Upcoming events and things to do in Asheville, NC. Below is a list of events for festivals, concerts, art exhibitions, group meetups and more.

Interested in adding an event to our calendar? Please click the green “Post Your Event” button below.

Tuesday, January 2, 2024
Kings Return
Jan 2 @ 7:30 pm
Tryon Fine Arts Center
GRAMMY Nominated vocal a capella band of vocalists – Gabe Kunda, Vaughn Faison, J.E. McKissic & Jamall Williams.

Kings Return’s tagline is simple: “We sing in stairwells.” The unique, harmonizing group turned internet sensation captures the essence of an old-school a cappella quartet with sounds inspired by gospel and R&B, and has a reputation for performing diverse arrangements from Ave Maria to How Deep is Your Love and God Bless America. Kings Return has been featured on NPR and has performed on stages (and stairwells) nationwide.

Wednesday, January 3, 2024
City of Asheville Youth Leadership Academy (C.A.Y.L.A) applications open
Jan 3 all-day
online

The City of Asheville Youth Leadership Academy (C.A.Y.L.A) program is designed for sophomores and juniors who are interested in career exploration, leadership development, and gaining 21st-century job skills to prepare them for their future. C.A.Y.L.A provides young people with an excellent opportunity to work and grow in Asheville while also acquiring valuable work experience that will advance their future careers.

 

Program Benefits

The program takes place over the summer months, during which the students will become paid interns based on their career interests. Students will have the opportunity to get first-hand experience in their career of choice, network, and build skills and relationships that will aid them as they get ready to begin their college life. Upon completion of the program, students are awarded a $2,000 scholarship to go towards their college education.

 

Apply Today!

The application period will remain open until January 15, 2024. If you know someone who might be interested in this incredible internship opportunity provided by C.A.Y.L.A, please encourage them to apply.

For questions about the C.A.Y.L.A. program, please contact Promise Boseman at:  [email protected] 

Growing Minds Farm to School  Mini-Grant
Jan 3 all-day
online w/ ASAP’s Growing Minds

Growing Minds Farm to School Funding Opportunities

We want to help fund your farm to school project in Western North Carolina! Mini-grants are available for schools to engage children in the following farm to school experiences:

  • Local food taste tests & cooking demonstrations
  • Incorporating local food into meals or snacks
  • Farm field trips or farmer visits to preschools and classrooms
  • Growing edible gardens

Funding can be used to start new projects, or to expand upon existing activities.

Pre-k through 12 schools and homeschool groups are eligible to apply. Schools must be located throughout our 23 westernmost counties of North Carolina. 

  • Smoky Mountains, NC: Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Jackson, Macon, Swain
  • Southern Mountains, NC: Henderson, Polk, Transylvania
  • Central Mountains, NC: Buncombe, Madison, Yancey
  • Foothills, NC: Burke, Caldwell, McDowell, Rutherford
  • High Country, NC: Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Mitchell, Watauga, Wilkes

Growing Minds 2023-24 Farm to School / Preschool Funding

ASAP’s Growing Minds mini-grants help early childhood education (ECE) centers and K-12 schools provide children positive experiences with healthy local foods through these components of farm to school: school gardens, farm field trips and farmer classroom visits, and local foods served in meals, snacks, and/or taste tests.

Mini-grant applications are available three times during the 2023-2024 school year. You may apply one time during this cycle. The amount awarded will be based on availability of funding, number of applicants, and the scope of your project. Mini-grants must be used within a year after receiving the funding.

Applications are due by: January 31, 2024 or March 29, 2024. Funding will be awarded by the 15th of the following month.       

If you have questions about your eligibility to apply for funding, please email us at [email protected] before submitting your application. We are unable to provide mini-grants to schools located outside of our 23-county service area or to folks who have received a grant from us within the past year. 

Student Soil + Water Scholarship
Jan 3 all-day
online

Buncombe County students interested in entering the field of conservation, agriculture or another natural resource program can win a $1,000 scholarship from The Buncombe Soil & Water Conservation District.

