Just a year ago, fall festivals were disappearing right and left from event calendars in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Hurricane Helene may have thrown a wrench in Western North Carolina’s 2024 festival season, but 2025 is back and better than ever. This weekend marks the triumphant return of the LEAF Global Arts Festival for its 30th anniversary at Lake Eden in Black Mountain. Join host Elise Wilson and LEAF Marketing and Engagement Coordinator Natascha Van Aalst Leitner as they uncover how stories, songs, and dance connect Western North Carolina with the rest of the world—and why this year's theme, “Live Life Like a Festival,” is more relevant than ever. 

Together, Elise and Natascha unpack: 

• Why cultural preservation remains an integral part of LEAF’s mission after thirty years
• How LEAF's Artist ReLEAF Fund supports local artists affected by natural disasters
• How to Live Life Like a Festival: Pick up a copy of founder Jennifer Pickering’s new book, which celebrates 30 years of LEAF Global Arts.

How You Can Get Involved

• Purchase tickets for the 2025 LEAF Global Arts Festival, Oct. 16 - 19.
• Donate to LEAF's Artist ReLEAF Fund.
• Shop Live Life Like a Festival.
• Learn about global arts through LEAF’s Schools & Streets program. 
• Become a member of LEAF. 

About LEAF Global Arts

LEAF Global Arts is a non-profit organization that fosters community and cultural connections through world music, arts education, and global experiences. For nearly 30 years, it has worked to build relationships with communities, preserve cultural heritage, and provide arts education to thousands of youth, primarily through its festivals, the LEAF Retreat, and the Easel Rider Mobile Art Lab. Its mission is to connect cultures and create community through shared experiences with art, music, and dance. 

• Website
• Instagram
• YouTube
• Twitter

Follow ArtsvilleUSA

• Website
• Newsletter
• Instagram
• Facebook

Episode artwork: Street Creature Puppet Collective.

Hartsville, Hartsville, the happening town where art abounds Hartsville, Hartsville from Asheville Town where heart abound Hartsville, Hartsville Feeling mountain high and inspired in North Carolina that's where you'll find us amazing artists and designers.

Oh, yeah, Artsville.

From Asheville.

Hi, all you artists and art lovers.

This is Elise Wilson, executive director of Artsville usa, co, coming to you today for the first time from Leaf Global arts headquarters in downtown Asheville, North Carolina.

I'm so glad you're here.

You may have visited downtown Asheville's Friday night drum circle, but have you ever been to Leaf, formerly Lake Eden Arts Festival.

Get it?

L, E A F. LEAF aims to create a thriving global community through world music, arts education, preservation and experiences.

Next week, Leif is hosting their 30th annual arts festival in Black Mountain, North Carolina.

But could it be their last?

Joining us today are Jennifer Pickering, Leif, founder and visionary Connector, and Natasha Von Alst Leitner, marketing and engagement coordinator.

All right, so to get us started.

Today, for our guests who have never heard of Leaf Festival, Jennifer, can you tell us a little bit about how you got started when you're historically.

Well, 30 years ago, there was the question that somebody had asked of, would you like to come and buy the Black Mountain Folk Festival that was happening there at Lake Eden?

And I said, I don't even go to festivals.

But my passion was world cultures.

And I went into what I call my Little Red Riding Hood experience of exploring what that would look like.

And it started making me really think about how people connected to different places and different cultures around the world, and that music and dance are really the easiest ways for people to both travel the world and connect with their community.

So over a couple of months, a team of five of us started designing LEAF.

It happened very organically, and the five of us, out of the five of us, Navis, Carol, Kelly, myself and Shakira, four of us are still involved in LEAF, which is pretty amazing 30 years later.

And we created what we wanted to have at the amazing Lake Eden, which was where I had also grown up.

And there's been a lot of extraordinary history on the property.

The Black Mountain College was there, and growing up there, I recognized that it is a sanctuary.

