Editor’s note: This episode contains discussion of a near-death experience and suicidal ideation. The views expressed by Jeffrey Burroughs are their own and do not reflect the positions of ArtsvilleUSA or its parent, Arterial Inc. This podcast is intended to highlight the artistic work and community impact of our guest. It does not reflect support or opposition for any political candidate, party, or ballot measure.

Jeffrey Burroughs doesn’t believe in luck. “There’s no such thing,” says the president of the River Arts District Artists Association (RADA), repeating a bit of wisdom they once received from a mentor during their days as a musical theater major. “It’s preparation met with opportunity.”

Those words became reality when, just three days after Hurricane Helene left Asheville’s low-lying arts district underwater, RADA was granted nonprofit status. Suddenly, all that paperwork became a lifeline for hundreds of artists, studios, and small creative businesses struggling to recover. According to Jeffrey, the funds raised in the storm’s aftermath remain the only significant financial investment in the district to date.

As an artist, an active community advocate, and now a candidate for city council, Jeffrey has seen firsthand how policy decisions impact working artists. Today, they join us to discuss how financial investment and community action have shaped the River Arts District’s recovery, the intersection of art and civic life in Asheville, and how themes from our fall exhibition—mortality, memory, and impact—resonate through their art, business, and advocacy.

Episode Credits

Host: Elise Wilson, ArtsvilleUSA Executive Director

Guest: Jeffrey Burroughs, President, RADA

Produced by: ArtsvilleUSA / Arterial Inc.

Audio editing: Maggi Van Dorn

Newsletter: Subscribe to the ArtsvilleUSA Newsletter for more stories and updates on the arts and crafts scene in Western North Carolina.

September is here and with it comes that particular chill in the mountain air, the first orange leaf catching light on the Blue Ridge Parkway, the feeling that something is ending and something else is just beginning.

For Artsville, usa this month debuts our virtual exhibition Body of Work, exploring the ancient concept of memento mori and available to view on artsvilleusa.com this stoic phrase reminds us we are mortal, our time is finite, and what we make and leave behind will outlive us.

Today's guest is, among other titles, a jewelry artist, small business owner, president of the River Arts District Artists and a featured exhibitor in our Body of Work show.

The phrase memento mori, remember you will die.

Carries a companion memento vivere.

Remember to live.

The vivacious Geoffrey Burrows knows each well, sucking the marrow out of life while understanding very personally that our time here is limited.

They left their acting and jewelry careers in New York City after a harrowing hospitalization in the early days of COVID to move to Asheville, North Carolina sight unseen to recover.

What they didn't anticipate was finding deep community, joining a thriving arts scene and having the opportunity to serve the River Arts District and the city of Asheville through the recovery from Hurricane Helene.

Now, before we jump in today, we need to note that this episode deals with heavy subjects that may not be suitable for all audiences, including a near death experience and a mention of suicidal ideation between minute 26 and 34.

We also want to note that as a 501c3 nonprofit organization, this episode and related content are published to highlight the artistic work and community contributions of our guest.

None of what you're about to hear constitutes an endorsement, support or opposition regarding their candidacy for any public office or any political party, candidate or ballot meas.

The views, opinions and campaign activities discussed by the guest in this episode should not be considered the views or positions of Artsville USA and Artsville USA and our parent organization Arterial Inc. Do not participate in or intervene in any political campaign on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office.

Now let's dive in.

My name is Elise Wilson, Executive Director of Artsville usa where we amplify the art and artists of Western North Carolina.

Jeffrey, thanks for joining us today.

Hello.

Good morning.

Can you introduce yourself?

Yes.

My name is Jeffrey Burrows.

I am a jeweler and I like to think of myself as an artist at large who can dabble in different mediums but always finds the artistic through line of everything and I currently serve as the President of the Artists of the River Arts District.

I am six three.

I'M a large and in charge person and I would like to think that my personality matches my stature.

And I'm a firm believer that sometimes you have to have the sparkle that's inside you reflected on the outside.

So I like to think of myself as just a big glimmer of light reflecting back.

For those who are listening and can't see.

Can you describe your style?

Who gets the full glam version of Jeffrey?

But usually, you know, it's a gregarious, you know, Sistine Chapel inspired caftan adornments for days and just living the complete fantasy of life and enjoying all of the beautiful aspects that it provides to us.

So you wear a lot of hats.

Jeweler, small business owner, river arts district artist, president, city council candidate.

Which of these would your younger self be most surprised by?

The city council candidate.

And why is that?

I think it's because, you know, growing up queer in a small rural farming town, you know, not in, you know, in the 80s and 90s, you don't really have that reflected back to you in society.

So, you know, never really even thought of it as something that was an option.

I've always been on the community, advocacy and organizing side throughout my career in general.

Whether it was my work at the intersectionality between the environment and the arts in New York City or just anywhere that I tend to be in, community service has always been a part of my life.