The William Hamilton Memorial Scholarship will provide a student with money to go towards their studies. Eligible students must attend or plan to attend an accredited college or university and must submit a proposal for a volunteer conservation project in Buncombe County.

One winner will be selected by a committee of Buncombe Soil & Water Conservation District staff and Supervisors and the funds will be dispersed directly to the institution upon completion of the volunteer project.

Scholarship Timeline:

February 28, 2024 – Deadline to apply

April 11, 2024 – Winning applicant announced

June 30, 2024 – Deadline to complete volunteer project

July 11, 2024 – Presentation to the Board, award dispersed

The winner is also expected to attend a Buncombe County Soil and Water Conservation District Board meeting to present the results of their project and accept their scholarship.

Find the application below. Completed applications and questions can be sent to [email protected].

The application can also be mailed to:
Buncombe Soil & Water Conservation District
Attn: Jen Knight and Rose Wall
49 Mount Carmel Road
Asheville NC, 28806

Growing Minds Farm to School Mini-Grant
Jan 3 @ 6:30 am
online
ASAP’s Growing Minds mini-grants help early childhood education (ECE) centers and K-12 schools throughout the 23 westernmost counties of North Carolina provide children positive experiences with healthy local foods through these components of farm to school: school gardens, farm field trips and farmer classroom visits, and local foods served in meals, snacks, and/or taste tests.

Mini-grant applications are available three times during the 2023-2024 school year. You may apply one time during this cycle. Mini-grants must be used within a year after receiving the funding. 

Applications due by:

  • November 30, 2023
  • January 30, 2024
  • March 30, 2024

If you have questions about your eligibility to apply for funding, please email us at [email protected] before submitting your application. We are unable to provide mini-grants to schools located outside of our 23-county service area or to folks who have received a grant from us within the past year. Learn more and apply here!

Monarchs and Milkweed: A Story of Survival
Jan 3 @ 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
NC Arboretum

Join us on a journey into the world of butterflies and plants, and see the complex relationship between monarchs and milkweed. “Monarchs and Milkweed” explores how very survival of these majestic creatures has been shaped over time by one another, traveling through the seasons of a calendar year and revealing how both insect and plant grow and interact, culminating in a massive migration that crosses a continent.

Bountiful Cities: FEAST Wishlist
Jan 3 @ 10:00 am
Bountiful Cities

Our FEAST cooking and gardening program offers public school students the opportunity to learn food security skills that will last a lifetime. Not only that, we tailor our classes to grade level standard course of study and incorporate science, math, reading and history. Students get to taste and have hands on experience and we could use some supplies to help! Please let us know if you have any of the following you’d like to contribute:

Metal spoons and forks for tasting
Small one ounce Dixie cups – paper or reusable plastic
Mini Silicone Pinch Bowls
Soil for raised garden beds
Compost Now – donate your compost to us HERE
Kid friendly can opener
Cans of Black Eyed Peas
Honey
Tamari
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Please reach out to [email protected] for more information or if you’d like to drop things off. Amazon items can be ordered directly with the links above.

Worlds Apart: Musical Instruments from Secular to Sacred
Jan 3 @ 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Sigal Music Museum
Sigal Music Museum’s current special exhibition, Worlds Apart: Musical Instruments from Secular to Sacred, highlights items from the JoAnn and Frank Edwinn Collection, which hails from all over the world. Showing November 2023 – May 2024, Worlds Apart uses a diverse range of historical instruments, objects, and visuals to bring together musical narratives from seemingly disparate parts of the globe.

 

Worlds Apart: Musical Instruments from Secular to Sacred aims to increase public access to historical instruments from around the world and improve visitors’ understanding of musical traditions at the global level. Expanding beyond the typical parameters of the Western musical canon, Worlds Apart seeks to expose audiences to musical instruments and customs that are often overlooked or exotified. The instruments and other exhibit materials will offer visitors new perspectives on global music and a chance to consider how music is used for prayer and leisure in cultures around the world. By celebrating these stories, the museum intends to further its mission to collect and preserve historical musical instruments, objects, and information, which engage and enrich people of all ages through exhibits, performances, and experiential programs.