It's an extraordinary place, both as a camp and as a festival.

So as we were designing Leeds Leaf, we wanted to create a sampler of all the best of Western North Carolina arts and culture and at the same time take you around the world and create it for families and or for individuals.

So you would bring your babies and you bring your grandmas or you just come by yourself.

So the poetry slam, which is still run today by Nave, the slam host, and he is one of the two longest running slams in the world with the same host.

And Saturday night at Leaf in Eden hall, which is a historic hall to begin with, will be on point, on fire, take you so many places you never imagined, because poets just know how to do it.

And the other piece that we included from the very start as part of the recipe was Healing Arts.

And that was another component which now you often will find in festivals, but it wasn't at the time.

So taking our 12 recipes ingredient, so to speak, and creating Leaf is really how we live life, like a festival.

And that happens to be the name of your book as well.

Right?

Do you want to tell us a.

Little bit about that?

It is.

Well, this started about a year ago, Mary Emma Harris, who wrote the book on Black Mountain College, the pinnacle book arts at Black Mountain College.

At the same time, she asked me this question, as did Amanda Lucidin, who did her book on Michelle Obama at Lake Eden.

And both of them said, when are you going to do the Leaf book on?

I was like, I'm not doing a book.

And they both created these immersive coffee table experiences.

And they said, you know, you've done 30 years of extraordinary bringing together artists from all over the world, all over our community.

And it really is worth honoring the past and also sharing it in a way that is inspiring to people of how you live the best of your life and create connect to the best of the world.

So it has been so fun.

We're in the pre buy version right now, and we are far enough long that the publisher said we can go on and do the pre buy.

So that's fun.

And we will have a finale chapter which will be all about this upcoming festival.

So whether you're new to Leaf or whether you've been there for 10 years, 20 years, you will be part of the story and really good chance that there may be a picture of you in there too.

I'm so honored.

Thank you so much.

Well, so can you tell me a little bit more about the way that you're using arts and culture to make a difference in people's lives?

Because that's one of the Things that we're exploring this month is festivals in general in western North Carolina, which now is a great time to come to Western North Carolina.

October, leaf season.

I don't know if you guys ever use that in your marketing, but I definitely think of you every time I think of the Leaf Keepers coming here.

Yes.

But we're also talking about the way that arts shape our brains and minds and the impact that it has when you create something.

So I'll start, and then I'll let Natasha take it from there.

Of when we started leaf, the originating name was Lake Eden Arts Festival, so the acronyms leaf.

And then years later, as we expanded way beyond the festival and realizing we were bringing all these arts and artists into our community, but not getting them out into the community.

And so that's how when we started leaf, schools and streets and inspired by, my God, children who at the time were living in Klondike and several other housing communities.

And then later, we expanded to LEAF International support, supporting Culture Keeper.

So we transform the name into Leaf Global Arts.

Eventually.

And for all of us, knowing where you come from and knowing your traditions or knowing traditions of the world and others, and that helps not only reshape your brain, but reshapes your connection to both yourself, your history, and to others.

And as we know, art is a really small word with a really big world and so many different layers of it.

And for us at Leif, really, it's about the cultural traditions and then how that is expressed.

From Shaka Zulu's Mardi Grandian suit that he sews every year that's sitting right behind you, to photographs of Michael Weintraub's instrument head that's behind you.

And he'll be at Leaf with to painters, to artists, to musicians, and how that shapes really, how we can connect to each other in really positive ways.

And oftentimes get beyond the things that are divisive.

If you can sing it out or drum it out, as Shaka Zulu says, pick up the drum and come together.

So I'll pass it to you.

Being from a different part of the world.

Yeah.

So I was born and raised in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and by way of New York City and Seattle, moved into Asheville, North Carolina.

I came to leave by way, as a visitor first, and I remember entering the Lake Eden property, and I actually, literally, I think my jaw dropped a little bit.

