries. A variety of techniques and a willingness to push boundaries of the medium can be seen in this selection of works from the Museum’s Collection.
Grand Opening + Ribbon Cutting: Bill Moore Community Park New Multi Courts
Sep 29 @ 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Bill Moore Community Park
Pack Square Artisan Market
Sep 29 @ 1:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Pack Square Park
Juried market features handmade goods from local and independent artists.
Krafthouse 2023: Forest of the New Trees
Sep 29 @ 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
The Center for Craft
Center for Craft’s immersive installation asks:
What will Appalachia be in a post-major event future?
– The Center for Craft is thrilled to announce Krafthouse, a new immersive art installation, made for and by the community, that will evolve and change each year in their historic building at 67 Broadway in downtown Asheville.
Local artist Jeannie Regan leads the inaugural year as Creative Director with the vision for Krafthouse 2023: Forest of the New Trees. Between September 28 and October 13, the curious will be rewarded with a ticketed installation that changes nightly, as artist and audience participation weave a story of radical collaboration in Appalachia in the aftermath of a mysterious, world-changing event.
In the spirit of immersive performances, events, and installations like Meow Wolf, Punchdrunk’s Sleep No More, and Burning Man, Krafthouse 2023: Forest of the New Trees invites self-guided exploration of a strange, new landscape and its imagined ecologies and societies, including cultures, customs, and micro currencies. Return visits will reward guests with new perspectives and illuminate new paths through the experience.
Selected local artists working with Center staff and Regan will each interpret the theme in their own way. The end result will be the creation of a small, self-sustaining community that has made itself anew. A night market atmosphere will welcome visitors, who will be able to make, gift, and trade goods with the artists and each other, with the opportunity to take home keepsakes – as well as leave their own imprint on the space.
The installation asks visitors to participate and collaborate to the extent they wish. Guests are invited to come in costume to share their own interpretation of the post-major event, and to bring any of their own offerings for the space. Costumes and materials will also be available onsite for people who would like to step into this new reality more fully when they arrive.
In her exploration of the theme, Regan researched the centuries-old craft traditions of Appalachia, including their relationship to Indigenous wisdom, hillfolks’ lore, and the ancient wildness of the Blue Ridge Mountains. An undercurrent of the installation is the generational resilience of local peoples facing their own “post-major events” and collaborating radically to survive – and thrive – in their aftermath.
The varied lived experiences of people during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, when a multitude of realities existed simultaneously, also informed the theme. “There was no united experience in that major event that happened, because we all experienced it very differently,” Regan shares. But it was also a world where, she notes, “multiple realities intersected and radical community collaboration was the only way to survive.”
She continues, “Craft plays into all of that, because what we make says so much about us as individuals. What we make says something about what we want the future to be.”
Krafthouse 2023: Forest of the New Trees–immersive art installation
Sep 29 @ 5:00 pm
Center for Craft
Krafthouse 2023: Forest of the New Trees
an immersive art installation made by Asheville
creative direction by Jeannie Regan
Visit the Center for Craft at 67 Broadway in downtown Asheville, North Carolina, to discover an imagined post-major event Appalachia. You will descend into the basement to enter a world imagined by artists where craft is the only way to survive and thrive.
Guests will abide by the rules of the forest – to learn to trade without currency – and see, hear, touch, and wear what artists have crafted as a way to ensure our collective future. Each experience is unrepeatable, creating an impulse to return to explore the world anew.
Special thanks to Jeannie Regan, Creative Director and Futures Bright, Graphic Design.
General admission tickets are $15 and provide guests with a self-guided tour of the immersive installation that runs for approximately 3 weeks between September 28 – October 13 on Thursdays and Fridays from 5 – 8 pm, and on Saturdays from 2 – 4 pm and 6 – 9 pm.
Ticketed tours depart every 10 minutes, and the experience takes approximately 30 minutes. After the experience, guests will be invited to mingle and grab a beverage or snack.