 

Displaying various objects from the JoAnn and Frank Edwinn Collection, Worlds Apart: Musical Instruments from Secular to Sacred focuses on international musical instruments and cultures, celebrating rites and traditions with ancient histories and contemporary legacies. Frank Edwinn, a successful basso in the mid-20th century, studied and toured internationally, eventually settling in North Carolina, where he taught music at the University of North Carolina Asheville. Throughout his life, he purchased various objects from around the world, aiming to expose students, and himself, to the wide and wonderful world of musical instruments. This impressive collection occupies a unique position for educating audiences unfamiliar with the vast scope of global music.

And, UNCA’s Ramsey Library Special Collections is now processing the Edwinn’s papers and a few recordings that will be accessible next semester!

Sing with our Choir
Jan 3 @ 3:30 pm – 5:00 pm
First Congregational Church

Sing with our Choir at a progressive church

Come join us! Contact Mark Acker for more information ([email protected]).

Rehearsals on Wednesday’s, 3:30-4:45

French Broad Valley Mountain Music Jam
Jan 3 @ 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Oklawaha Brewing Company

Weekly mountain music JAM with
players in a round, where the session is focused on regional fiddle tunes and songs, You are welcome to come and listen or to
learn and join in. This event supports the Henderson County Junior Appalachian Musician (JAM) Kids Program, Free but
donations are accepted.

Discover the Joy of Public Speaking
Jan 3 @ 6:15 pm
South Buncombe Library

Join us at Keynote Speechcrafters and

Discover the
Joy of
Public Speaking!

It’s natural to enjoy things you do well,
and you will get good at this.

Our members are committed to meeting each week because

steady progress
requires
steady practice.

Our motto:

When you show up
You speak
Every meeting
Every week

So come join us at the South Buncombe Library on Wednesday evenings and prepare to become a better you.

Please Click here to let us know you are coming.

Guests are always welcome. We look forward to speaking with you!

Westie Wednesdays at Continuum ft. Ryan Pflumm
Jan 3 @ 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm
CONTINUUM ART

Help us relaunch the Westie scene in a premier venue showcasing spacious dance floors, high ceilings, and a vintage vibe. If you are new to West Coast Swing, come check out for yourself the popular dance style that can be done to a wide variety of music, including pop, country, blues, and contemporary music! For those looking to advance their skills, the Hendersonville WCS community is excited to welcome Pro Instructor Ryan Pflumm to Continuum!

As always, the dress is casual and no partner is needed. Join us for an incredible night of connecting and dancing with our MONTHLY event every FIRST Wednesday!

PRIVATE LESSONS
If you would like to book a private lesson with Ryan for $75 per hour, please message Continuum with the following:

  1. Which timeslot(s)
  2. number of people attending
    Times:
    3:30-4:30pm
    4:30-5:30pm
    5:30-6:30pm
    first come, first served

CLASSES
7:00-8:00pm Intermediate w/ Ryan Pflumm!
7:00-8:00pm Beginner w/ Rachel Harris
8:00-10:00pm Social Dance

Each class is $10 and includes a pass to the social dance. The social dance is $7 without a lesson. Music will be DJ’d by Pro Instructor Ryan Pflumm.

Bring your own beer/wine. Liquor and other beverages above 16% alcohol content are strictly prohibited.

Masks are encouraged but, not required.

Cash, cards, Venmo, PayPal, and Cash app are accepted.

EMERALD RAE
Jan 3 @ 8:00 pm
The Grey Eagle

– ALL AGES
– SEATED SHOW
– LIMITED NUMBER OF PREMIUM SEATING TICKETS AVAILABLE

EMERALD RAE
Emerald Rae is an American Fiddler & Folksinger based in Nashville. Hailing from the seaside town of Gloucester, Massachusetts, Rae began her musical journey deep in the world of traditional Celtic music. With her 2018 self-titled release, Rae broke the boundaries of fiddle-singing with a wide palate of experimental techniques. With her powerhouse vocals, groovy percussive fiddle and eclectic songwriting style, she has delighted audiences at legacy folk festivals and concert stages across North America.

