Monuments Across Appalachian Virginia
Monuments Across Appalachian Virginia (MAAV) seeks community members, community organizations, and regional artists to help document and commemorate histories and experiences that have been silenced, denied, or excluded. MAAV seeks to support creative works such as public art, murals, performances, and installations across the Appalachian region of Virginia. Across a three-year period, MAAV will facilitate the creation of six to ten new monuments with a focus on: the diversity of Appalachian communities with regard to race, ethnicity, indigeneity, national origin, gender expression, sexuality, and more; movement across the landscape via migration and population displacement; resource extraction and environmental change; and struggles for social justice including feminist, anti-racist, environmental justice, and pro-labor movements.
MAAV is funded by The Mellon Foundation and housed at Virginia Tech. The project is being led by Katy Powell, director of the Center for Refugee, Migrant, and Displacement Studies, and Emily Satterwhite, the director of the Appalachian Studies program in the Department of Religion and Culture.
For more information, please email maav@vt.edu.
Latest News and Events from MAAV
Join us at our Giles Community Forum in Pearisburg, VA on Tuesday, April 25 from 5:30-7:30pm.
Monuments Across Appalachian Virginia Looking for Community Partners and Projects. About us: Monuments Across Appalachian Virginia is looking to reimagine what constitutes a monument while documenting and commemorating histories and experiences that have been silenced, denied, or excluded. Across a three-year period, MAAV anticipates supporting six to ten new monuments with a focus on social justice, labor and environmental movements, and Appalachian diversity with regard to race, ethnicity, indigeneity, national origin, gender/sexuality, and more. Get involved: We want to partner with community members, community organizations and regional artists to share local histories. Funding available for public art, murals, performances, installations, and more. We are looking for advisory board members, collaborating community organizations, lead community organizations, jurors, and artists. For more information or to express interest, email: maav@vt.edu.
Eligible Locations (updated 5/10/23)
Appalachian Virginia. This map shows Appalachian Virginia as designated by Ann Dewitt Watts’ Terrain Map (Southeastern Geographer, 1978), plus counties and cities included in John Alexander Williams’ Loosely Constructed definition (Journal of Appalachian Studies, 1966). This combination is one of the most inclusive definitions of Appalachian Virginia available. Map by Stewart Scales, 2023. Complete list of eligible Virginia cities and counties here.
Appalachian Virginia overlaid on homelands of Eastern Siouan speaking peoples. Map by Stewart Scales, 2023.