Just I was like, you know, hammocks and slackliners and stealth walkers, and there were people singing and dancing, and we got, like, embraced by this group of stilled Walkers who were like, spraying, like, essential oils over us.

And I have this inner feeling was like, I'm home.

You know, I come from the journalism background, artist background.

And I was like, how am I going to move to this small mountain town and find my people?

And how am I going to offer that to my kids?

And just walking around at Leaf, you know, gave me so many opportunities to share things with my kids.

And Jennifer just mentioned traditions.

You know, it's like traditions within the art and traditions passing on.

But Leaf has.

Leaf became a tradition for our family to go twice a year and escape.

Escape the busyness of daily life for a weekend as the kids got older.

Escape the screens for a weekend and just connect and do things together.

Don't dance contra together or watch puppetry and discover some live music, which was sometimes from across the globe or sometimes even just from Asheville.

Like, oh, my gosh, this is an amazing musician that I'm going to follow now.

And, you know, the global arts part was, of course, interesting to discover here in this small town.

The kids had the opportunity to expand their horizon with some African drumming and some dancing and learning some songs that they'd never heard from musicians that they would not have met otherwise.

And while I see that my family has the means to travel, I'm very much aware of how many kids here in WNC don't have that opportunity.

And they do have that opportunity at Leaf.

Yeah.

And we've brought.

Over the past 30 years, we've brought artists from 116 different countries.

And so as we look forward, and I think you had asked me one of my dreams of, you know, whatever the next as we turn over new Leafs and look at what's needed in our community and for our mission and how it shows up at this next phase.

One of my hopes is that we can continue to bring artists from all over the world, and eventually we get to presenting artists from every single country would be extraordinary.

That would be extraordinary.

And western North Carolina is known for its scenic beauty here.

You were talking about the impact that it made to step into the Lee Keaton property for the first time.

I don't think that people understand the global connections that are made here or even in downtown Asheville, how sort of European it feels compared to other parts of the Southeast.

So it's interesting that there's so much on offer here that you don't necessarily get just walking around the area.

Those global connections you were talking about.

I'm wondering if you can tell me a little bit more about the arts that Happen at leap global arts.

So a lot of people think of it just as a music festival.

And you made it clear that the poetry slam and other aspects of the the festival include, you know, connecting with your neighbors.

But what about the coppersmithing and the blacksmithing and the van Gogh?

Can you tell us about the arts on pathetic?

Yes.

Well, it is a sampler.

And so many different artists will even have navajo weavers coming from new Mexico that will be set up and you'll have.

Well, it's a fascinating experience because one, you're in art history, literally, like walking the grounds of black mountain.

You're underneath the first building ever built on pilings in America with the jean charlot murals underneath.

And at the same time, you'll have an artist, you know, whether it's Trek 6 or Tommy Lee painting or creating over here their actual original artwork.

And artists that are selling their wares.

All of our vendors are actually artisans who make and craft their own arts.

And that could be anywhere from pottery to clothes to, you know, whatever.

Whatever the experience is that you can.

It's my favorite place to shop, actually.

I really do not like shopping at all, except at leaf and a few other small places.

And directly from the artist, that's pretty special.

So your walk, walking through art history at the same time, your kids can.

And you as well can go to the van gogh easel rider and create an art piece yourself.

Or the artisans from swannanoa who work in live edge wood.

They'll be set up at the barn, which was built by the black mountain college, mostly female students, which is a piece of art in itself.

They'll be set up there and creating on the site different wood experiences and commemorating the 30 years.

So there are so many different ways.

And I know, you know, you work in artsville, so to speak, and the artists who come to leaf, we really consider everybody to be an artist.

So however you want to express yourself.

And if you're walking into the instrument head art truck and experiencing that in there, or whether it's a performer or a dancer, but that is what we're all doing.

We're in the creative process of being and exchanging and creating.