Thursday, January 4, 2024
City of Asheville Youth Leadership Academy (C.A.Y.L.A) applications open
Jan 4 all-day
online

The City of Asheville Youth Leadership Academy (C.A.Y.L.A) program is designed for sophomores and juniors who are interested in career exploration, leadership development, and gaining 21st-century job skills to prepare them for their future. C.A.Y.L.A provides young people with an excellent opportunity to work and grow in Asheville while also acquiring valuable work experience that will advance their future careers.

 

Program Benefits

The program takes place over the summer months, during which the students will become paid interns based on their career interests. Students will have the opportunity to get first-hand experience in their career of choice, network, and build skills and relationships that will aid them as they get ready to begin their college life. Upon completion of the program, students are awarded a $2,000 scholarship to go towards their college education.

 

Apply Today!

The application period will remain open until January 15, 2024. If you know someone who might be interested in this incredible internship opportunity provided by C.A.Y.L.A, please encourage them to apply.

For questions about the C.A.Y.L.A. program, please contact Promise Boseman at:  [email protected] 

Connect Beyond Festival Volunteer Opportunities
Jan 4 all-day
Harrah's Cherokee Center- Asheville

We have three opportunities for you to help Connect Beyond AND see some music! We need volunteers to assist with wristbands for three shows this summer at Harrah’s Cherokee Center – Asheville in Downtown Asheville, N.C. Shifts are roughly (3) hours and all participating volunteers will also receive (1) free ticket to stay after and watch the show. The following dates and shows are available:

  • February 16-18: Billy Strings
  • May 16: Amon Amarth
  • May 20 & 22: Noah Kahan
  • August 30: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard
Growing Minds Farm to School  Mini-Grant
Jan 4 all-day
online w/ ASAP’s Growing Minds

Growing Minds Farm to School Funding Opportunities

We want to help fund your farm to school project in Western North Carolina! Mini-grants are available for schools to engage children in the following farm to school experiences:

  • Local food taste tests & cooking demonstrations
  • Incorporating local food into meals or snacks
  • Farm field trips or farmer visits to preschools and classrooms
  • Growing edible gardens

Funding can be used to start new projects, or to expand upon existing activities.

Pre-k through 12 schools and homeschool groups are eligible to apply. Schools must be located throughout our 23 westernmost counties of North Carolina. 

  • Smoky Mountains, NC: Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Jackson, Macon, Swain
  • Southern Mountains, NC: Henderson, Polk, Transylvania
  • Central Mountains, NC: Buncombe, Madison, Yancey
  • Foothills, NC: Burke, Caldwell, McDowell, Rutherford
  • High Country, NC: Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Mitchell, Watauga, Wilkes

Growing Minds 2023-24 Farm to School / Preschool Funding

ASAP’s Growing Minds mini-grants help early childhood education (ECE) centers and K-12 schools provide children positive experiences with healthy local foods through these components of farm to school: school gardens, farm field trips and farmer classroom visits, and local foods served in meals, snacks, and/or taste tests.

Mini-grant applications are available three times during the 2023-2024 school year. You may apply one time during this cycle. The amount awarded will be based on availability of funding, number of applicants, and the scope of your project. Mini-grants must be used within a year after receiving the funding.

Applications are due by: January 31, 2024 or March 29, 2024. Funding will be awarded by the 15th of the following month.       

If you have questions about your eligibility to apply for funding, please email us at [email protected] before submitting your application. We are unable to provide mini-grants to schools located outside of our 23-county service area or to folks who have received a grant from us within the past year. 

Student Soil + Water Scholarship
Jan 4 all-day
online

Buncombe County students interested in entering the field of conservation, agriculture or another natural resource program can win a $1,000 scholarship from The Buncombe Soil & Water Conservation District.

