Catch the Spirit of Appalachia, Inc.
A 501(c)3 nonprofit heritage organization
29 Regal Avenue, Sylva, NC 28779 • 828-631-4587
Celebrating 22 Years as a Grassroots Non-Profit Organization

Vision and Mission

Artwork by Doreyl Ammons Cain shows CSA's dedication to all children and their heritage

The Purpose

Established in 1989 as a nonprofit organization, the purpose of Catch the Spirit of Appalachia (CSA) is to awaken people of all ages to their self-worth, to the wisdom of their ancestors, and the beauty of their natural environment and culture. Situated in Jackson County, North Carolina, our organization’s main thrust is to draw attention to the need to conserve, protect and save the natural and human heritage of the local mountain people in our region. Our mission is to treasure and preserve our regional Appalachian heritage and traditions through music and the arts.

The People

CSA Cofounders Amy Ammons Garza, Appalachian Storyteller, and Doreyl Ammons Cain, Visual Artist, a team known as The Ammons Sisters, are dedicated to reaching every child they can with the message that they are creative, can achieve success and have the heritage background that will sustain them throughout their lives. The sisters are actively promoting literacy and awareness of self-worth in all children and adults.

The CSA board of Directors is a group of local people who believe in the mission of the organization and extend themselves, involving the goals of CSA into their private lives. Many members of the board have been with the organization since it's inception 16 years ago: Dr. Ray Menze, Elmer and Irene Hooper; followed closely by long time members Gail Stillwell Cooper, Cathy Stillwell Gibson, and Dr. David Teague. With more than two years involvement is Gail A. Nolen, Etheree Chancellor, Pam Dengler, Vera Holland Guise, and Terry Michelsen. Newer members are Carl Hooper, Mary Jo Hooper Cobb, Becky Nelson, and Dot Conner.
        Regional advisors to CSA have been Jenny Johnson, Director of the Swain County Center for the Arts; Leesa D. Sutton, a development office for the area's Division of Tourism, Film, and Sports Development; Denise Ballard, Manager of the Cherokee Youth Center Boys and Girls Club; and Davey Arch, Cherokee Storyteller and Crafter.

The Presentations

Heritage Alive!
Storytelling and Spontaneous Artwork Presentations: Stories of two Jackson County 7th generation girls with Scotch-Irish Heritage come             alive through music,  dance & song, mountain storytelling, a colorful mural created before  your eyes with a fun-filled Canhouse Band!  The Ammons Sisters perform as a team to demonstrate their own childhood in the mountains.

• Special Example:
Legislators’ School for Youth Leadership Development, Cullowhee, NC
The Ammons Sisters, along with bag piper Joshua Bulla once again presented ‘Heritage Alive!” to two WCU Rural Education’s Summer  Legislator’s School workshops. With a motto of “Respect, Trust,  Commitment—You, The community, The country, The world,” these workshops  have been offered to specially chosen high school youth from all over North Carolina.

Workshops & Residencies

“Word Pictures & Picture Words” Residency
These programs can benefit any audience, but the best scholastic results are with 4th - 6th grade students  and/or the teachers who teach them.  Focused on fostering the discovery that everyone is creative with special talents and unique  heritage, this workshop is based on the right and left brain concept--right being the feeling side, speaking with pictures; and left being the structural side, speaking with words.  A balance between the two sides creates harmony, and participation encourages increased self-confidence, which in turn affects increased scholastical performance. Each class is held inside the regular classroom with students and teacher.

• Special Example:
Montclair Elementary School
The above school in Fayetteville, NC is a school the Ammons Sisters have traveled to in January or February (to work with the 4th grade before the state writing tests).  The trip in 2011 in January will make the fourteenth year in a row that CSA was contracted to return to the Cumberland County School District.  

Drama Workshops
These workshops are designed to enable young people to completely create a play from their own knowledge—plays that incorporate their heritage,  
environment, peers, spontaneous reactions, and their dreams in the drama in their own lives. Each child is encouraged to interview their elders at night to learn about the stories and ways of life of prior generations, and to come back to the classroom with the chestnuts of wisdom to inspire and guide their own dramatic story. These experiences serve to enlighten children as to the uniqueness of his/her heritage.

• Special Example:
Cherokee Little Theater, Cherokee, NC
Two years in a row, the Ammons Sisters worked with the Cherokee Boys & Girls Youth Center with the the 3rd, 4th and 5th grades to produce the play written by the children with the help of CSA, entitled “Ghost  Legends of Tsa-La-Gi.” Indeed a success, the Boys & Girls Clubs of America picked up on the story, and published the news about the play nationwide. In the second part of the year, CSA worked with the teenagers of Cherokee to write a play entitled “Life on the Rez.”  The  staff of Cherokee Youth Center now deem they had learned enough through CSA’s endeavors to produce the play “Life on the Rez” themselves.