It's something I very much enjoy and I love people, so it's just something naturally for me.

But I never really perceived politics as an option until working through Helene recovery.

That makes a lot of sense and it's interesting that that would've surprised younger Jeffrey.

Is there something that would surprise folks who know you for fun to your daily life?

I always like to joke that because we're in late stage capitalism and I'm in my 40s now, so I'm now midlife.

But we can't afford a Corvette for a midlife crisis.

So I've picked up legoing.

So a girlfriend of mine sent me for my birthday last year Legos because she knows that I always joke about how my to my to do lists just won't be completed until I'm dead.

And so she was like, here's a project in, like in one, in the span of one, you know, day, evening, whatever, you can finish something, you know, and it's done done.

Instead of finishing something Moving on to the next.

Finishing something.

Moving on to the next.

So it's a.

It's a great activity.

And I'm a big nerd.

Big, big nerd.

Like, I'm a huge Star wars fan.

People, I think, misinterpret Star wars sometimes as this lone Jedi, fantastical kind of story, but it's really a political drama about slave trades that the Federation is trying to enable and enact throughout the universe because they want a free trading system built on enslaving planets.

So when you take kind of a wider perspective, it's actually a political drama set in space and add some superpowers layered in it to really help the Republic overcome the Empire.

That's definitely something folks might not expect about you.

Just looking at you and your sequel.

I have Star wars tattoos on my leg.

Like, I am deep into the lure of Star wars and X Men.

Captain Planet is a hero.

So, you know, I've always loved a Do Gooder because I identify as one.

I love that.

Do you have a favorite character?

Yeah.

So if I was to talk about X Men, it's always been Storm, also known as Ororo Munro, and not necessarily the Halle Berry version, but the goddess and empress who was, you know, a queen in Wakanda.

In the comic books with t', Challa, it was a very big Marvel affair and wedding.

Well, she left the X Men for a little bit, but she is an omega level mutant that I think embodies all the qualities that we would hope for in a person.

Just goodness and justice and protecting those that sometimes can't speak for themselves.

I'm seeing a through line here.

Yeah.

And yet somehow politics was a surprise for me.

So you mentioned already you grew up in a small town in Michigan where you were heavily involved in music and theater.

How did art and creativity first show.

Up in your life?

You know, I come from a crafty family, so my mother did basket weaving.

I learned cranberry selections or cranberry picking antique markets.

Cranberry being the kind of glass.

My grandmother was a big cranberry addict.

You know, collect them all.

And so my grandmother and my aunt would very often take me out antiquing with them.

And so a lot of time spent kind of sifting through things, looking for the magical surprises.

And then I started playing handbells in church and then did that for a long time and was a violist and played oboe and orfs and piano and spent summers at Blue Lake Arts Camp for orchestra and then went to Interlaken for musical theater.

So, yeah, it was.

I've always.

Arts has always been the center of my identity.

When did you first know that you wanted to turn that passion into a profession?

Was there a moment, a teacher, a work of art that cracks on the open?

I think that one thing I've been very blessed with in my life is incredible mentors.

Along the way, people helping convince myself that I was enough and that it was possible.

And that just because you're in a small town or just because insert whatever doesn't mean someone can dampen your light.

And so I've been very lucky that whether it was Elliot Gittleman, who is my orchestra director, who pushed me to go to Blue Lake and then to Interlochen, where I ended up going for musical theater and North Carolina School for the Arts in Winston Salem.

All along the way, I've had maybe folks fight for me when I couldn't fight for myself or show up for me when I didn't believe in myself.

And so, yeah, I like to pay that forward in any way.

So you had a number of mentors.

When you decided that the theater, which was your first career, was the path for you, was your family supportive or indifferent?

How did they feel?

I think my family's response would be a very normal response, which is really, how are you going to make a living?

And regardless of getting into one of the top programs in the country, you know, a justifiable, I guess, question is somebody in my 40s now.

But I think that the incredible thing.

And so, you know, I'm not in the theater profession anymore, but the type of work that occurred under our dean, Gerald Friedman, was not just about theater.

I remember two things specifically quoted the very first day of school.

Studio one.

They said something, I'm going to paraphrase, like, look to the left, look to the right.

Half of you will be gone two years from now.

If you can do anything else, you should leave right now while your tuition can be reimbursed.

If you can do anything else, leave.

One of the things they try to convey in the beginning and then teach us throughout those four years is the love of process.

Because as an artist, if you are focused on the results coming constantly, you will be disappointed.

So you have to learn to love the process.

The.

The.

The end result or, you know, the play at that point, or whatever it is, the audition you land, that's going to not be your consistent life.

So you have to love the process and enjoy it.

And I think naturally, I'm a very curious person, and I've always loved process.

I Have a collection in my jewelry line called the Celestial Collection.

It's inspired by my near death experience from COVID What is that now?

Six years ago, it took me five years from start to finish on that collection.