The William Hamilton Memorial Scholarship will provide a student with money to go towards their studies. Eligible students must attend or plan to attend an accredited college or university and must submit a proposal for a volunteer conservation project in Buncombe County.

One winner will be selected by a committee of Buncombe Soil & Water Conservation District staff and Supervisors and the funds will be dispersed directly to the institution upon completion of the volunteer project.

Scholarship Timeline:

February 28, 2024 – Deadline to apply

April 11, 2024 – Winning applicant announced

June 30, 2024 – Deadline to complete volunteer project

July 11, 2024 – Presentation to the Board, award dispersed

The winner is also expected to attend a Buncombe County Soil and Water Conservation District Board meeting to present the results of their project and accept their scholarship.

Find the application below. Completed applications and questions can be sent to [email protected].

The application can also be mailed to:
Buncombe Soil & Water Conservation District
Attn: Jen Knight and Rose Wall
49 Mount Carmel Road
Asheville NC, 28806

Growing Minds Farm to School Mini-Grant
Jan 4 @ 6:30 am
online
ASAP’s Growing Minds mini-grants help early childhood education (ECE) centers and K-12 schools throughout the 23 westernmost counties of North Carolina provide children positive experiences with healthy local foods through these components of farm to school: school gardens, farm field trips and farmer classroom visits, and local foods served in meals, snacks, and/or taste tests.

Mini-grant applications are available three times during the 2023-2024 school year. You may apply one time during this cycle. Mini-grants must be used within a year after receiving the funding. 

Applications due by:

  • November 30, 2023
  • January 30, 2024
  • March 30, 2024

If you have questions about your eligibility to apply for funding, please email us at [email protected] before submitting your application. We are unable to provide mini-grants to schools located outside of our 23-county service area or to folks who have received a grant from us within the past year. Learn more and apply here!

Monarchs and Milkweed: A Story of Survival
Jan 4 @ 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
NC Arboretum

Join us on a journey into the world of butterflies and plants, and see the complex relationship between monarchs and milkweed. “Monarchs and Milkweed” explores how very survival of these majestic creatures has been shaped over time by one another, traveling through the seasons of a calendar year and revealing how both insect and plant grow and interact, culminating in a massive migration that crosses a continent.

Bountiful Cities: FEAST Wishlist
Jan 4 @ 10:00 am
Bountiful Cities

Our FEAST cooking and gardening program offers public school students the opportunity to learn food security skills that will last a lifetime. Not only that, we tailor our classes to grade level standard course of study and incorporate science, math, reading and history. Students get to taste and have hands on experience and we could use some supplies to help! Please let us know if you have any of the following you’d like to contribute:

Metal spoons and forks for tasting
Small one ounce Dixie cups – paper or reusable plastic
Mini Silicone Pinch Bowls
Soil for raised garden beds
Compost Now – donate your compost to us HERE
Kid friendly can opener
Cans of Black Eyed Peas
Honey
Tamari
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Please reach out to [email protected] for more information or if you’d like to drop things off. Amazon items can be ordered directly with the links above.

Worlds Apart: Musical Instruments from Secular to Sacred
Jan 4 @ 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Sigal Music Museum
Sigal Music Museum’s current special exhibition, Worlds Apart: Musical Instruments from Secular to Sacred, highlights items from the JoAnn and Frank Edwinn Collection, which hails from all over the world. Showing November 2023 – May 2024, Worlds Apart uses a diverse range of historical instruments, objects, and visuals to bring together musical narratives from seemingly disparate parts of the globe.

 

Worlds Apart: Musical Instruments from Secular to Sacred aims to increase public access to historical instruments from around the world and improve visitors’ understanding of musical traditions at the global level. Expanding beyond the typical parameters of the Western musical canon, Worlds Apart seeks to expose audiences to musical instruments and customs that are often overlooked or exotified. The instruments and other exhibit materials will offer visitors new perspectives on global music and a chance to consider how music is used for prayer and leisure in cultures around the world. By celebrating these stories, the museum intends to further its mission to collect and preserve historical musical instruments, objects, and information, which engage and enrich people of all ages through exhibits, performances, and experiential programs.

