Jennifer Pickering is the founder and Executive Director of LEAF, which is a non-profit organization, building community, connecting cultures and enriching lives through the arts – locally and globally – with festivals, community events, and arts education programs. Jennifer organized the first Lake Eden Arts Festival (LEAF) in 1995, when she was 28 — on land she grew up on, and lives on to this day. Her father, George Pickering, created Camp Rockmont there in 1956 after purchasing the property from Black Mountain College.
A devoted traveler, Jennifer always intended to use LEAF as a platform to introduce people to other cultures through the music and arts. At the time she really didn’t realize that music and the arts were the most powerful tool for preserving cultures and for passing them on. Besides two festivals each year, Pickering also oversees LEAF In Schools And Streets and LEAF International, programs that take the artists from the stage into the community.
Enjoy this one-hour podcast with Jennifer who talks about the many ways LEAF gives to their local community and communities across the globe!
Living Well with Jennifer Pickering on AshevilleFM, October 6, 2014
