About the Bluegrass Music Trail Project Leaders

Amos Hopkins is the former Studio director of Visionaries and Voices, a studio for Artists with disabilities. In India, he co-founded a humanitarian program called Peace Village India that focused on the Hindi / Muslim conflicts in Uttar Pradesh. He worked for the Corporation of National and Community Service in Alaska running an education center that served Native Americans. In Cincinnati, he coordinated a community-based arts program for the University of Cincinnati. Amos has been making visual art and music professionally for about ten years. It has been his life-long dream to walk the Appalachian Trail. Now he is excited at the opportunity to help others in the process.

Katy Graves has been teaching drama at the School for Creative and Performing Arts for the past year. She directed a community-based play in India and led projects with Peace Village India. She has studied in South Africa, Cuba, and New York. In South Africa, she initiated an anger management / theatre program with inmates. She taught community-based theatre in a program with the University of Cincinnati. She has been working as an actor, director, and philanthropist for over five years.

Why are they doing this?

Amos Hopkins and Katy Graves come from a background rich in Appalachian culture. Born into families of bluegrass musicians, they both understand and deeply appreciate the importance of Appalachian music in the fabric of America and recognize the need to encourage its growth and continuation for generations to come. Inspired by the families and friends who kept these art forms alive, Katy and Amos set out to find ways to reconnect to their land and roots, as well as foster its growth. Bluegrass music has seen a resurgence in the past few years and Amos and Katy would love to see these musical traditions passed on, so that they may continue to beautifully reflect the collective histories and seminal stories of the Appalachian people.

Katy and Amos will not only hike to reconnect to their land and discover their country's natural treasures, but to understand its people, as they encounter them in the small towns along the way. To understand what makes America breath, through its land and its culture.

Bringing together their goal to hike the trail as well as their mission to keep Appalachian music alive, Amos and Katy, together with the Urban Appalachian Council, have started the Bluegrass Music Trail Project. The project's goal is to raise awareness and funds while walking the entire length of the trail by means of a walk-a-thon. All proceeds raised will go to a scholarship fund for local tri-state children to receive bluegrass music lessons and instruments.

Learn how you can support the Bluegrass Music Trail Project.

Urban Appalachian Council
2115 West Eighth Street • Cincinnati, Ohio 45204 • phone: (513) 251-0202 • fax: (513) 557-2542