Facilitation for personal, organizational and social change is a key aspect of our community and cultural engagement at Clear Creek Creative. Check out current project highlights as well as links to other partners and past projects below.

Members of the second Ridgeway cohort in power poses at Cumberland Falls State Park. (photo by Aaron Phelps)

Members of the second Ridgeway cohort in power poses at Cumberland Falls State Park. (photo by Aaron Phelps)

Ridgeway | Transformative Leadership Experience

Ridgeway is an immersive year-long cohort experience for Kentucky and Central Appalachian leaders focused on intensive personal development, interpersonal awareness and network-building. The ambition of Ridgeway is to deepen and extend the quality and number of authentic, powerful leaders working together across sectors for a just transition in the region and in solidarity with other transition efforts worldwide. The program began in 2015 with four cohorts completing the program to date and a fifth underway in 2021-22.  Check out the participants and what they have to say about Ridgeway and find out more about the program at RidgewayLeadership.net.

 

Bob directs a rehearsal of the “Wheelchair Ballet” for a Wendy’s Neverland performance with residents, staff and volunteers at Morgantown Care and Rehabilitation Center. (photo by Tommy Johns)

Bob directs a rehearsal of the “Wheelchair Ballet” for a Wendy’s Neverland performance with residents, staff and volunteers at Morgantown Care and Rehabilitation Center. (photo by Tommy Johns)

TIMESLIPS

For several years, Bob served as a director and artist-in-residence with Timeslips, an organization dedicated to bringing meaning and purpose to the lives of elders through creative engagement. Timeslips partnered with Signature Healthcare to bring together elders, family members, volunteers and an incredible team of local and guest artists in 12 rural health care facilities throughout Kentucky to devise and present Wendy's Neverland, an ambitious reimagining of what life in elder care can be. The project has received national attention including this article from American Theatre that shares more about the history and process behind the productions and highlights the work of numerous collaborators including Bob as a performer and director.

Students & team from the inaugural Bridging the Gap KY class (screenshot by Carrie Brunk)

Students & team from the inaugural Bridging the Gap KY class (screenshot by Carrie Brunk)

Bridging the Gap

Carrie has been working on campuses in KY and in other states since 2021 to develop and expand Bridging the Gap (BTG). BTG is an immersive training course in which students learn and practice how to dialogue with people across political, cultural, religious, worldview and experiential differences.  The program involves an exchange partnership between students from two or more distinct campus cultures who come together to listen, understand, be heard and seek common ground without necessarily attempting to change minds or compromise deeply held values.  

In the course, students learn about themselves and each other, explore race and religion in the U.S. and do an in-depth policy reform focus that includes site visits and interaction with a broad range of stakeholders. The course is an effort to give students the tools to find areas of common ground, create constructive tension, understand our shared humanity and solve pressing problems with those of different backgrounds and beliefs.

A cast of 75 performed in “Talking Dirt,” part of a series of plays about life in the heart of Kentucky coal country. (photo by Luke Sharrett for The New York Times)

A cast of 75 performed in “Talking Dirt,” part of a series of plays about life in the heart of Kentucky coal country. (photo by Luke Sharrett for The New York Times)

Community Story Projects

Clear Creek Creative has directed, devised, co-written, performed and otherwise supported dozens of community story projects. Some of our favorites include Higher Ground: Talkin’ Dirt and Higher Ground: Find A Way with SECTC (Harlan Co, KY); HomeSong I, II, III with OCAT (Owsley County, KY); The Homecoming with the Cowan Creek Community Center (Letcher Co, KY); Los Voces de las Apalaches with the University of Kentucky Appalachian Center; Red Hook High and Rise Above (Brooklyn, NY). Our work on community story projects has led to the co-creation of the Hurricane Gap Community Performance Institute to support the grassroots theater movement and cultural organizing in East Kentucky (see more below).