From initial conception to all the designs and then all the gemstone sourcing.

I think it sounds like you eventually listened to your theater professor's advice and started this jewelry business of starting on the side.

So at some point you discovered that acting wasn't your path.

Can you walk us through that realization?

Yeah, it was.

It was fairly early.

Within the first year being an actor, I realized I didn't really love it.

Like I was getting some great opportunities and I wasn't happy.

So I then leaned on and I was like, you know what?

I'm a visionary.

I was like, I have vision, I have intention.

I want to bring people together.

And let's not be scared of saying that out loud.

Let's live as if that is so.

And what does it mean for me and what can we create together?

So I started 9:30 theater company, which was one of the first eco theater based companies in the country.

We coined the term and we're really at the beginning and intersectionality between the environment and the arts.

And it was a really incredible time.

Some of the work that we did then is now just literally a part of gold standard sustainable theater practices now, which was just kind of really cool.

And it was all underground.

And I used friends of mine that were.

That I had gone to school with that are now like Broadway stars to like bring and pull.

We were doing educational programming that was science based, including the arts.

So instead of going and teaching arts in school, we were teaching science, but using artistic devices to teach science, which was really interesting.

So we were coming in and just bringing in a new energy.

And the New York State Council of the Arts were a great supporter of ours.

And anyway, so it was an incredible learning experience.

And well, it's two things.

I think that's your vision, which you've already called out, and your ability to stay sort of on the edge, the bleeding edge of trends that are happening, which I'm sure have served you very well in your jewelry making.

And it also takes us through why you decided theater maybe wasn't the right next path.

Yeah, it was.

Again, incredible mentors through that process.

I learned a lot from Linda Vogel, who is really, really incredible.

And she was in the Diamond District.

So that was an incredible experience.

But again, I think it was just.

I always say my life opened up when I was able to start to receive and be aware of what was coming towards me.

And so how I relate that back to something my dean said in school is there's no such thing as luck.

It's preparation met with opportunity.

So I feel like the moment I stopped, I was trying so hard, I was working so hard after school.

You know, when we graduated, it was 06.

So we entered into the world right when a financial collapse happened.

And so you know when you do all the things you're told to do and then they're like, the world is gonna show up for you and it doesn't.

How do you carve a space for yourself and how do you do that in a way that doesn't leave people behind you?

So how do you work with a community to be a force to come back?

I don't even look at it today.

You know, when we had our studio, everything is collaborative.

We work together as a team.

Actually, like, I'm really big on it.

I don't like it when say, oh, I work for you.

And I'm like, no, we work together.

It's a with, it's not a for.

This is a collaboration.

But I feel like I have witnessed enough in my life of the things and the ways in which I don't want to work and the correct the kind of cultures I want to be responsible for creating.

Especially in jewelry, it can be depending on the paths you come through, they can be very off putting.

So I think even within our own team, we intentionally set out to do that, to do the opposite of that which we experienced.

How do we make things better?

I think that collaboration and the ability to see and uplift people was really interesting.

You say specifically that whenever someone comes into your shop in the River Arts District, you want them to leave feeling seen and more beautiful than when they left, regardless of if they pick up.

A piece or not.

And that feels really true to your story.

Thanks.

Yeah, I think that, you know, we all deserve that, right?

Being seen and heard costs absolutely nothing.

And showing up and respecting each other is literally the baseline that we should begin from.

Well, so you've talked about the aspect of collaboration being central to your working process.

What inspires the jewelry that you make?

And can you talk a little bit more about the themes that show up in your work?

I'm inspired by so many different things.

I'm inspired by the world around me.

So I'm working on a few different Collections right now.

One called the Eidolon collection, which is inspired by my time in the River Arts district over the years.

And it's all pieces that are inspired by famous works of art through history.

So like for example, the thinking man.

But it's this awesome sculptural bracelet in silver with these 14 karat gold circle inlays that start with a stone in the center.

But it has the spiral of thought, so independent on itself, but speaks to the idea of the sculpture of the thinking man.

So like that, that collection has been inspired by my, my, my life in the River Arts district and there's such a food scene here.

I'm also working on a beautiful fine jewelry collection that's inspired by some of the native fruits and vegetables that we have here.

To expand my current Asheville collection, which is very much inspired by the colors and the fauna and the natural aspects, but this is getting into more of this kind of food world as well.

So that's kind of interesting.

So I think in my work, I, like most artists, reflect that which I see and that which I experience.

So my collections are quite vast in that the body of work is quite different.

Like my icon collection is very much representative of my time in New York.

There's skulls and it, like, it has that rock and roll flair and you know, it's big and it's chunky.

And my everyday luxe collection is definitely inspired by having that, that, that.

That person and that experience.

It's like going to brunch on Sundays and just like wanting to feel great about themselves and like has these little pieces of jewelry that can be layered that they never have to take off and just makes them feel that much more beautiful.

