This showcase will feature three films produced by AMI students that cover a wide range of content.  The films are "Searching for an Appalachian Accent" 15 mins- which explores the stigma attached to regional dialects, "A Little Piece of Me" 10 mins- which focuses on three stories about growing up gay in the mountains and "True Cost of Coal" 13 mins - which through personal stories explores the mark the coal industry has left on Eastern Kentucky communities.

Appalachian Media Institute strives to:

    Build the confidence levels and creative capacity of central Appalachian youth

    Position youth from central Appalachia as initiators of dialogue and social action around crucial community issues

    Highlight rural voices and to inform national audiences and diverse communities of the unique challenges that face rural Appalachian communities

    Enable our participants to become informed, tolerant, and engaged citizens and to recognize the interconnections between central Appalachia and the rest of the world"

Deborah Weiner, director of the Jewish Museum of Maryland, will give a public lecture on “Insiders and Outsiders:  Jewish Communities in the Appalachian Coalfields”.  Sponsored by the UK Jewish Studies program, UK Appalachian Studies program and Appalachian Center.  Free and open to the public.  Reception following the lecture at W T Young Library Gallery