ÅNGEL 004: A Korean Kentuckian to the World
This story begins in Los Angeles at Paramount Recording Studios. “It’s not quite right,” I explain to my co-writers. “It needs more authenticity to it. I want people to hear this opening line and feel like they’re actually in the car with me, traveling from Kentucky to Los Angeles.” I’ve been awaiting this moment for a few weeks now, the day that we finally started working on a new album - and genre - that honors my experience as a Korean American from Kentucky: K-BELLE, a blend of my Korean and Southern Belle identities.
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Finding My Voice Through YPAS
When I moved to Louisville, the last thing I was expecting was the opportunity to pursue something I’d only ever considered a hobby. Despite my overwhelming insistence on becoming a lawyer or an astronaut at the age of twelve, the Youth Performing Arts School (YPAS) encouraged me to embrace a part of myself that has undoubtedly shaped me into the person I am today.
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The Art of Impact: Inside Kentucky’s Women’s Wrestling Revolution
On a summer evening in Louisville, a wrestling ring stood in a space usually reserved for quiet contemplation. Beneath the clean lines of the Speed Art Museum, the ropes were pulled tight and the mat stretched flat. As wine glasses clinked and a crowd of gallery-goers took their seats, the atmosphere was one of polite curiosity.
Then the bell rang.
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Legacy in Motion: How a “Kentucky Boy” Became the Mind Behind Pop’s Most Iconic Dances
LaVelle Smith Jr. has been many things in his life: a Kentuckian, a dancer, a choreographer, an Angeleno, the mind behind some of pop music’s most iconic dances, the person who performed onstage with Beyoncé at the Grammys. But the one thing he’s never been? Afraid.
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A Pathway Forward: One Year Later
On October 9, 2024, Kentucky to the World hosted the Premiere of A Pathway Forward, a documentary following Central High School Law and Government Magnet sophomores through a year of innovative instruction. Over a year later, the film’s message continues to resonate far beyond the school’s walls.
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New KTW Film Shows How Kentucky Shaped the Swing of a Nation
The heartbeat of American baseball isn’t found in a stadium - it’s forged in a factory in Louisville, Kentucky. And a new film by Kentucky to the World’s Director of Strategic Planning and Documentary Film, Tommy Johns, shares the story behind baseball’s most iconic bat.
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Fall into Innovation: Kentucky to the World Ignites a New Season of Momentum
Fall has always carried a certain magic: a creative pulse that hums through Kentucky’s hills and city streets. It’s the season when the air sharpens, colors ignite, and ideas start to take shape. For Kentucky to the World (KTW), fall isn’t just a time of transition. It’s a reminder of why we do what we do. This is the season of creativity, excitement, and momentum.
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Lessons From the Dying Brian: Dr. Ajmal Zemmar’s Unplanned Scientific Breakthrough
Coming to Louisville was never part of the plan for Dr. Ajmal Zemmar. But then again, neither was his biggest scientific breakthrough.
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Civic Imagination Spotlight: Evelyn Pollard-Gregory
Evelyn R. Gregory is a Cinematography and Video Production educator based in Louisville, KY. She earned her undergraduate film degree from the historic Alabama A&M University and holds both a Master of Fine Arts and a Master of Science while residing and teaching in Kentucky. She describes herself as “just a kid from Cleveland with a passion for storytelling.”
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One Place, Many Stories: Challenging the Myth of “White Appalachia”
Appalachia is not a monolith.
It’s a sentiment shared time and time again, from news organizations centered on the Black experience in West Virginia to works of fiction based in the reality of growing up Indigenous in North Carolina. Over 20% of the Appalachian population is nonwhite - including Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous folks, as well as many other races and ethnicities - and the region has become increasingly diverse since 2010. And yet, mainstream representations of the region almost always look the same: white.
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