Welcome from Val & Carol

Valerie & Carol croppedGreetings from Carol and Val,

It is our pleasure to welcome you to the 2019 Cowan Creek Mountain Music School.   The Cowan Creek Mountain Music School is all about traditions and passing those traditions on.  This year, Cowan will see the beginning of a transition in leadership as my mom, Carol will give more time to her health and writing.  I will step up to take a more active role in the leadership as the Director at Cowan Community Action Group, Inc..  Carol will still be serving on the CCMMS Advisory Council and be a part of the Cowan board.  She will still be active at the community center, just letting go of some of the responsibility and the hard parts of growing an organization.

I will be available to help in hosting the Cowan Creek Mountain Music School.  We are pleased that Stacy Dollarhide continues to represent Cowan as the Coordinator of CCMMS, her heart and attention to detail for such an event, make it happen each year.  We are also excited to have Brett Ratliff as the Artistic Director.   We know together they will create an amazing experience for each of you.   We hope to be able to convey to each of you, the faculty and students that make the magic happen, how much we appreciate you.  Your success and encouragement is what sustains our work, not grants….not programming….each of you!  Your stories make us want to work to make each year better than the last.  Thank you to our awesome Advisory Board and so many who have worked to grow the music school to what it is today.  Special thanks to Bev May for being there from the beginning and continuing to challenge us to be our best.

Cowan Community Center is still an organization primarily made up of volunteers.  That makes us extremely proud of the programming we offer which includes:

  • Cowan Creek Mountain Music School
  • Kids on the Creek Summer Camps
  • USDA Summer Food Service Program
  • Levitt Amp Whitesburg Music Series
  • Grow Appalachia

We also offer strong support to the City of Whitesburg Farmers Market and Community Agricultural Nutritional Enterprises, Inc. a commercial kitchen in Whitesburg that partners with Grow Appalachia.

Finally, we recognize how precious time is, thank you for choosing to spend your week at Cowan.  We hope you find exactly what you need through our music and community.  You are now a part of our community and music family and we welcome you.  You will always be welcome and our only ask is that you serve as an ambassador and if your experience and impressions while here have been positive that you share that in your place in the world.

Best to you,

Valerie and Carol

Register today for a jam-packed week!

Join us for five full days of music classes for all levels