Reservation Start Time indicates the time your group will be escorted from the main level down to the Krafthouse installation experience.
Please plan to arrive at the Center for Craft main entrance at 67 Broadway Street at least 15 minutes prior to your reservation start time.
Get ready to spread some holiday cheer and showcase your creativity! We’re thrilled to invite individuals, organizations, and groups of all kinds to apply for an entry in the upcoming Holiday Parade set to dazzle Downtown Asheville on Saturday, November 18. This year’s theme is “Snow Globe,” offering the perfect canvas for you to bring your winter wonderland dreams to life. This is your chance to be a part of a cherished community tradition that brings joy to thousands of onlookers. Whether you’ve got a beautifully decorated float, a lively marching band, a troupe of dancers, or a group of spirited volunteers, we want you to join us in making this year’s parade the most memorable one yet. It’s not just a parade; it’s an opportunity to make lasting memories and spread the festive spirit. Apply now, and let’s make this holiday season in Asheville truly magical for all!
You can click here to apply for an entry in the Holiday Parade before Monday, October 2.
39th Annual Asheville Quilt Show
Sep 30 all-day
WNC Ag Center, Davis Event Center
Come join us for an exhibition of over 300 quilts from across the country, vying for more than $10,000 in Prize Money! More than 25 Vendors + Gift Shop + Silent Auction + Quilts for Sale, Opportunity Quilt Raffle. Other attractions include Demonstrations by Expert Quilters, Special Exhibits, and a Kids Sewing Station. Food available on site. Free Parking. Sponsored by the Asheville Quilt Guild, Moda Fabrics and Explore Asheville.
Applications open: 2024 Asheville Fringe Arts Festival
Sep 30 all-day
online w/ Asheville Fringe Arts
APPLICATIONS OPEN NOW!
Do you have a boundary-pushing, innovative performance piece, short film or installation that you’re ready to share?
We will open applications for the film portion of the festival in fall 2023. Films must be submitted via FilmFreeway. Our application fee for films is $5.
NOW CONSIDERING WORKS OF ALL KINDS
We accept live performances from 5 to 60 minutes in length, plus installations and films. We’re open to other types of performance as well – let’s talk! Depending on its length, your piece may be grouped with another show, or scheduled as a Random Act of Fringe. RAFs are free and open to the public, and artists receive a stipend for their performance, rather than relying on door sales.
Typically each artist with a ticketed show gets 2 performances. But in 2024, we’re exploring the option of giving a few shows 3 performances, at select venues only. Our venues range from 20-80 person capacity.
1. FRINGE SHOT
A piece that is
5-15 minutes long
May be paired with another performance, or be selected as a free Random Act of Fringe.
2. SHORT FORM
A piece that is 20-40 minutes long
May be paired with another show.
3. FULL-LENGTH
A piece that is 45-60 minutes long
Ticketed theater-style show.
4. INSTALLATION
A piece that is Site-specific (any length)
May be in an unusual location, or repeated many times. May be seen by as few as one person at a time.
5. FILM
A piece that is Designed specifically for film.
May be of any genre & length. Could be combined with other films for a showcase or film night.
Submit on Film Freeway Fall 2023
3. THE ASHEVILLE FRINGE ARTS FESTIVAL IS A JURIED FESTIVAL.
We carefully review each and every submission. You’ll know by late October if your piece is selected. Should your piece get selected, there is a $35 participation fee.
ArtsAVL’s: Thomas Wolfe Auditorium FAQ is Now Live
Sep 30 all-day
online
ArtsAVL’s first Town Hall of 2023-24, focused on the current state and future possibilities for Thomas Wolfe Auditorium, drew over 400 attendees. ArtsAVL collected your questions after the event for an FAQ page. This page will continue to be updated as the discussion evolves. Answered questions include possible next steps, details of non-ticketed events that happen in the auditorium, the economic impact of the space’s closure, and much more.