You know, jewelry is such an opportunity to express ourselves.

You know, I always like to think of it as a wearable art.

And there's lots of different ways in which we can reflect it, which is why, you know, I've always been primarily a custom jeweler.

The collections is a component that came later.

So for me, you know, when somebody is able to relate to the stories that I create and they embark on a journey of acquiring pieces from collections, that's amazing.

But it's also really exciting when somebody walks through the door and I get to tell their story and we get to work on it together.

And that, to me, is one of the most exciting things I get to do as a jeweler.

It's an interesting challenge to be met with and how do we convey and tell your story?

So, for example, I had a really amazing client.

She Wanted to do a really cool heirloom piece that she could leave to one of her daughters.

Her father had just passed away, and I was in her apartment, and we were looking through some things, and I noticed some letters that her father had written to her.

And I was like, wow, these are so beautiful.

And it kind of then led onto the character of his first and last name being represented on this armor ring to give the strength and vitality of the story of their journey emigrating from Asia to America and the women that they have created in their generational line, but honoring her father and that step and the brave acts that he made to choose to come here and bring his family here to start over.

So that was a really cool process because everything I've always done, it's always been handmade.

And that was the first time we ever used a CAD process.

So we printed the act because it was so, so important to get every movement of the character perfect so we don't change the meaning.

And that was the start of kind of opening up.

And then me also talking to my therapist about, like, what if there's certain ways we can update and transform the way in which we work?

You know, it's like, I had a lot of guilt initially, and I don't know how others feel about this, but, like, when.

Which is a whole other maybe interesting conversation about the rising growth of technology and how it can differentiate or add to the experience of creating handcrafted things, which is a conversation I'm just always interested in having as well, because it's a journey that I have been on and continue to be on, because now we can print molds.

And, you know, I'm thinking so much about, you know, I trained in lost wax, and we would spend hours and days, like, you know, it's that.

It's that you're like, I am the artist.

I am making this.

I'm suffering.

I'm sweating in a hot room.

I'm dirty.

I'm carving everything.

And then all of a sudden, someone's like, yeah, you can build that on a computer and, like, print it out in, like, an hour.

And you're like, am I an artist?

What?

You know, which is just an interesting.

It just is an interesting conversation.

So we've been working and kind of transforming since COVID about when to utilize tools like that, when is it appropriate.

What a meaningful and of the moment conversation around the role of technology in art as we stare down the barrel of artificial intelligence and what that means for so many artists and designers.

I want to ask you, because you've talked through your process a little bit.

If there are any specific materials that you either love or hate to work with, that you're more drawn to or.

You absolutely can't stand, at the end of the day, I, I'm a rock lover.

I love natural gemstones.

It's literally pure magic.

The earth makes these things.

And then one day somebody was like, what if we cut them and make them sparkly?

Or what if we round them and make them a cabochon?

There is something so magical that I think connects us back to the places we come from in those kinds of natural resources.

So to me, it's all about the stone.

Like, I have my whole day, and then at about 11 o', clock, the fun starts.

That's where, like, if I'm looking for, like, I need a green sapphire, I need this, I need that.

That's when WhatsApp starts going out and I start getting the videos and the pictures and then we're like, okay, we're going to do this.

And then it becomes the, the, the deal of getting the right gemstone at the right price at the right time, and they move quickly.

So it's a really exciting moment.

And it's funny that you wear so many hats in your own business, and then again in everything else that you do, you just like to stay busy.

I think I do.

You know, I, you know, it was a really interesting time.

But that year and a half was probably one of the hardest years of my life.

And not because of the chronic pain I was in, not because of the neuropathy I developed or the bone pain or the inflammation I was experiencing as a part of Long Covid.

None of that.

It was that I couldn't do anything.

I, for the first time in my life, was left with myself and my thoughts because I could barely move.

I had chronic fatigue syndrome.

Sometimes all I could do in the day was go to the bathroom and if I was lucky, take a shower.

And so for a year and a half, it was just me and my thoughts.

And it was.

I was always so scared of what that moment would look like when, you know, it's easy when you're busy and living in a place like New York City to fill the space inside of your head so you don't have to be alone with yourself, you know, And I learned a lot through that time.

I think that I.

That I liked who I was and that I liked the person that I was becoming.

But it also left a lot of questions.

I was 36.

I almost died.

I didn't really know.

I came to Asheville as a last hurrah.

You know, the.

The doctors were like, this could be the rest of your life.

So, you know, I had this whole vision of mountains.

And so I googled top 10 mountain towns.

Asheville came up number one.

I had secured an apartment by 10am and I was like, I have got to see the view from the balcony.

That's the only way I'll know.

And she took a photo.

And I was like, that's it.

That's the photo in my mind.

And so my husband woke up, Jason, who is the most incredible human in the world because he has to put up with me.

And I was like, by the way, here is a PowerPoint presentation.