Or you can just go sit by the lake and bring your own sketch pad at out, which I love.

One of my favorite photos is of Christopher holt, who's a local amazing, amazing artist of him sketching on a Sunday at a leaf October festival right there on Eden hall porch.

So it is also something that has been fascinating of people often don't explore what's in their own backyard.

And I have found that myself.

I actually had that happen this week.

A reminder from going to Billy Ed Wheeler's funeral, who wrote the song Jackson and Reverend Mr. Black Heart of the County.

He was one of my favorite people actually performing.

Performed at Leaf a couple of times as Elvi, along with the Go Go Girls.

And going to his celebration funeral this week along with going to the Jack of the Wood music jam, which I hadn't been to in probably a decade.

And everyone that was there playing were also people that have been part of Leaf over the years in the old time jams.

So that reminder of even though we live here, consider yourself a visitor at certain points and start to remind yourself to be curious all the time and define and discover what arts and music are in your own backyard.

And my husband, who I met at Leaf, he was a sponsor with Global Rhythm magazine from New York City.

It was right after 9, 11 had happened in New York.

He came for the first time and he was like, oh my gosh, where am I going to?

And he reminds me that if you live in Malawi, like Masanko, who comes twice a year for 27 years to leave, that the arts here are global arts.

So oftentimes we forget like, we are part of this extraordinary global art scene.

And just looking at it from a different perspective.

And so going back to coming to the sanctuary of Lake Eden, which is at the end of a dead end road, it is a sanctuary.

There's a reason that it was a safe place for artists to flee to in the 40s during World War II, when a lot of the artists were fleeing Nazi Germany and ended up there through the Baja movement.

There's a reason that it was one of the first racially integrated, openly gay learning institutions in America.

It is a sanctuary.

It is a beautiful place and the land welcomes you in different ways and invites you to be creative.

That's beautiful.

And we always say everybody has an artist in them, but if you're not ready to claim the title, yeah, you can still come as an art lover.

And it sounds like the perfect person to come to the Leaf Festival.

Absolutely.

And it's that sense of belonging and that, that sense of wonder that you get that's made it possible to have Leap go on for 30 years now.

Congratulations.

Well, I definitely curious and it has really, really been a gift to create a platform to invite so many people from different perspectives and ideologies and thoughts and ways and traditions and countries to be able to share their arts with us right here in our own Backyard.

I'm wondering if you can tell me a little bit about the ability to balance old traditions with the modern times.

So I know that you have talked a little bit about your culture keepers.

Yes.

But how do you take something that's so traditional and such a traditional place, thinking about the bluegrass music we have here or the art of blacksmithing, which is hundreds and hundreds of years old, and how do you take that and make it relevant to today without discarding parts of it that are so essential and important?

That is a really, really great, great question.

And going back to the blacksmithing for a moment.

So Scotty Oots, who lives here in Asheville area, and he has raw tools and does extraordinary blacksmithing work, and he'll actually be underneath the ship.

He comes from a long legacy of artists, and his father was a very famous painter from Miami.

Actually, it's.

Scotty grew up coming to Camp Rotmund as a camper, so it's fun to have his blacksmithing now.

And he takes.

Also he has a program and where they take guns and different weapons and transform them into garden tools, which is a really beautiful.

Yeah, beautiful piece.

And for those who don't know, Camp Rockmont is the.

The boys camp that was hosted on the same site that your father ran.

Well, and it.

So Camp Rockmont and so Lake Eden is now Camp Rockmont and Lake Eden Retreat.

And yes, we all grew up there.

And it has been, you know, so you're essentially coming to camp at the same time.

You're coming to a festival, and you're coming to art history.

Like, that's a really good combat package.

And for.

For.

For any family, it's literally like going to summer camp with your kids.

Right.

It's like, there's a.

There's pedal boards on the lake.

There's a zip line.

There's, like, games.

Like, there's a field to play soccer for the kids.