Publishing (some books can be purchased at csabooks.com)
As of 2010, CSA has published 48 books.  See for more details: Book Publishing

Radio Show (also online at www.storiesofmountainfolk.com)
CSA is now into it's 3rd year of producing a local radio program, showcasing our local people. Each week be uplifted—listen to the tremble of the 100 year-old voice sharing her wisdom, hear the deep pride of a mother talking about the talents of a guitar-picking son, or learn how the memories of a historic house has influenced a whole town.  See for more details: Radio Show

Community  Work

Patchwork Folk & Fabric Festival, Cullowhee, NC
Listed in 2010 as a featured event online with the Blue Ridge Parkway’s 75th Anniversary celebration, the 5th annual Patchwork Folk and Fabric Festival took place on Saturday, June 5th, 2010, once more inside the gym at the Jackson County Recreation Center in Cullowhee, from 9am until 4pm. This 6th year of the Patchwork festival will again be at the Jackson County Recreation Center in Cullowhee. See for more details: Patchwork Folk & Fabric Festival

Great Smoky Mountain Railroad Railfest (GSMR) Bryson City, NC
CSA celebrates, once again this 9th year, the music of the mountains by providing local entertainers who present old world folk, traditional mountain folk,  bluegrass and gospel music to the public at the annual Railfest in Bryson City.   CSA also provides the Mountain Craft Fair, where 40-50 local crafters have a chance to sell their local wares. See for more details: GSMR Railfest

Greening Up the Mountains Festival,
4th Saturday of April
Franklin's Heritage Festival,
3rd Saturday of July
GSMR's Railfest, 3rd Saturday of September
See for more details:
Heritage Alive Talent Contests

Awards

Foley, Alabama/Maggie Valley Cultural Exchange, Foley, Alabama
CSA represents Western North Carolina in a the first ever Cultural Exchange for the state of North Carolina.The town of Foley, Alabama presented an national award winning festival idea to Maggie Valley, to exchange the culture of each area with one another. In July, 2004, Foley brought a scrimp boat to Western North Carolina with whistle stops throughout the area, bringing their food and entertainment to a final festival destination at Maggie Valley, NC. 
      In turn, Maggie Valley Chamber of Commerce desired to return the favor with entertainment and vendors from Western North Carolina.  Bill 
Miller, Executive Director of Maggie Valley’s Chamber contracted Catch the Spirit of Appalachia to put together the entertainment of the area for 
Heritage Harbor Days in Foley on November 4-7, 2004.  Amy Ammons Garza wrote a script “The Settling of the Smoky Mountains” and put together a group of entertainers to reflect the pioneer story.  The trip was hugely successful, with the Foley Chamber stating that it was the best 
entertainment they had ever had because of the education involved.  Entertainers were:  The Ammons Sisters, Joshua Bulla, Emily Geisler, John Grant Jr, the McDowell Family Band, Judy Rhodes, The Bravehearts—about 30 people in all.


Women to Match our Mountains
The Western Carolina Women’s Coalition is a regional organization devoted to advancing women in the mountain region through education, advocacy and cooperative collaboration. Each August they sponsor the Women to Match Our Mountains celebration of the 19th Constitutional Amendment that gave women the vote and recognize distinguished women from the mountain counties for their leadership and innovation.  Amy and Doreyl, known as the "Ammons Sisters" were recognized as Women to Match Our Mountains for Jackson County in 2004 for "their vision and leadership in making such a great gift to the mountains as Catch the Spirit of Appalachia."

The Future

In April, 2011, CSA will celebrate its 22nd year. The organization’s main thrust has been creative writing, visual art, and drama workshops and “Heritage Alive” performances for children and adults, with community festivals and publishing books written by the local people coming in a close second.
    Our workshops and performances are booked locally and throughout the South, whereas our community work mainly reaches Jackson, Macon, Swain, Haywood, and Buncombe Counties. The audiences we draw are family oriented and are interested in honoring and preserving the heritage of the area. The future continues to shine bright for CSA.

1) We have established the “Catch the Spirit of Appalachia Endowment Fund” with the NC Community Foundation to support and publish writers, artists and craftspeople of Western North Carolina.
2) Partnership with Appalachian Homestead Farm & Preserve on Tilley Creek to establish a living, working homestead and a “Spirit of Appalachia Folklife School for Children” with our second partner, Dogwood Crafters of Dillsboro.



 

CSA Co-founders Amy Ammons Garza, Appalachian Storyteller, and Doreyl Ammons Cain, Visual Artist, a team known as The Ammons Sisters, are dedicated to reaching all children with the message that they are creative, can achieve success and have the heritage background that will sustain them throughout their lives.  The sisters are actively promoting literacy and awareness of self-worth in all adults and children. 
  
  The board of CSA is a group of  local people who believe in the mission of the organization and extend themselves, involving the goals of CSA into their private lives. CSA would like to acknowledge and thank those people who continually support our endeavors monetarily as well. We say a big thank you to Candy Scopelite, Irene and Elmer Hooper, Martha Hix, Patricia Kadish, Etheree Chancellor, Laura Green, Yvonne Vish, Barry & Serena Dossenko, Nancy Humpins, Pat Miller, Denise Horne, Ray Menze.