Missed the Town Hall? Read our article here, and watch the video here.
Immediate Next Steps: City Council will hold a special meeting on Tues, Sept 26 at 3pm
A POLICY & PLAN FRAMEWORK FOR NATURAL SURFACE TRAILS IN THE CITY OF ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA
UPDATE: Your input is needed for our AVL Unpaved Public Survey
The first phase of the AVL Unpaved trails are moving forward, and we are seeking community input to design trail kiosks and signs that will best support trail users. Take the AVL Unpaved Public Survey at this link to contribute. The survey will be open from September 11th – November 11th.
AVL Unpaved Alliance, in partnership with the City of Asheville, hired Elevated Trail Designs to design a series of natural surface trails in the undeveloped forested pockets of Asheville. In 2022, thanks to generous community support and grant funding through Explore Asheville, three initial projects were identified: Bacoate Branch, French Broad River West, and Azalea Park.
Buncombe County Special Collections call for proposals
Sep 30 all-day
online
Buncombe County Special Collections is excited to announce a call for proposals for the third year of its creative residency program.
This is an annual opportunity for artists in Buncombe County to create new, research-driven creative work using BCSC’s historic resources as source material and/or inspiration, and to present their work in the Carolina Record Shop, a dedicated exhibition space in the BCSC reading room. Artists age 18 and up, based in Buncombe County, working in any creative discipline are invited to apply.
Buncombe County Special Collections is looking for projects that will:
Offer new, diverse perspectives on our shared history
Identify and address gaps and/or amplify narratives that are historically underrepresented in the collection
Educate and inspire non-traditional users of archives and special collections to engage with the collection in new ways.
More information (including the PDF of the call for proposals) is available at here. The 2024 Creative Residency is made possible in part by the Trust Fund for Buncombe County Public Libraries.
You can also visit Buncombe County Special Collections in the lower level of Pack Memorial to view the current exhibition in the Carolina Record Shop, “Belonging & Non-Belonging: The History and Future of Zines in Western North Carolina,” curated by 2023 resident Miles Lamberson.
College / Patton at City Council
Sep 30 all-day
online
The future of the College / Patton Complete Street Project will be determined at the October 10th City Council meeting. It’s critical that supporters of safer downtown streets show to support the project as Council remains divided on continued investment in downtown complete streets. If you’re interested in attending or supporting the advocacy efforts on this project, please complete the College / Patton Advocacy Form and an AoB representative will follow up with details
College Street Parking Deck Applications
Sep 30 all-day
online
Do you work in downtown Asheville? If so, Buncombe County’s expanded affordable parking program could save you hundreds of your hard-earned dollars. The program already includes 150 spots at the Coxe Avenue parking deck (located at 11 Sears Alley) for a discounted price of $40 per month. After research and public input, the County is excited to offer an additional 50 spots at the College Street parking deck (located at 164 College Street, across from the judicial complex) for $40 per month. This initiative, focused on service industry and retail workers, is now taking applications.
The expansion of the Affordable Parking Program comes after nearly 800 survey respondents shared their support and echoed the need for the program. To help meet that demand, the County is now offering a total of 200 discounted spots for downtown workers. “We’ve heard a lot of positive feedback, and it’s helping a lot of people. Behind housing, transportation is next highest expense for many people… so providing people in the workforce with an affordable way to get close to where they work is really very valuable,” said Commission Chair Brownie Newman.
To be eligible, you need to work in Downtown Asheville and make 80% area median income (AMI), which is less than $22.88 per hour or $3,967 per month. Applications are now open for the program, and it offers 75 spots at Coxe Avenue and 50 at College Street. If you think you’re eligible, then please go ahead and apply.