There's, like, so much fun to do together, to really create those memories together, those magical memories.

And I think we.

I think we just went.

My mind just got on a paddle board in the zip line for a minute.

So go back to what were we going.

Where were we going on this journey?

We were talking about how you honor old traditions while bringing them.

That's a great question.

And this is one of those pieces that has been very interesting with the artist curators.

So currently, our artist curators are a brilliant team.

Melissa McKinney and Kyrie Antoinette.

And they both come from different traditions.

So Melissa really rooted in the blues and the folk and Kyrie, with an extraordinary background in global music.

And one of the pieces within music is there's a lot of hybrids, which take samplings of different cultures and traditions.

And over the years, we've really tried to honor people who are sharing their own traditions or with the mix of traditions that there's some roots in there that they're connected to.

And for me personally, I can feel it if.

If you are doing, you know, whether you call it international world music, folk music, whatever you you're doing, if you're doing it and you have some kind of connection to those roots and you've actually honored them, like, it just feels right to me.

It's just different.

And the thing that has been the most challenging is the way that marketing has gone in the music world is been more towards pop and towards pieces that don't necessarily honor cultural traditions.

And really.

And a lot of people have a disconnection from roots.

And so it has definitely been a harder sell and something that, over the years of Leaf, that we've really tried to resist that mainstream marketing and trying to get people to come to Lee for the whole experience.

And you're going to discover artists that you don't know.

And so the.

The longtime Leafers, we love them because they're curious and they're good, they're kind, and they come with an open mind and they explore.

And, you know, at the same time, it's that.

It's that fine balance between marketing and what I don't often understand some of the things that humans gravitate towards.

But the roots and the tradition piece, I can just feel it, and it feels different to me personally.

And especially there's certain cultures that we all have a connection to in different ways.

But any.

Any time that something with roots in New Orleans starts, and my family is from New Orleans originally, man, I can just feel it in my bones, and it just feels right.

Well, there's two different breaking points, right?

So the first is that personal lack of connection to your roots.

You're missing something when you don't have access to your own culture.

But then there's also the breaking point of, like you were saying, if.

If I go and take from a culture that's not mine, there's a feeling that someone who's listening or someone who's experiencing that art can feel that I haven't honored it in the way that it deserves to be honored.

It's a bit more appropriate.

Yeah.

And I'll tell one other thing, and then I'm going to pass it back To Natasha.

So years ago, when Jane goodall came to asheville and my nephew had befriended her, and he was young, 14, and.

And they became friends because he had an environmental.

Really just an amazing vision and passion.

And when I got the opportunity to meet her, and this is appropriate, talking about the week, talking about Jane, the week that she's passed on, and we will dearly miss her.

But in the first time I got to meet her, he had told her a little bit about our leaf international programs and our dedication to cultural preservation through the music and the arts.

And she didn't even say hello to me.

She just said, why haven't we partnered yet?

And I said, where do you want me to go?

And within two months, there was a team of 13 leafers on our way to Tanzania, including chief shaka Zulu.

And we set up three programs at the time in partnership with her, Roots and shoots programs which were rooted in environmentalism, but they didn't have the arts and dance and music.

And so we found the culture keepers and paired them together, and it changed fully.

So all of a sudden, you know, if they were planting trees or setting up beehives, that they had the songs and they had the dances to go with it.

And so.

But something happened in that experience that has happened in every single one of our leaf international programs.

And I've heard almost the exact word said of, I didn't know myself until I learned my culture, until I learned the dances of my grandparents, until I learned the songs of my grandparents.

Now I know myself, whether it's in Haiti, whether it's in Guatemala, in the first nations, in Costa Rica that we work in in Tanzania.

But that goes directly to the point that you were just saying.

And oftentimes we're so disconnected from those roots of finding them in new ways.

And then just to give some context.

So we're talking about our leaf international work.

