As a journalist, Kim Kobersmith writes creative culture pieces that focus on the transformative power of art and outdoors articles that celebrate lesser-known places. As a content writer, she articulates the impact of colleges and nonprofits through features and profiles.
Kim connects with a wide range of people in interviews and sensitively writes stories respecting people’s dignity and agency. She has a BA in Communications from Southwestern University. Her writing has been recognized with a Kentucky Press Association news award and an artist enrichment grant from the Kentucky Foundation for Women.
Her work has appeared in the Daily Yonder, Bitter Southerner, National Parks Traveler, and Kentucky Monthly.
Subjects
Appalachia, Nonprofits
Skills
Writing Credits
Bitter Southerner, the Daily Yonder, Berea College Magazine, National Parks Traveler, Kentucky Living, Taproot, Partners for Rural Impact, the Richmond Register newspaper
Awards, Honors, Appointments
Kentucky Press Asscociation News Award, Kentucky Foundation for Women Artist Enrichment Grant
As author, unless indicated otherwise.
The iconic Iditarod race began as a way to preserve the dog sledding lifestyle and celebrate rural Alaska. Through interviews with two mushers, a long-time volunteer, the mayor of Unalakleet, and the executive director of the event, I wrote about the specialness of the mushing community and the unique bush communities the race connects.
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For a Berea College Magazine issue telling stories of how people found there way to the school, I interviewed two siblings who have a family legacy. Combined with their parents and a brother, they have worked more than 175 years for the school in the student craft and facilities management departments. The two have warm memories of growing up in the broom-making studio.
While Arches National Park is the undisputed champion of natural arches, a little-known unit of the National Park Service that spans Kentucky and Tennessee has one of the highest concentrations of them in the east. The centerpiece of the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area is a 600-foot gorge along a wild tributary of the Cumberland River. This canyon country contains hundreds of natural arches and rock shelters carved by the slow, epic force of water.
Kentucky poet Frank X Walker first identified an Affrilachian poet in one of his works, and the name was quickly adopted by his multi-cultural writing group. Celebrating thirty years, the group has become family, celebrating birthdays and weddings together, and continues to welcome new folks into the fold.
Detroit's Heidelberg Project is a collection of assemblages from everyday objects. Houses, fences, and trees are canvases for art made from discarded objects, redeemed through intention.
This couple, who met as students at Berea, have rallied American support for a secondary school in his homeland of Kenya.
At A Taste of Granor, in the southwest corner of Michigan, a soaring windowed greenhouse immerses guests in the sights and tastes of the nearby fields of Granor Farm. Each eight-course menu, defined as modern midwestern cuisine by chef Abra Berens, changes nightly. Berens is making an impact on American food culture beyond Granor Farm through her acclaimed cookbooks focusing on vegetables and pulses, meant to be a launching point for the creativity of home cooks.
At the Palisades, cliffs tower roughly 250 feet over the meandering Kentucky River. Their forested environs harbor endangered bats and rare plants.
The term creative placemaking was coined around 2007 and is about more than economic development or having a vibrant arts scene. It is about creatively envisioning and shaping a shared community future, and recognizing that the arts can aid a community in solving problems, building relationships, and forming culture.These four communities have used it to unpack historic trauma, imagine their shared future, and increase civic engagement.