 

Displaying various objects from the JoAnn and Frank Edwinn Collection, Worlds Apart: Musical Instruments from Secular to Sacred focuses on international musical instruments and cultures, celebrating rites and traditions with ancient histories and contemporary legacies. Frank Edwinn, a successful basso in the mid-20th century, studied and toured internationally, eventually settling in North Carolina, where he taught music at the University of North Carolina Asheville. Throughout his life, he purchased various objects from around the world, aiming to expose students, and himself, to the wide and wonderful world of musical instruments. This impressive collection occupies a unique position for educating audiences unfamiliar with the vast scope of global music.

And, UNCA’s Ramsey Library Special Collections is now processing the Edwinn’s papers and a few recordings that will be accessible next semester!

Jazz Jam
Jan 4 @ 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm
LEAF Global Arts

Join us for Jazz Jam Thursday every Thursday from 7-10. There is a suggested donation of $10 and local craft beer and wine for sale. Come as you are or bring an instrument! Open jam starts at 8 after a House Band set guaranteed to fill your soul with groove and joy.
Public parking is available at Marjorie Street, across from Packs Tavern.

HANNAH KAMINER + THE WISTFULS: “HEAVY ON THE VINE” ALBUM RELEASE SHOW
Jan 4 @ 8:00 pm
The Grey Eagle

– ALL AGES
– SEATED SHOW
– LIMITED NUMBER OF PREMIUM SEATING TICKETS AVAILABLE

HANNAH KAMINER

Hannah Kaminer makes modern American roots music that blurs the boundaries between genre and generation. As a songwriter, storyteller, and producer, she nods to the Appalachian traditions of her native North Carolina while creating a contemporary sound that’s woozy, wistful, and evocative of the landscape where it was created.

She turns a new page with her third record, Heavy On The Vine. Written and recorded in Kaminer’s adopted hometown of Asheville, it’s a reflective, resilient album that finds the artist making sense of her new world—a place where boutique hotels block the view of the Blue Ridge Mountains, childhood habits have given way to adulthood realities, and the Christian faith that once offered easy answers to life’s big questions has lost its magic. Heavy On The Vine isn’t just a soundtrack for Kaminer’s loss of faith; it’s a battle cry of hope and defiance, delivered by a songwriter who’s learned to live with uncertainty.

“The idea of estrangement shows up everywhere,” says Kaminer, who kickstarted her career with 2015’s Acre By Acre and expanded her sound with 2018’s Heavy Magnolias. “These songs are about estrangement from myself, from family and old friends, from the Christian faith of my childhood, and from the world as I used to know it.”

Kaminer’s world began taking shape in the small towns of western North Carolina, where she grew up singing hymns in church. Later, while living in central Texas as a college student, she heard a bluegrass song on the radio and found herself pining for the home she’d left behind. “I heard the banjo and thought, ‘That’s the sound of home!’” she remembers. “It took me moving halfway across the country to realize how much I gravitated toward those sounds.”

Those sounds took her back to North Carolina, where Kaminer settled in Asheville and found a supportive musical community that prioritized collaboration over competition. “It was a great place to try something different,” she says. Inspired by Gillian Welch, Iris DeMent, and Patty Griffin—three artists who nodded to the old-school folk singers who came before them, yet still made modern music that balanced gorgeous melodies with grit, hard truths, and haunting arrangements—she started writing her own songs. The Grammy-winning audio engineer Julian Dreyer became one of her earliest champions, engineering her 2015 debut album and co-producing its 2018 follow-up. By the time Kaminer began writing material for Heavy On The Vine, though, she’d become more than a sharp songwriter. She’d started to think like a producer, too.

THOMAS KOZAK
Thomas Kozak’s writing pulls myth and religion through the split-open skull of an obsessive-compulsive, anchoring the past to a new body and giving it voice through and beyond the conventions of folk and Americana.