The money, the revenue from our festivals, our leaf Festival in October and leaf retreat in May, funds our international programming.

So we work in 10 different countries, and the kids that are working with the culture keepers there, when they are in the programming for a few years, they get the chance to come to Asheville and to do residencies in our public schools, and then take those kids on stage at leaf festival just to make the circle round.

And there also happens, what you just described is the roots.

You know, the roots.

You can feel it when those musicians come together.

You can feel that it's real, that it's genuine.

And in some ways, I feel people coming to leave.

They.

They have to trust that we curated that in the right way, that you will hear musicians that are bringing their all.

Bringing their hearts.

And then what we try to do is to create some collaborations.

Right.

Sometimes there's an amazing band playing.

And then Adam, Adam Bella, he's one of our resident artists.

He comes on stage and drums with them.

Or we have Leah and Chloe rising Appalachia, then perform with Bella Fleck together or with any other musicians.

And Chernoby from Uganda.

And the cultural exchanges that we have the week before the fest or the week of the festival.

And all throughout the LEAF Schools and STREETS programs, weaving it all together.

Yes.

So Leaf is a great time to connect with originators of the culture that they're coming from.

And not only that, but you were talking about the programs that you do in schools around the world.

The teachers of those, typically music and some dance.

And some are.

Some are also in different levels of art.

Some are painting.

So it really depends on what their traditions are.

But those cultural traditions are taught by people who are from that culture, from that country.

Yes, I think that's really important.

Leave Leaf is the catalyst.

Your microphone picks up when you touch them.

Sorry about that drum moment.

Yummy is in.

You're right.

So that is the whole concept of we connect with culture keepers, who we are the catalyst.

But it's really their programs that we're supporting and encouraging them, teaching their traditions to their youth with their instruments.

And oftentimes it's someone who has been undervalued or not seen in their community and their small, culturally rich programs.

And then the weaving them together with our LEAF schools and Streets artists here.

And it really is the members who 100% support Leaf International and Leaf Schools and Streets program.

And it all weaves together.

And the beautiful thing is, which is pretty rare in a nonprofit of where we have so many different layers of connection points and also of cultural exchange points.

The cultural exchange is really interesting and so unique to what LEAF does because you are.

You are bringing people from all over the world to this tiny, maybe unknown place in western North Carolina, which is historically been very insulated.

Yes.

Now, Natasha, I want to ask you a question.

As someone who didn't grow up in the United States and is participating in this small town in this global festival, what do you see to be the difference between the value of the arts from other places to here and between with and without Leaf?

The value of the arts?

Well, for one, the arts is valued in a different way.

You know, if you look at like where the money comes from, you know, in the, in the Netherlands, where I'm from, there is just an agreement that the arts is important for a community, for.

For a country.

So there's like funding for it.

So as that gets more and more eroded as the days go on here, we all need to stand up and, you know, support that.

I see that in this country, people value the arts and then in their own way, with their own funding, help Leaf grow.

When we, for instance, this building has been funded by Leafers in order to create a space, a global space in Asheville where people could experience Leaf all year round.

And explore Asheville.

And explore Asheville.

Yeah.

It saddens me that it needs to go in a different way than I've seen as I grew up where it was basically all around me and it was also free, you know, I remember.

So we, I grew up with not so much money, but we went often to museums and we, we had a lot of.

We had a subscription to theater and we, we would be able to, as little kids to, to see the arts in action and create ourselves as well.

And having access to the arts as we know, super important to pass down to the next generation.

It's one of the most beautiful parts about what Leap is doing.

Can you talk about other ways that people who are listening to the podcast and want to support the arts, want to support Leave, and want to support bringing global cultures here to western North Carolina can do?

Yeah.

Well, for one, come experience Leave festival.

You know, this is our 30th year anniversary celebration.

This is going to be a big one.

This is the Leaf you don't want to miss.

So if you, you know, you can come camp for the whole weekend.

