Kentucky Rural-Urban Exchange 2017

My Story

When Josh May and I founded the Kentucky Rural-Urban Exchange, we wanted to move beyond the divides that have held us back, towards a future of abundance, reciprocity, and transformation. Four years and 160 members later, RUX has worked with every region of the commonwealth to tell a new Kentucky story that serves all of us. Please support our dream, our labor, and the opportunity to help Kentuckians invest in themselves and their communities. 

our Mission

Together, we are growing relationships across divides to build a more collaborative and connected Commonwealth. 

WHAT IS RUX?

The Kentucky Rural-Urban Exchange (RUX) is a statewide program that brings rural and urban people together to explore commonalities and deepen connections to people and places. The program operates through a series of community intensives, wherein members collaborate towards place-based innovation at the intersection of arts, agriculture, community health, and small business. These collaborations are central to achieving the RUX vision: a future in which Kentuckians value each other, create common ground, and understand our interdependence.

The 2017 Kentucky RUX program accepted 75 members representing 26 counties in Kentucky. 2017 RUX host partners include the Kentucky Folklife Program in Bowling Green, the Lyric Theatre and Cultural Arts Center in Lexington, and both Higher Ground at Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College and Pine Mountain Settlement School in Harlan. Past host communities include Louisville (2014-15), Paducah (2015-16), and Whitesburg (2014-15). To learn more about the 2017 Learning Cohort and follow RUX, visit: www.kyrux.org.

The Kentucky RUX has served 160 Kentuckians from 34 counties since the program’s founding in 2014. The Kentucky RUX is a joint-program of Art of the Rural and Appalshop, and is supported by the Rural Policy Research Institute and more than 50 Kentucky partners.

Kentucky RUX featured in the Wall Street Journal https://www.wsj.com/articles/america-meet-america-getting-past-our-toxic-partisanship-1498836799

 Kentucky RUX interview about the program’s founding in the Daily Yonder: http://www.dailyyonder.com/breaking-down-rural-urban-barriers/2016/01/27/10763/