Festival of Neighborhoods
Sep 30 all-day
MLK park
The Festival of Neighborhoods will take place Saturday, September 30, from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m., at Martin Luther King Jr. Park (50 Martin Luther King Jr Dr). Admission to the event is free, and everyone is welcome. The Neighborhood Advisory Committee invites all of Asheville to gather for a day filled with neighborly interaction, learning, and fun for the whole family at Festival of Neighborhoods. This event is aimed at bringing together neighbors from all corners of Asheville with the primary goal of strengthening the bond between residents, neighborhood associations, and local organizations to create a harmonious and thriving community. Free admission. Food trucks available. Door prizes!
Food Drive for MANNA FoodBank
Sep 30 all-day
Buncombe County Public Libraries
Did you know MANNA FoodBank provides more than 58,000 meals a day in Western North Carolina? MANNA works in partnership with the Buncombe County Community Connectors to provide much-needed food to 12 locations in under-resourced areas throughout our community. Donations will be collected for two weeks at area libraries and select public-facing County buildings beginning September 25 and ending on October 7.
MANNA served over 155,000 people in June 2023, which was another alarming high in a months-long trend of tens of thousands of people across the mountains needing food support each week. March 2023 marked the end of the pandemic-era SNAP benefit expansion, resulting in a new peak that has since continued to climb.
Buncombe County is asking the community to pitch in to help meet this need by dropping food items by one of our 12 Buncombe County Public Libraries or public-facing buildings.
You can drop off donations at the following locations around Buncombe County (look for the collection bins and signs):
Public libraries
Black Mountain
East Asheville
Enka Candler
Fairview
Leicester
North Asheville
Oakley/South Asheville
Pack Memorial
Skyland/South Buncombe
Swannanoa
Weaverville
West Asheville
Register of Deeds at 205 College St.
Tax at 94 Cox Ave.
HHS building at 40 Coxe Ave.
Elections at 59 Woodfin
Family Justice Center at 35 Woodfin
Permits and Inspections at 30 Valley St.
County administration building at 200 College St.
MANNA’s most-needed items include:
Canned meats (beef, chicken, tuna)
Peanut butter (plastic jars only)
Dried/canned beans (pork and beans, pinto, kidney, black)
Hearty soups (pop-top cans preferred)
Meals in a box or can (beef stew, chili, mac & cheese)
Canned fruit (fruit cocktail, raisins, apple sauce)
Canned vegetables (green beans, carrots, greens)
Cereals and grains (rice, pasta, cereal in a box or bag)
Fruit and vegetable juices
Dry milk (instant non-fat)
Thank you to everyone for helping us with this initiative to support children and families throughout our community.
Green Drinks online
Sep 30 all-day
online
Green Drinks lives on every Saturday as The Free & Open University of Eco-Sustainability on Facebook
.jpg)
Exhibition: Something earned, Something left behind
Exhibition: Crafting Denim
Fall Canvassing Launch
Food Scraps Drop Off: West Asheville Library
NC Glass Center pumpkin patch
Asheville Outlets Hosts American Red Cross Mobile Blood Drive
Beyond the Lens: Photorealist Perspectives on Looking, Seeing, and Painting
Field of Honor in Black Mountain
Romare Bearden: Ways of Working Exhibition
The Art of Food: From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation
Western North Carolina Glass: Selections from the Collection
Get ready to spread some holiday cheer and showcase your creativity! We’re thrilled to invite individuals, organizations, and groups of all kinds to apply for an entry in the upcoming Holiday Parade set to dazzle Downtown Asheville on Saturday, November 18. This year’s theme is “Snow Globe,” offering the perfect canvas for you to bring your winter wonderland dreams to life. This is your chance to be a part of a cherished community tradition that brings joy to thousands of onlookers. Whether you’ve got a beautifully decorated float, a lively marching band, a troupe of dancers, or a group of spirited volunteers, we want you to join us in making this year’s parade the most memorable one yet. It’s not just a parade; it’s an opportunity to make lasting memories and spread the festive spirit. Apply now, and let’s make this holiday season in Asheville truly magical for all!