I'm gonna sell you on this idea of moving to Asheville.

And he was like, nashville?

And I said, asheville.

And he said, nashville.

He's like, I love music.

And I was like, no, no, no, Asheville.

It's in North Carolina.

He was like, what?

And so we went through.

And it was Covid in New York City.

And so.

And he was.

He's a photographer and works in the event world.

And so his whole life was also paused.

It was July.

And I remember just looking at him and being like, I think I'm just going to die if I have to stay here through the winter.

I was like, my spirit can't.

Can't move past.

I need to get out of here.

And I need.

I need some time, and I need some space.

And so I'll never forget.

Took us 17 hours to get here.

So we got here at night, and we drove up on Haywood Road, which is in West Asheville, and we thought that was downtown.

And now, mind you, we hadn't really done a lot of research.

We just knew that we were going there.

And my husband turns to me, was like, I thought you said there was a skyscraper.

And I was like, I swear I saw in the photos, but it was so late, and it was Covid, so nothing was open.

We were trying to find something to eat.

And so we went home.

We had no bed to sleep.

On it was he.

The dogs and I, we slept on the floor.

And I woke up that next morning and stood out on the balcony, and I felt like I had taken the first breath in over a year.

And it changed my life.

And Asheville saved me.

And November of that year, I went to the River Arts District for the first time.

They were having their fall studio stroll, and I walked into the Phil Mechanic building, and I met Molly.

Sawyer was the first person I met.

And we spent the day walking through the rad.

And I was like, this is a place of magic.

This is a place of possibility.

This is a place filled with community of people who care.

And the conversation quickly shifted from being Asheville, being this maybe temporary thought, to something where I was like, oh, I think this is where I want to be.

And it was really interesting, right, because, like, as a kid, sometimes as an artist, we had this dream of what life will look like.

And I always saw New York City as the dream place I wanted to go.

And I did it.

And then what?

What's next?

What's the next chapter?

And this was the first time as an adult that I chose to be somewhere.

I was like, this is my home.

For people who have experienced serious illness or major life disruptions like what you're describing, what would you want them to know about what's possible on the other side?

Because your story is so vibrant and.

Beautiful, you know, I had so many doctors telling me what wouldn't be possible, and it was a culmination of my whole life.

This isn't possible.

This isn't possible.

This isn't possible.

And even when the days are darkest, even when you're living inside of impossibility, you have to remember that you are unstoppable.

And that the energy and the possibility that lives inside of us, that makes us so special as humans can't be dictated.

That's what we're able to use to spark whatever it is we create.

And there were days.

And it's really hard to understand this sometimes if you haven't been inside of that lived experience.

But there are days, weeks, months.

I begged for death because it was so hard.

And I couldn't really talk to anybody about it because then people make these ideas and perceptions about it, so you're alone with them.

And I think the best thing to do is remember that we're never alone.

And that, you know, I was very lucky that I was able to eventually connect with other people that were having that experience.

And so I think that it is so important when you're living inside of something that's chronic or something that challenges the dream of life that you had and.

And puts it at a hard stop and a pause to connect with people who are also inside of that experience.

Because it's hard sometimes.

Like, it would have been hard in that moment to go to a friend, me, like, I don't want to be here anymore.

It's too hard.

I can't do it.

But sometimes you just need to say it out loud to let the feeling go away, to make it have no power.

I know that's kind of weird because, like, saying things out loud sometimes empowers the words, but I felt like equally sometimes getting it out got it out of my body so that I could focus on the healing and I could focus on what I wanted next.

And I think when you're living inside of those, you have to.

You can't stop dreaming.

You know, what are we fighting for?

What are we trying to get through the other side?

And so inside of that stillness, inside of that darkness, what was my opportunity?

What had I spent the last 40 years of my life essentially making?

And what did I want for the next 40?

What's your legacy?

How do you want people to remember you?

What did you do?

Is that important?

And again, it goes back to community.

I appreciate you being so vulnerable, because that is a really personal experience, and I love that you bring it back to community.

And it sounds like that's what you found when you made it here to the River Arts, to district.

How did you get plugged in and eventually become the president of rada?

Was that one moment, did you find it, or did it find you?

So, I mean, I love the River Arts District.

It was not easy to break into.

I.

You know, I spent a year on every waiting list of every building, and it was.

I. I didn't really understand the process of how to get in.

And then I had become friends with two other business owners in the building that I'm now in.

There was a bakery and wine shop called Mother, and then Tressa is two doors down from there.

And I had just become friends with them.

So when one of their spaces became available, they were like, you really need to bring this person in.

And so I got lucky.

But it did take a year or so for me to get a space in the rad.

So it was already challenging prior to helim to find a space because it was so competitive.

And then me being me, I instantly got involved.

I joined rada, and then they had an opening that became available for the marketing chair and so I took that.

So my first year, I was in the marketing role.

And then after that, so folks were like, you've got great ideas.

