The Kentucky Rural-Urban Exchange Opens Applications
Now Accepting Candidates for the 2023-2024 Cohort
Louisville, Ky. (February 3, 2023) — The Kentucky Rural-Urban Exchange is excited to announce that it is opening applications for their 2023-2024 creative leadership cohort on Friday, February 17. RUX attracts Kentuckians who are interested in getting to know different regions of the state while developing leadership skills and growing their network. RUX alumni include artists, entrepreneurs, elected officials, farmers, community development leaders, poets, blue collar workers, lawyers, teachers, and more.
“RUX attracts Kentuckians who are interested in getting to know different leaders and regions of the state, and they leave with a greater understanding of Kentucky’s many identities, histories and cultures,” said Savannah Barrett, co-founder of Kentucky Rural-Urban Exchange. “RUX offers members an invaluable network of Kentucky leaders and practical strategies that make them a greater asset in their own communities.”
Each year, the RUX program brings Kentuckians together into a distinguished and diverse cohort, to share experiences of age, ability, expertise, gender, race, sexuality, culture, and class in our state. The program is known for facilitating conversations about Kentucky’s biggest challenges and uplifting a Kentucky narrative that is as exciting, diverse, and complex as Kentuckians themselves.
Once accepted into the program, RUX cohort members commit to six weekend intensives in three Kentucky communities over a two-year period. RUX explores the culture and history of each community, and explores social issues by spending time with those most affected by them: for example, RUX cohort members have square danced with folks in recovery at a treatment facility in Appalachia; shared traditional Bosnian coffee with immigrants and refugees in a Southern Kentucky mosque; and listened to RUX veterans share their military service experience at an army base in the Western Kentucky Coalfields.
RUX Alumni say the program helped them develop meaningful relationships across the state, learn about other Kentucky communities, and create an invaluable network. They also say it’s fun and rewarding, both personally and professionally.
The 2023-2024 RUX cohort will meet in Louisville from June 9-11, in Owensboro from July 28-30, and in Estill County from September 22-24.
RUX is dedicated to keeping Kentuckians safe from COVID-19; we endeavor to create a community of care for the cohort and the public. We will implement safety protocols based on the needs of our cohort and recommendations of health professionals at the time of each gathering.
If applicants have questions or concerns, RUX will host two virtual open house informational sessions: February 16 at 5pmET, and February 25 at 10amEST.
To learn more and apply, visit www.kyrux.org/apply. The application period will close on Friday March 10.
About Kentucky Rural-Urban Exchange:
Since 2014, this partnership between Art of the Rural and Appalshop has connected 260 Kentuckians from 49 counties and hosted 20 intensives across 11 communities in every region of the state. Each year, RUX introduces a cohort of 50 Kentucky leaders during six weekend intensives throughout a two-year period. RUX has earned national acclaim in The Christian Science Monitor, The Atlantic, and The Wall Street Journal. In 2022 the program was also celebrated through replication in Minnesota. www.kyrux.org
About Appalshop:
Appalshop is a non-profit multi-disciplinary arts and education center in the heart of Appalachia producing original films, video, theater, music and spoken-word recordings, radio, photography, multimedia, and books. Their education and training programs support communities' efforts to solve their own problems in a just and equitable way. Each year, Appalshop productions and services reach several million people nationally and internationally. www.appalshop.org
About Art of the Rural:
Art of the Rural is a collaborative organization with a mission to help build the field of rural arts and shape new narratives on rural culture and community. We work online and on the ground through interdisciplinary and cross-sector partnerships to advance engaged collaboration and policy that transcends imposed boundaries and articulates the shared reality of rural and urban America. www.artoftherural.org