ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — Nearly two years since Tropical Storm Helene triggered catastrophic flooding in the River Arts District of Asheville, the creative community is on the rise. Hundreds of artists are once again hard at work in the RAD.

Helene hit the RAD hard, demolishing art studios and small businesses, ruining river banks and dumping mud and debris over the livelihood of dozens of Asheville creatives.

“We were digging artists out of studios,” recalled Kimberly Self Hundertmark, executive director of RADA Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that works to support and advocate for RAD artists. “I ran the volunteer booth a lot at Riverview [Station], and watching people pull stuff out of Village Potters was like watching an archaeology dig.”

Hundertmark said that clearing Riverview, a massive art studio in the RAD, took the better part of a month.

“And that was just one building,” she added.

The experience of enduring Helene has changed the way many artists approach working in the RAD. Gone are the days of filling an art studio to the brim with work, equipment and immovable objects.

“I have a lot of artists who will not go back into the floodplain, and honestly, depending, a quarter million dollars-worth of ceramic equipment in the floodplain is probably not a good idea,” Hundertmark said. “But a gallery that, you know, in a couple of hours you could pull most of the expensive work out, that’s a different thing.”

Since Helene, “resiliency” has been the operating word for many RAD artists. The goal is to develop ways to minimize the amount of damage future storms and disasters could do to their work.

One of RADA Foundation’s primary strategies for ensuring district resiliency is the establishment of the RAD Creative Campus, a planned $15-20 million arts facility that will house exhibitions, offices, industrial equipment and more.

“The long term goal, because the Creative Campus won’t be just about creative manufacturing and welcome center, all that. It’ll be about resilience,” Hundertmark said. “It’ll be a resiliency hub, in that we will have a plan with the artists in the floodplain to bring equipment and art up, to the best of our abilities, and have a space for people to store stuff. If we thought a flood was coming tomorrow, this is it. This is where artists can bring stuff. Here.”

RAD Creative Campus is still in the early stages of planning.

For more information, read our story: RAD Creative Campus: $15-20 million Asheville arts facility in development

There will be a lot of artists in need of support. There were around 750 artists in the RAD before Helene, many of whom were displaced for months or years after the storm. Today, the district has a diminished capacity for working artists, with several studios still shuttered and a few destroyed outright.

Even so, over 600 artists have returned to the RAD in the two years since the storm, and numbers for RADA, the River Arts District Artists membership organization, are the highest they have ever been.

“We have more members now in the membership organization than we’ve ever had before. 
That is a testament to how hard we’ve worked as a community to keep us together,” Hundertmark said. “We had about, before the storm, I think tops about 365. We are over 430 at this point.”

RADA membership grants its artists access to funding applications through RADA Foundation, a spot on the official district map and the ability to participate in classes, shows and other community opportunities.

RADA eligible members, or artists who operate a studio or gallery in the district, pay $99 in dues. Artists who had a space in the RAD on Sept. 27, 2024, but have permanently relocated or continue to be displaced, are eligible for 2026 membership with dues of $49.

Hundertmark did not rule out the possibility of another flood hitting the RAD. However, if Helene proved anything, it is that the artists at the core of the River Arts District cannot be swept away.

“We are on a changing planet. The guaranteed thing is change. It is what it is,” she said. “But also, this is a magical spot.”

For more information about the River Arts District, visit www.riverartsdistrict.com.