Come camp for a day, come for a day.

Come to our cultural exchange that's at the Mule on the Wednesday before leave from 4 to 6, where we actually have all our artists that are visiting perform with each other.

There's ways to experience it here at Leaf Global Arts downtown and to participate themselves if they're artists and want to connect with Leaf, so they're very welcome.

I also really welcome people who haven't been to Leaf for a while just to come back, come home, come home, back to Leaf.

Because this is our 30th anniversary.

And you know, to be fair, these are.

These are dire, dire times as we are.

You know, we were hard hit by Covid.

Helene, of course, was a doozy because we had to cancel our festival in October.

We already knew the funding for the arts is.

Is being cut and leave us in dire straits.

At the moment it's, you know, we all want to want to secure that Leaf can live another 30 years.

So if you are ready to help rebuild us, get your ticket come so.

They can access tickets on your website.

Are there other best practices means to get their tickets now?

You can just call us, you can call Leaf Global Arts.

You can go to the website theleaf.org we are around in the community in the weeks leading up to the festival where we also sell tickets.

Come walk by 19 Eagle street and come get your tickets.

And I would say if for some reason you cannot come to the festival and as Natasha said, like we don't take this for granted and this is a really special one and this does inform a lot of our future and we are super dedicated to our mission and you know, as we look towards what the future holds right now we are looking towards creating the very best Leaf ever.

So come to the festival if you can't come please and you're able to.

Well one if you don't have the finances to definitely we have work exchange volunteer that is always easy.

And we have hardly ever said no to somebody wanting to come that couldn't come.

Actually I'm not sure I've ever said no to that.

And then the other pieces is if you're able to buy your own ticket or buy a ticket for somebody locally that couldn't be there, Beloved will be there with a whole crew of amazing, amazing people in our community that just need Leaf and need a safe place and a great place to dance and be.

A couple other pieces is we have a Helene guitar that a couple of the luthiers locally came together and crafted and it's extraordinary.

We're selling raffle tickets for it and it will be raffled off Sunday of Leaf and that guitar will 100% go to supporting the Leaf local artist relief Fund.

And that was catalyzed right after Lane by the Dan Lucas Memorial Fund.

And it is something that we hope to just keep on going because artists, all, all artists at every level right now are definitely needing that extra support.

And then Leaf membership anywhere from $50 a year to $5,000 a year.

Whatever works for you is 100% what supports our local and global arts education programs both in our community right here and then supporting the culture keepers in the 10 different countries that we work in.

So listeners can go to your website or call to buy a ticket for the festival.

They can make a donation, make a bid on the handcrafted guitar and they can also buy your book.

Where is that available.

Okay.

So all of it is at theleaf.org t h e l e a f like festival.org and the book is Live Life Like a Festival, the thirty Years of Leaf.

And if you do your membership at the same time, renew it or upgrade it to either a hundred dollars or 250 or above, you also will get or can get the custom Live Life Like a Festival pajamas or blanket.

I mean, come on.

Well, our designer of the book, Lauren Braher, who lived in Nashville for a really long time, she's young and she is currently a New York pajama designer.

So that is what she does.

And we were like, let's actually, the publisher, Grace Point Publishing, said, you know, you guys have a fun, inspiring book.

Like, do something fun with it.

And we were like, who doesn't like PJs?

So.

And then Leaf wouldn't believe to make something fun extra more fun to throw a pajama party when the pajamas are ready.

Right?

So we're all going to just like, snooze around with our pajamas.

Well, that's a great example of how one type of art grows bigger and bigger as different key players come into the mix.

And something, as you say that too, to remind us of, we are artists, we are entrepreneurs, and it is a challenging time financially for all of us in the arts community here in Asheville.

Rolling Stone had just came out with an article yesterday that really unveiled that.

And we feel it so at different points.

And I think that the festival really, really re infuse our spirits and our energy to remind us, like, okay, how do we pivot and how do we pirouette?