You should run for president.

And so I ran on three pillars.

So there was three things that I was like, this is what I want to focus on.

One, incredible, incredible work over the last few decades to the artists who have been in these roles before, you have become so, so good at this job and so effective in the roles of art leadership that this is unsustainable as a model.

We have reached a point where even as the marketing chair, I was doing 40 hours of volunteer work a week, which is an unpaid job.

So these roles in our organization had really become, for the most part, unpaid jobs because there was so much to do.

And this, I was like, this is unsustainable because what we're running right now, which I think a lot of nonprofits and arts organizations have to do, is we're running on a burnout mentality.

We are so grateful you are coming to the board.

We will work you until you can't work, and then you will be replaced.

You know, and it's just like we keep.

And that's not sustainable long term.

You know, people don't run businesses that way.

So, uh, we're.

We're a valuable asset in communities.

We're a huge economic driving force.

Arts is not philanthropy.

It's also economic drivers.

Um, so I was like, we've got to get a 501C3, so we have proper fundraising because we were a 501C6 to fight gentrification, to fight the changes that were happening in the district, to be able to offset market value, costs, whatever it was.

We knew we were going to have to fundraise.

We needed a paid executive director desperately.

And the third thing was really important to me and was something that was a conversation happening in the RAD before me as well.

It's the River Arts District, and yet the artists are not stakeholders.

From a land ownership perspective.

The foundation needed to legacy plan and institutionalize in a Asheville way to protect our community long term.

We needed to own something.

And I was elected nine months before Helene and two, three weeks before Helene hit.

We had just hired our executive director.

And three days after Helene, we had got our IRS letter confirming our 501C3 status.

So if that had never happened, we could have never raised the money that we did after the storm, which has been the only financial investment into the district at this point.

So if anybody listening donated, by the way, to the RADA Foundation.

Thank you so much.

You know, we were able to grant out over $300,000 in emergency grants right after the storm.

And this has also then been able to be used as catalyst and seed money to fund the River Arts District Creative campus, which is over 30,000 square feet of space dedicated to our community.

And it's all driven through community and mission aligned partners.

So it's an artist partner, engine driven mechanism, creator space.

It's going to be amazing.

It goes back to what you were saying earlier, that it's preparation meets opportunity.

Yeah, it was really good timing that you were able to pull those things through when you did, because Helene was devastating for Asheville, for the surrounding counties, for the arts community.

And it looks so much different now.

At the same time, it was a real opportunity for you to be able to talk about what the River Arts District is.

You sort of became a figurehead for Asheville as the RATA president, appearing in the New York Times, CNBC and Conde Nast, among others.

And then this year, Asheville's River Arts District was voted the number one best arts district in the United States by USA Today.

So how does it feel being able to make such a big impact?

This isn't something that was built in a silo.

This is something that has taken so many of us.

You might see my face, but there are hundreds of people standing beside me.

This is something that is due to the work of so many leaders in the River Arts District.

Whether it's Lisa at riverlink, Amy, who's been an incredible partner for us that's now a part of our board, who owns the radical hotel and Rad Rendezvous, and the film mechanic Joe at Wrong Way.

I mean, there's Katie with Arts avl.

Like, yes, we have been a part of the community with boots on the ground, but it takes such a bigger picture than that, right?

Like, you know, it takes a village.

And what I mean by that is RADA was able to do that work on the ground with our volunteers, removing silt, rebuilding, all of that.

And then we had, you know, incredible support at the county and state level through NC Arts and Arts AVL championing for us at those levels while we're rebuilding.

So all of this takes such a collective movement.

So you might see my face, but there are hundreds of us.

I think one of the things that makes me a great leader is I'm a great team builder.

I am very attuned to the skills I don't have or my weaknesses.

And I build teams around that and intentionally work as a Force multiplier.

There have been some recent federal funding changes that have significantly affected agencies like fema, who we all got up close and personal with in the wake of Helene, and also the National Endowment for the Arts.

What do you think are the downstream effects of those cuts on a city like Asheville, which is still in Helene recovery?

Or in other words, what's the role of government in the arts?

I believe that the government needs to play a strong role as a partner in the arts.

The arts have always served as a vital role of not even just the human experience, but finding ways to connect.

And in a time when technology is outpacing so many different aspects, art is, I think, even more critically important to continue to keep us connected, whether it's a painting, whether it's a ceramics course.

And you're putting your hands on something like, we have to continue to invest in the arts world if we're going to have thinking machines for us, I guess, which sounds terrifying to me.

Um, how do we keep having those conversations and connecting back with each other?

It's so important that the government plays a role as a funding partner and let the art leaders lead with their communities to inform those decisions.

I actually like one of the things I'm very passionate about in the state of North Carolina that I would like to see go before the General assembly is in.

And again, this is a return on investment, because the arts in Bungam county is a $1.3 billion industry.

That's not philanthropy.