Friday, January 5, 2024
City of Asheville Youth Leadership Academy (C.A.Y.L.A) applications open
Jan 5 all-day
online

The City of Asheville Youth Leadership Academy (C.A.Y.L.A) program is designed for sophomores and juniors who are interested in career exploration, leadership development, and gaining 21st-century job skills to prepare them for their future. C.A.Y.L.A provides young people with an excellent opportunity to work and grow in Asheville while also acquiring valuable work experience that will advance their future careers.

 

Program Benefits

The program takes place over the summer months, during which the students will become paid interns based on their career interests. Students will have the opportunity to get first-hand experience in their career of choice, network, and build skills and relationships that will aid them as they get ready to begin their college life. Upon completion of the program, students are awarded a $2,000 scholarship to go towards their college education.

 

Apply Today!

The application period will remain open until January 15, 2024. If you know someone who might be interested in this incredible internship opportunity provided by C.A.Y.L.A, please encourage them to apply.

For questions about the C.A.Y.L.A. program, please contact Promise Boseman at:  [email protected] 

Growing Minds Farm to School  Mini-Grant
Jan 5 all-day
online w/ ASAP’s Growing Minds

Growing Minds Farm to School Funding Opportunities

We want to help fund your farm to school project in Western North Carolina! Mini-grants are available for schools to engage children in the following farm to school experiences:

  • Local food taste tests & cooking demonstrations
  • Incorporating local food into meals or snacks
  • Farm field trips or farmer visits to preschools and classrooms
  • Growing edible gardens

Funding can be used to start new projects, or to expand upon existing activities.

Pre-k through 12 schools and homeschool groups are eligible to apply. Schools must be located throughout our 23 westernmost counties of North Carolina. 

  • Smoky Mountains, NC: Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Jackson, Macon, Swain
  • Southern Mountains, NC: Henderson, Polk, Transylvania
  • Central Mountains, NC: Buncombe, Madison, Yancey
  • Foothills, NC: Burke, Caldwell, McDowell, Rutherford
  • High Country, NC: Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Mitchell, Watauga, Wilkes

Growing Minds 2023-24 Farm to School / Preschool Funding

ASAP’s Growing Minds mini-grants help early childhood education (ECE) centers and K-12 schools provide children positive experiences with healthy local foods through these components of farm to school: school gardens, farm field trips and farmer classroom visits, and local foods served in meals, snacks, and/or taste tests.

Mini-grant applications are available three times during the 2023-2024 school year. You may apply one time during this cycle. The amount awarded will be based on availability of funding, number of applicants, and the scope of your project. Mini-grants must be used within a year after receiving the funding.

Applications are due by: January 31, 2024 or March 29, 2024. Funding will be awarded by the 15th of the following month.       

If you have questions about your eligibility to apply for funding, please email us at [email protected] before submitting your application. We are unable to provide mini-grants to schools located outside of our 23-county service area or to folks who have received a grant from us within the past year. 

Student Soil + Water Scholarship
Jan 5 all-day
online

Buncombe County students interested in entering the field of conservation, agriculture or another natural resource program can win a $1,000 scholarship from The Buncombe Soil & Water Conservation District.

The William Hamilton Memorial Scholarship will provide a student with money to go towards their studies. Eligible students must attend or plan to attend an accredited college or university and must submit a proposal for a volunteer conservation project in Buncombe County.

One winner will be selected by a committee of Buncombe Soil & Water Conservation District staff and Supervisors and the funds will be dispersed directly to the institution upon completion of the volunteer project.

Scholarship Timeline:

February 28, 2024 – Deadline to apply

April 11, 2024 – Winning applicant announced

June 30, 2024 – Deadline to complete volunteer project

July 11, 2024 – Presentation to the Board, award dispersed

The winner is also expected to attend a Buncombe County Soil and Water Conservation District Board meeting to present the results of their project and accept their scholarship.

Find the application below. Completed applications and questions can be sent to [email protected].

