National Recognition for Hazard Community and Technical College

HCTC named Great Colleges to Work For 2015

Hazard Community and Technical College has again been named one of the best colleges in the nation to work for, according to a survey by The Chronicle of Higher Education.

HCTC President Dr. Steve Greiner said the honor belongs to the employees. “We have an environment committed to helping employees and students succeed. That driving force lends itself to being a great place to work because we are all working for a shared vision,” he said.
            HCTC employees were surveyed earlier this year and the Chronicle’s eighth annual report was released this week.

HCTC is one of only 24 community colleges across the nation named to the list of "Great Colleges to Work For" and one of two community colleges in Kentucky. Somerset Community College was also named to the list. Murray State University and Centre College were the four-year institutions to make the list.

In all, only 86 of those institutions achieved "Great College to Work For" recognition for specific best practices and policies.

 “The institutions that the Great Colleges program recognizes provide innovative educational experiences while also offering their employees outstanding workplace experiences and we are eager to help readers learn more about them,” said Liz McMillen, The Chronicle's editor.

According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, the survey results are based on a two-part assessment process: an institutional audit that captured demographics and workplace policies from each institution, and a survey administered to faculty, administrators, and professional support staff. The primary factor in deciding whether an institution received recognition was the employee feedback.

KY Arts Council awards $40,661 to PZ counties

Three of Five Arts Access Grants in PZ

Five organizations receive Arts Access Assistance
grants to serve Appalachian region

FRANKFORT, Ky. — The Kentucky Arts Council has awarded $40,000 to five Kentucky organizations through the arts council’s Arts Access Assistance (AAA) grant.The theme for the 2016 fiscal year AAA grant funding was “Vibrant Appalachian Communities.” Applicants were encouraged to seek funding for artistic projects that evoked community pride and called attention to unique community assets. It was limited to Kentucky’s 54 counties in the Appalachian Regional Commission.Organizations receiving AAA grants are:

• Discover      Downtown Middlesboro (Bell County) will host a series of free live music      concerts on a vacant lot that has been transformed into a performance      venue through creative placemaking. The project will also focus on      training artists to sell their work online.
• Cowan      Community Action Group (Letcher County) will continue to develop a      community theater, with an emphasis on collecting, scripting and telling      the stories of Letcher County residents.
• Knox County      Public Library will expand upon its existing Thursday evening “Story Hour”      with a program called “Celebrating Our Traditions.” The new program will      showcase local artists and engage Knox County residents to explore the      county’s artistic traditions through monthly demonstrations, performances,      exhibits and hands-on activities.
• Hart County      Historical Society will document and bring prominence to its local,      time-honored tradition of basket weaving via an exhibit and other events      designed to engage the community in recognizing its basket making      heritage.
• Pathfinders of      Perry County will present “A Seat at the Table,” a collaborative forum in      which the Perry County community will gather for an open-air community      potluck at Hazard’s River Arts Greenway to discuss and bridge disparate      views and beliefs about key topical issues that divide neighbors and      groups in Perry County.

Each organization received an $8,000 grant.Hart County Historical Society will use its grant funds to bring more prominence to that county’s local time-honored tradition of basket weaving, said society board member Mary Margaret Villines.“We have a basket making tradition from when our earliest settlers from the British Isles migrated to this country and that tradition has been undervalued forever. There’s a real effort to try to preserve what would be a dying craft,” Villines said. “We have had these baskets on exhibit throughout the state and in the Smithsonian, but never has there been an exhibit in Hart County. Only a few of our basket-makers have seen their baskets on exhibit. Many of them don’t travel.“There has been an outpouring that has bowled me over, not just from the basket-makers, but from the community. They want to see their basket-makers honored.”For more information about the Arts Access Assistance grant visit the arts council’s website or contact Sarah Schmitt, arts access director, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 502-564-3757, ext. 492.The Kentucky Arts Council, the state arts agency, fosters environments for Kentuckians to value, participate in and benefit from the arts. Kentucky Arts Council funding is provided by the Kentucky General Assembly and the National Endowment for the Arts. The arts council, along with the NEA, is celebrating 50 years of service in 2015, which the arts council is recognizing as the Year of the Arts in Kentucky.

NEA awards Our Town Project in the PZ

Arts-based Community Development Investment for Promise Zone

The Kentucky Promise Zone one of 69 National Endowment for the Arts Our Town projects selected nationwide

BEREA, Ky. -- National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Chairman Jane Chu announced 69 Our Town awards totaling almost $5 million through the Our Town program's fifth year of funding. Partners for Education at Berea College is one of those recommended organizations and will receive $100,000 to preserve the arts and cultural heritage of Appalachia by cataloguing arts and artists in the Kentucky Promise Zone. The NEA received 275 applications for Our Town this year and will make grants ranging from $25,000 to $200,000.

The Our Town grant program supports creative placemaking projects that help to transform communities into lively, beautiful, and resilient places with the arts at their core. Since the program’s inception in 2011 and including these projects, the NEA will have awarded 325 Our Town grants totaling almost $26 million in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia.

“Creative Asset Mapping in the Southeastern Kentucky Promise Zone,” brings together seven county governments, Bell, Clay, Harlan, Knox, Leslie, Letcher, and Whitley, and Berea College, a non-profit with significant arts experience. The project will map Promise Zone arts and artists based on research and best practices gained from other rural communities. Within the Promise Zone, the arts are a key opportunity for economic diversification. Creative Asset Mapping is the first step in the Promise Zone exploration of the arts as a strategy for positively impacting the livability within the Promise Zone.

Other partners include the Kentucky Arts Council, Arts Incubator of the Rockies (AIR), and the Kentucky Highlands Investment Corporation, the Promise Zone lead agent.

"Creative Asset Mapping in the Southeastern Kentucky Promise Zone demonstrates the best in creative community development and the work will have a valuable impact on its community,” said Chairman Chu. "Through Our Town funding, arts organizations continue to spark vitality that support neighborhoods and public spaces, enhancing a sense of place for residents and visitors alike." 

Donna Morgan, director of Brushy Fork Institute at Berea College, says the selection of the Kentucky Promise Zone can both help preserve arts and culture in Appalachia and provide an avenue for community development. "Creative and arts businesses can form an important sector in our region's economy, whether it be through traditional arts and crafts, design, digital media, culinary arts, or other fields that employ a creative workforce," she said. "We are so pleased to be able to begin the planning of this project, and we are even more excited to start the work of putting our artists and their creativity on the map."

For a complete listing of projects recommended for Our Town grant support, please visit the NEA web site at arts.gov. Project descriptions, grants listed by state and by project type, and resources are available as well. The NEA’s online resource, Exploring Our Town, features case studies of more than 70 Our Town projects along with lessons learned and other resources.

The Twitter hashtag is #NEAOurTown15