Wait, what's the pure wedding where you just keep on pivoting?

And we've been doing that pretty much for the past five years, it feels like.

And how do we now think into the future of where our mission, which is connecting cultures and creating community through the music and arts and cultural preservation is as relevant, as important as ever.

And we're part of the fabric of this community.

And how do we show up in new ways that maybe we hadn't thought of?

And what.

It's amazing.

This happened this weekend on the street.

Somebody called to tell me about this, where two people who are in their 20s saw Adama Dembele standing on, coming out of a place downtown Asheville, and they were like, adamma, do you remember?

You taught us, like 12 years ago in our class.

And you took us to Ivory coast, you took us to Mali.

Like, now we know what it feels like to go to those Places and spaces.

So that was a pretty sweet little reminder of you don't have to leave your own community to travel the world.

But we do want to make sure that we support our local artists, whether they're from here or whether they're from far away, and that we're able to continue bringing artists from around the world to our community so we can all discover the best of ourselves and the best of each other.

You also don't have to leave your community to find that connection that is being not eroded, but it's helping us fight against the feeling of divisiveness.

If we look at what Helene did, where it took out so many bridges, it took out so many bridges and now so many new bridges, bridges are being built and you know, time, we're, we're all lucky to still be here.

And so what are we going to do with this precious time and how we do, how we do this journey for good?

Wonderful.

Any closing thoughts, things that we didn't get to talk about that you want to plug before we sign off?

Well, I just want to reiterate.

Come to leave like, you know, get your tickets.

It might, you know.

Yes, we, we are very well aware that at the moment money is tight for, for all of us and maybe it sweetens the deal a little bit that you know that your, Your, your money 100% funds are global education.

And if you don't have the money to, to spend right now, just sign up for, for a work exchange for wex.

You find it on our website.

And there's, there's also.

We.

We share a lot of community tickets with different media around where we.

Where you can just enter a raffle and win your tickets or, you know, call us.

We have, we now have a sale on our tickets online.

They're 30% off because we want everybody to be able to come and we made that decision to make it more accessible for everybody.

So looking forward to see you at leave.

And I would just end by reminding us that arts are a really precious part of how we live every day.

And when we talk about living life like a festival, it's how do you add all different types of arts into your life?

And at Leaf, those arts include dance, music, poetry, healing arts, food, the culinary artist Blunk Kitchen who fed us all in Swannanoa all during Helene will be cooking it it up in Eden Hall.

And so take a look at how you're dancing through your own life and add some of these great ingredients that we have at Leaf.

Add those to your daily life and we hope to see you there.

But more importantly, we're just really grateful for all the artists who show up in our community every day and keep on creating and inspiring all of us.

Grab your tickets to Leaf's 30 year celebration this weekend where you can create art, build community and see performances by Grammy winning and Grammy nominated musicians including Arrested Development, Valerie June, Victor Wootton and the Wooten Brothers.

Visit artsvilleusa.com for a link to 30% off your Leaf tickets.

Artsville USA uniquely markets creativity to the world.

We've created a platform for Western North Carolina artists to show, tell and learn the business practices that help them sell their work.

Join us by going to our website to become a paid or free subscriber to our newsletter or following us on Instagram so you don't miss a story.

Artsville is produced by Crew West Studio in Los Angeles.

Artsville is a property of arterial Inc. A 501c3 nonprofit arts organization on a mission to amplify art and artists in the world.

Our theme music was created by Dan Ubik and his team at Danube Productions.

Our editor is the supremely talented Morgan Lawrence.

Special thanks to our partner in art, Scott Power, and to our founder and arts champion, Louise Glickman.

Our committed creative team is able to produce Artsville's news stories, podcasts and exhibitions.

Thanks to your support, you make it possible for us to bring attention to the very best in contemporary American craft and art in Asheville and beyond.

We'll see you next month.