The application can also be mailed to:
Buncombe Soil & Water Conservation District
Attn: Jen Knight and Rose Wall
49 Mount Carmel Road
Asheville NC, 28806

Growing Minds Farm to School Mini-Grant
Jan 5 @ 6:30 am
online
ASAP’s Growing Minds mini-grants help early childhood education (ECE) centers and K-12 schools throughout the 23 westernmost counties of North Carolina provide children positive experiences with healthy local foods through these components of farm to school: school gardens, farm field trips and farmer classroom visits, and local foods served in meals, snacks, and/or taste tests.

Mini-grant applications are available three times during the 2023-2024 school year. You may apply one time during this cycle. Mini-grants must be used within a year after receiving the funding. 

Applications due by:

  • November 30, 2023
  • January 30, 2024
  • March 30, 2024

If you have questions about your eligibility to apply for funding, please email us at [email protected] before submitting your application. We are unable to provide mini-grants to schools located outside of our 23-county service area or to folks who have received a grant from us within the past year. Learn more and apply here!

Monarchs and Milkweed: A Story of Survival
Jan 5 @ 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
NC Arboretum

Join us on a journey into the world of butterflies and plants, and see the complex relationship between monarchs and milkweed. “Monarchs and Milkweed” explores how very survival of these majestic creatures has been shaped over time by one another, traveling through the seasons of a calendar year and revealing how both insect and plant grow and interact, culminating in a massive migration that crosses a continent.

Bountiful Cities: FEAST Wishlist
Jan 5 @ 10:00 am
Bountiful Cities

Our FEAST cooking and gardening program offers public school students the opportunity to learn food security skills that will last a lifetime. Not only that, we tailor our classes to grade level standard course of study and incorporate science, math, reading and history. Students get to taste and have hands on experience and we could use some supplies to help! Please let us know if you have any of the following you’d like to contribute:

Metal spoons and forks for tasting
Small one ounce Dixie cups – paper or reusable plastic
Mini Silicone Pinch Bowls
Soil for raised garden beds
Compost Now – donate your compost to us HERE
Kid friendly can opener
Cans of Black Eyed Peas
Honey
Tamari
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Please reach out to [email protected] for more information or if you’d like to drop things off. Amazon items can be ordered directly with the links above.

Worlds Apart: Musical Instruments from Secular to Sacred
Jan 5 @ 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Sigal Music Museum
Sigal Music Museum’s current special exhibition, Worlds Apart: Musical Instruments from Secular to Sacred, highlights items from the JoAnn and Frank Edwinn Collection, which hails from all over the world. Showing November 2023 – May 2024, Worlds Apart uses a diverse range of historical instruments, objects, and visuals to bring together musical narratives from seemingly disparate parts of the globe.

 

Worlds Apart: Musical Instruments from Secular to Sacred aims to increase public access to historical instruments from around the world and improve visitors’ understanding of musical traditions at the global level. Expanding beyond the typical parameters of the Western musical canon, Worlds Apart seeks to expose audiences to musical instruments and customs that are often overlooked or exotified. The instruments and other exhibit materials will offer visitors new perspectives on global music and a chance to consider how music is used for prayer and leisure in cultures around the world. By celebrating these stories, the museum intends to further its mission to collect and preserve historical musical instruments, objects, and information, which engage and enrich people of all ages through exhibits, performances, and experiential programs.

 

Displaying various objects from the JoAnn and Frank Edwinn Collection, Worlds Apart: Musical Instruments from Secular to Sacred focuses on international musical instruments and cultures, celebrating rites and traditions with ancient histories and contemporary legacies. Frank Edwinn, a successful basso in the mid-20th century, studied and toured internationally, eventually settling in North Carolina, where he taught music at the University of North Carolina Asheville. Throughout his life, he purchased various objects from around the world, aiming to expose students, and himself, to the wide and wonderful world of musical instruments. This impressive collection occupies a unique position for educating audiences unfamiliar with the vast scope of global music.

And, UNCA’s Ramsey Library Special Collections is now processing the Edwinn’s papers and a few recordings that will be accessible next semester!