Inaugural ILI cohort, team & leadership at the Smith Robertson Museum and Cultural Center of African-American history in Jackson, Mississippi. (photo by Bryan Parker)

Inaugural ILI cohort, team & leadership at the Smith Robertson Museum and Cultural Center of African-American history in Jackson, Mississippi. (photo by Bryan Parker)

INTERCULTURAL LEAdership Institute

The Intercultural Leaderhip Instititue (ILI) is a collaborative program of Alternate ROOTS, First Peoples Fund, National Association of Latino Arts & Cultures (NALAC) and PA’I Foundation.  ILI is a national year-long leadership development experience for artists, culture bearers and other arts professionals who are engaged in cultural equity and change-making within their communities. Clear Creek Creative has provided facilitation, program design and implementation and project management to support the ILI leadership in bringing their vision for this program to fruition.  WeAreILI.org 

Participants at play during the 2017 Hurricane Gap Community Theater Institute held at Pine Mountain Settlement School. (photo by Nicole Garneau)

Participants at play during the 2017 Hurricane Gap Community Theater Institute held at Pine Mountain Settlement School. (photo by Nicole Garneau)

Hurricane Gap Community Performance Institute

Hurricane Gap was developed to support the grassroots theatre movement and multi-generational community story projects happening throughout East Kentucky and Central Appalachia. The Institute builds from a legacy of reframing community stories in order to support and advance theatre as a democratic, participatory art. The annual Institute began in 2016 and is co-organized by Clear Creek Creative, Handbarrow and Higher Ground. Read more about this work in an article Bob wrote for Howlround, "Grassroots Theatre Training in the East Kentucky Coalfields.".

Participants in the Beyond Coal & Toward New Power Learning Exchange at Alternate ROOTS created short theatrical works inspired by their story circles. (photo by Nicole Garneau)

Participants in the Beyond Coal & Toward New Power Learning Exchange at Alternate ROOTS created short theatrical works inspired by their story circles. (photo by Nicole Garneau)

Alternate ROots

All of the work that Clear Creek Creative does is grounded in a liberatory framework. Our liberatory practice has evolved over many years and has been partially informed in the last decade through our membership, leadership and facilitation work with Alternate ROOTS. ROOTS is a network of artist-activists throughout the U.S. South committed to social and economic justice and working to dismantle oppression in all its forms. Bob has served as Chair and as Treasurer for ROOTS and currently serves on an intercultural team of facilitators who provide training and support within ROOTS as part of the Uprooting Oppressions Work Group. Carrie has provided facilitation, coaching and organizational development support to ROOTS. Clear Creek Creative has also designed and facilitated numerous ROOTS Week offerings, learning exchanges and performances.  AlternateROOTS.org 

OTHER PROJECTS & PARTNERS

Clear Creek Creative has supported great people and organizations near to home and across the country, including:

  • ALIGN

  • Alternate ROOTS

  • Arts & Democracy

  • Bend the Arc Jewish Partnership for Justice

  • Berea Arts Council

  • Bridging the Gap

  • Brushy Fork Institute of Berea College

  • Carpetbag Theatre

  • Cowan Creek Community Center

  • Cucalorus Film Festival

  • Dance Theatre Etc.

  • Fahe

  • First Peoples Fund

  • Higher Ground

  • Hurricane Gap Community Performance Institute

  • Intercultural Leadership Institute

  • Interfaith America

  • Jewish Funders Network

  • Kentuckians For The Commonwealth

  • Kentucky Arts Council

  • LKLP Community Action Council

  • MACED (Mountain Association for Community Economic Development)

  • Mermaid Parade of Coney Island

  • Nathan Cummings Foundation

  • National Association of Latino Arts & Culture

  • Native Bagel Co.

  • Owsley County Action Team

  • PA’I Foundation

  • Partners for Education at Berea College

  • Partners for Rural Impact

  • People’s Action

  • Philanthropic Capital Fund for Southeast Kentucky

  • Progressive Caucus of the New York City Council

  • Promise Neighborhood

  • New World Foundation

  • Open Society Foundations

  • River City Players

  • SEIU (Service Employees International Union)

  • Southeast KY Community Technical College

  • Timeslips

  • University of the Cumberlands

  • University of Kentucky Appalachian Center

  • Working Families Party

Interested in facilitation, community engagement or other support from Clear Creek Creative? Connect with us through the contact form linked below and we'll get in touch.

Banner photo at page header by Erica Chambers.