Again, that's an economic driving force that should be invested in what if and when we think about how do we protect our arts districts all across the country long term, what is it going to take?

How do we protect our creative communities?

I think one thing that should be done across our country at the state level is investments into arts districts through a subsidy program, just like housing vouchers.

So if you own a building or you manage a building that has, for example, in a reit, in a arts district like the RAD or downtown, for.

In Asheville's case, if you rent out to an artist or a creative studio, you can rent out below market in an affordable rate that is then subsidized through the state, just like a housing voucher.

So when we think about planning long term for the.

For the way our country is moving, we have to be really thoughtful and intentional about how we're investing.

So if you build out these creative communities, you invest in sales taxes, income will go up, you know, so there will be money that comes back to you.

So maybe you Give someone a little bit of a break on their studio rent like you would in their lived housing, but that then protects that community.

So that's one thing I would like to see.

And then the creative campus.

And this isn't just about the role of government in general, but I think as arts districts we need to really plan about how we are going to protect our community.

So I've been singing this song since these conversations happened after Helene.

We have all of these ideas, we have all these things we want to build, so let's build them.

But at the same time, we cannot forget to invest in the leadership building of young artists.

If we're going to go through these process and develop and build these fabulous nonprofits or institutions or whatever across the country, what are we doing to invest in the leadership building of young artists who are going to lead those programs?

So that's something in Asheville specifically I talk about a lot because you know, we have a hard time keeping young people here so who are going to run all of these programs.

So while we're building all this, we also need to be investing in developing young artists, keeping them in our cities, letting them find ways and pathways to connect to businesses and to markets outside of our local market.

I think actually it is such an opportunity for our government bodies to radically invest in the arts and culture segment.

It's a way we can continue to heal as a, as a culture and a community connect and also bring economic vitality.

What you've touched on is that artists are culture bearers and that that's essential, as you've stated, to the economy, but also to what it means to be human.

And artsville fundamentally agrees with that, that we have a responsibility not just as an economic driver, but to make sure that folks voices are heard.

And I'll take a minute to plug the two exhibitions at Artsville that you're featured in.

Your work is featured in that's the co exhibition with the New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts that we did.

It was a retrospective from Hurricane Helene, the one year passing of Hurricane Helene and the 20 year passing of artists from New Orleans who had been through Hurricane Katrina.

And reflecting on those stories and finding those shared experiences was significant.

When all of the communication was cut off in western North Carolina during those days, weeks, months, it really made you stop and reflect on who your community was.

And I think finding for me that we weren't the first and aren't going to be the last was really healing.

It meant that there was someone out there who could relate to what you were going through.

And now we're looking at the body of work show, which has to do with the fact that our time here is fleeting, and so what impact can we make in the interim?

And you have taken your life experiences, your service background, your leadership background, and said, I think I can make an even bigger difference by serving on the Asheville City Council.

So can you talk a little bit more about how you move from leading one of the major drivers of the arts economy in western North Carolina and in Asheville to deciding that you wanted to make an even bigger difference?

Yeah.

There is a moment in January, right after the storm, where everything changed for me.

So right coming out of the of the storm, one of the things that our community found was a lot of the grants that were available we were actually ineligible for.

Whether it was because the floor of that grant was a staffing situation of, like two or more staff, or it was a floor of, like, you needed to be making a hundred thousand dollars or more a year.

And for small businesses in the creative sector, we represent a very wide margin in that we have true micro small businesses.

Small businesses and most of our community were not eligible for those resources, but yet we're the ones under almost 30ft of water.

So I just started yelling at everybody, and then someone was like, hey, we're.

It was the Boone Chamber said, hey, in Swannanoa, They've just reopened the church, and we're hosting government leaders and agencies and whatnot across the state for this panel.

Would you come?

And I said, of course.

And it was my first time doing anything like that.

And I sat down and was like, are y' all sure you have the right person here?

Like, I'm a jeweler, like, in an art.

Like, I'm an artist.

Like.

Like, are you sure you have the right person?

And then it all comes back to the moment where all of a sudden, you're sitting with a group of people who supposedly represent you, and you're busy digging yourself out, and they're talking at you instead of with you about what they want for your community.

So it very much became this moment of don't come into the place where we live and work and know and have spent decades building and tell us what to do.

Come and have a seat at our table, and we'll let you know what we need and want.

And also, by the way, uniquely, we're people who build and make things, so we're uniquely qualified on top of it to let you know and inform you.

And so for me, it went from being community organizer Working on, like, having conversations about how we structure and organize from the way that we worked as a community.

Like the 501C6, the 501C3.

As soon as we knew that that was coming, we started organizing.

And then with a grant through Etsy, Unified RAD ended up becoming this group that started three people that's now thousands of people.

And we worked together as a community over three months.

So people you don't always see come together.

Artists, small business owners, developers, building owners, and our neighboring communities of Southside.

