The Carnegie Center of Columbia Tusculum hosts a range of social, cultural and educational events all year long. See below, or email events@thecarnegiecenter.org to sign up for our monthly e-newsletter.
Join our email newsletter list!
Just send your email address by text message:
Text
CARNEGIEEVENTS
to 22828
Thanks to our Programming Sponsors!
Artist In Residence Program
The Carnegie Center of Columbia Tusculum’s new Artist in Residence program expands TCCCT’s community enrichment goals by partnering with professional artist educators. Originary Arts Initiative, founded by Dr. Sherry Cook Stanforth, supports this endeavor through creative emphasis on Appalachian migration heritage identity, which historically defines the immediate and surrounding communities. Programs will feature an experienced artist educator and other professional artists to develop multi-genre arts experiences, foster intergenerational artist collaborations, and promote genuine curiosity for Greater Cincinnati’s diverse cultural heritages. Each artist in residence will create collaborative programming for 2-3 years while supporting the mission of our organization. Dr. Stanforth has integrated creative writing, poetry, art, music and storytelling in her community programs.
The artist in residence will create community-based arts programs and workshops that embrace richly textured artist collaborations and arts content (literature, music, visual art, storytelling) reflective of place-based heritage and culture. For this first residency, Originary Arts Initiative (OAI) will emphasize diverse interpretations of “home places” and “heritage,” using historic and cultural inspirations from Greater Cincinnati’s diverse migration cultures. Additionally, OAI will cultivate affordable, intergenerational, and culturally dynamic arts programming for neighborhood residents and other attendees representing Ohio’s Greater Cincinnati communities.
OAI began collaborating with TCCCT in 2024, and the creative infusion has been successful and exciting for our community. We look forward to quality programming and unique forms of collaboration.
Originary Arts Programs
Braiding Communities Series
Co-sponsors -
Originary Arts Initiative
Place Keepers
Urban Appalachian Community Coalition​
​
The "I Remember" Story Exchange
Friday, May 23th, 2025
6:30-8 pm
FREE, donations accepted
​
This intergenerational story circle event invites you to share about your family, homeplace, heritage, culture, veterans, life lessons, change, heirlooms handed down, recipes, unusual encounters, local legends, personal overcomings, creative visions, embraced values, and so on. Free admission and light refreshments.
​
Spirit of Song -Ballad Writing Workshop, Songwriter Wide Open Mic, & Mini-Concert
Friday June 27th, 2025
6-9pm
BALLAD WRITING WORKSHOP + SONGWRITER WIDE OPEN MIC + MINI-CONCERT
Tap into your creative side alongside TCCCT Artist-in-residence Sherry Cook Stanforth and two other songwriter-musicians -- April Combs Mann and Ellen Mershon. Bring your lyrical ideas and projects to a supportive ballad writing workshop that features creative sharing, guided writing prompts, practical advice, and camaraderie for your songwriting path. After the workshop, we'll gather for a songwriter's wide open mic. Share one of your own originals -- or simply bring friends and family to enjoy a creative, inspiring performance.
Ballad writing workshop is open to beginning and experienced songwriters -- 6-7:30 in the East Room. Cost -- $25. | The Songwriter Wide Open Mic and Mini-Concert is free to all. (Donations appreciated but not expected) -- 7:45-9 pm in the West Ballroom.
Co-sponsored by Urban Appalachian Community Coalition and The Carnegie Center of Columbia Tusculum, in partnership with Originary Arts Initiative.
​
Home Shores Creative Writing Workshop
July 25, 2025
6-8 pm
$35
​
Hone your craft skills and spark new projects in this high energy writing circle. Prompts will offer a unique twist on "home" territories to inspire your poetry, short fiction, and flash memoir. Led by Sherry Cook Stanforth and guest author.
Meet Dr. Sherry Cook Stanforth
Poet, author, and musician Sherry Cook Stanforth holds Appalachian roots in North Georgia, East Tennessee, and Southwestern Ohio. She grew up in Clermont County, Ohio, earning a PhD in English from the University of Cincinnati. An emeritus professor of Thomas More University, she specializes in fiction, poetry, environmental and ethnic literatures, and folklore. Currently, she serves as the managing editor of the regional literary journal Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel, a core member of the Urban Appalachian Community Coalition, and the founder-director of Originary Arts Initiative, collaborating with non-profits to provide arts, culture, and nature-based programs for diverse communities. Themes reflected in her educational workshops, retreats, public showcases, and creative work emphasize values of cultural curiosity, place-keeping, story-listening, and creative empathy. Stanforth’s poetry collection Drone String (Bottom Dog Press, 2015) reflects the storytelling and music traditions of her Appalachian heritage; she has also produced waterway anthologies, including Riparian: Poems, Short Prose and Photographs Inspired by the Ohio River (Dos Madres Press, 2019), and Tributaria (Dos Madres Press, forthcoming in fall 2025). She’s spent most of her life playing in an intergenerational family band, and she currently performs folk music with Tangled Roots. Beyond her artistic pursuits, she enjoys hiking, beekeeping, and studying native plants.Originaryartsinititive@gmail.com
