Arts & Sciences

Spotlighting contributions Kentuckians have made to the arts and sciences.

People

Speaker Series

REBECCA BOOTH

Physician, Entrepreneur & Author

Booth Sisters
Science • Civil Rights • Girl Power

LADY BOOTH

Attorney & Marriage Equality Advocate

Booth Sisters
Science • Civil Rights • Girl Power

CECIL BOOTH

Entrepreneur & Expert in Brand Strategy

Booth Sisters
Science • Civil Rights • Girl Power

KIRBY ADAMS

Journalist for the Louisville Courier-Journal

Booth Sisters
Science • Civil Rights • Girl Power

MICHAEL WINES

New York Times National Correspondent

From The Louisville Times to The New York Times:
Breaking World News

SHARON LAFRANIERE

Investigative Reporter for The New York Times

From The Louisville Times to The New York Times:
Breaking World News

PAM PLATT

Journalist

From The Louisville Times to The New York Times:
Breaking World News

WILLIAM (BILL) PORTER

Chief Designer for General Motors

A Joy Ride Through Eight Decades of
American Automobile Design With Bill Porter

KAY GRUBOLA

Artist & Curator

A Joy Ride Through Eight Decades of
American Automobile Design With Bill Porter

DR. SANDER FLORMAN

Surgeon & Director of the Recanati/Miller Transplantation Institute

A Conversation with Dr. Sander Florman
“Life Saving Organ Transplants—
Ethics, Politics & Technology”

LAURA UNGAR

USA Today Journalist

A Conversation with Dr. Sander Florman
“Life Saving Organ Transplants—
Ethics, Politics & Technology”

JONATHAN WOLFF

Composter

A Legend in the TV Music Business:
Louisville’s Jonathan Wolff Tells All

DEVIN KATAYAMA

NPR Journalist

A Legend in the TV Music Business:
Louisville’s Jonathan Wolff Tells All

ELLEN MILLER

Co-founder of the Sunlight Foundation

Ellen Miller
“40 Years of Shining Light on Government”

DEVIN EMKE

Sound Engineer

A Conversation with Saturday Night Live’s Devin Emke

NAT IRVIN, II

Professor, College of Business, U of L

A Conversation with Saturday Night Live’s Devin Emke

Programs & Events

UPCOMING EVENTS

This is the Way: Stagecraft, Stunts and Fighting on Screen

Carol Wyatt: 35 Years of TV Animation and Film

The State of Song: “My Old Kentucky Home” Faces a Changing World

Diving Deep: Chris Fischer’s Journey to Save Sharks and Bring Balance to Our Oceans

The War on Terror to the War on Truth: Pulitzer-Winning Journalist Dana Canedy

The Future of Food is Female

Video Streaming

Featured

Jul 7, 2023

The Booth Sisters – Lady, Rebecca, and Cecil

Jul 7, 2023

Blog Stories

Blog

Apr 21, 2025

The Paradox of Place: Making Sense of “Displaced Appalachia”

Apr 21, 2025

The fall after I turned 18, I moved from my hometown in Pikeville to the town of Bowling Green for college. The drive was less than five hours, an easy trip down the Cumberland Parkway anytime I needed a weekend at home. But despite being within state lines, and a mere one county outside what the ARC designates as the Appalachian region, something about Bowling Green felt like I had dropped onto a different planet.

Apr 21, 2025

Mar 10, 2025

Paddle Faster, I Hear Stereotypes: Breaking Down “Violent Appalachia”

Mar 10, 2025

“Paddle faster, I hear banjos.”

In the early 2010s, this phrase felt like it was on a t-shirt in every store I walked into. Usually, it was accompanied by stick figures or silhouettes of people in a canoe. Other times the shirt inexplicably featured popular TV characters like Family Guy’s Brian and Stewie. Regardless, the phrase showed up enough that 15-year-old me took notice. And despite never having seen the film these shirts referenced, I could sense that they were mocking someone - someone who kind of felt like me.

Mar 10, 2025

Jan 3, 2025

Creatives Collaborate on Storytelling Journeys “By Any Media Necessary”

Jan 3, 2025

Civic Imagination (CI) Incubator is a partnership between Western Kentucky University's (WKU) Potter College of Arts and Letters, its Innovation Campus and the University of Southern California (USC). “The program originated out of media fandom,” says Sam Ford, the Executive Director of AccelerateKY and Board Chair of Kentucky to the World. “How do people react to pop culture stories, social issues, civic issues, politics? They were using fictional worlds to tell stories in Appalachia. … This is a natural partnership. We’re matching content with an outlet.”

Jan 3, 2025