And we can.

And we created 39 visionary projects for the River Arts District with four catalytic projects.

And so we've now done the work.

We know what we need for our community for this district.

We need everybody now to partner with us to execute it.

So I think going through that work and then becoming the chair of the Helene Economy Recovery Board and seeing sometimes these gaps, and sometimes they're unintentional.

Like, sometimes the gaps are because in the state of North Carolina, where a Dillon's rule.

So locally we have a lot of limited power, but what Asheville has that is so special is community.

I'm not saying it's right, but it's our opportunity because we have so many incredibly smart, skilled, exceptional people in our community.

We can fill those gaps.

And that is the greatest power and gift that we have.

Where the systems cannot reach us.

It is now our job to step up, and we need to do that as a collective.

I love that you talk about creativity informing your role in your work.

Is there anything you would like astral residents to know about your goals?

Yeah, I mean, I identify as a community advocate, so I'm somebody that goes into community to learn and reflect.

So what I would very much look forward to in being on city council is working with our neighborhood leaders.

And you do that by also putting things back in place.

So, you know, we have boards that have been paused that could be reinstated to help rebuild some of those connection points.

Like, you know, we have money sitting in a fund for our.

For tree growth and development.

And because the Urban Forestry Commission was paused, we don't have the policy of how to spend that money.

So it's just sitting in the bank.

We can't invest it.

So I think there's a real opportunity for community to step up and be able to help fill those gaps.

And so, you know, I think there's always a few things that we're focused on.

Truly affordable housing, which isn't something just for artists.

That's something that benefits us all because there's an affordability crisis happening across the nation and it's so systemic.

But a lot of solutions for so many challenges come back to either allowing people to be able to afford to stay in their homes so that could be aging in place, or to be able to afford a starter home.

And so you have to get the projects to pencil.

So I have a lot of, you know, as a creative person, right, I think I offer a lot of creative solutions because this isn't necessarily the world I was born inside of.

So, you know, I went and spent two months researching all of our revenue streams and met with some city staff and was like, please take me through this process.

What is this like?

What is this like?

What are the gaps that we're missing?

We don't have a centralized strategic grant department for this city.

And then went and met with some of our county commissioner folks and was like, what if we had a centralized solution?

What if we actually invested in a department that could make money because we have so limited revenue streams.

So that's one area.

Anti displacement tools are really important again to keeping folks in their homes.

So supporting our local businesses, continuing to invest in our creative economy, environmental and resilient infrastructures, continue to support things like thrive with our hubs and development for resiliency.

And additionally, I think something we all deserve accountability and trust in our government.

If we say we're going to do something, let's finish it.

Asheville is so, so great at creating a plan.

Hiring people to create a plan and then we don't implement them.

Whether it's the master transit plan, whether it's Shiloh's community plan, we're really great at not executing them.

So like, what if we found a way to complete them?

What if we started putting timelines to the progress we're trying to make so then we can be held accountable and the public can be informed to know why it's not happening instead of just being left in the dark.

And all of this happens by creating trust.

So you have to be able to trust the people that we're working with.

And so I look forward to continuing to show up for our community.

I'm hoping to bring the creative ingenuity that we've been able to develop in the River Arts District and widen the lens and serve at large for the entire city of Asheville.

And I've spent two years now, actually I just celebrated my one year anniversary of going to the city council meetings live in person.

So I'm ready, I'm ready.

I'm ready to serve this community.

It would be an honor for me and it's time.

You can't go back after having experiences like this coming out of Helene wrapping up.

Are there any projects besides running for city council that you're really excited about right now?

I'm excited about the River Arts District Creative Campus.

I just can't wait one day to be walking through the River Arts District and seeing artists running around.

Maybe they're having to run up to the Creative Campus because there's a special piece of equipment that they need to use.

So they've rented out that equipment for the day or they're just in there, you know, humming away on a machine.

I just can't wait to see how much vitality and movement and creativity that is going to continue to foster through our community as a result of that project.

You have such a interesting thread through your life of building from the ground up, from restarting, reinventing.

But don't forget too, that's what artists do.

That's our truest gift.

That's definitely true.

Being able to envision something and make it happen.

So as we're approaching Spooky Season, which is a time when the veil between worlds feels thin and we sit with these questions about mortality and legacy and what we leave behind, and we put on shows like Body of Work that explore these themes.

Is this a time of any special significance to you personally?

I would say that every day is special, and every day is an opportunity to make something happen and be possible.

So what happens in Spooky Season is the same thing that happens outside of Spooky Season.

It's all just a moment to connect.

Whether it's with our ancestors, our spirits, our friends and neighbors, it's all about what we can create together.

And maybe that thin veil is something that makes it feel even more possible at times.

We can connect to that which we can't hold.

I think that's a really beautiful place to leave the conversation.

Thank you, Jeffrey, for being with us today.

Thank you.

This has been such a magical experience.

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