Think Globally with LEAF Global Arts founder Jennifer Pickering

James Navé welcomes LEAF Global Arts founder Jennifer Pickering to the Twice 5 Miles Radio Microphone. In this dynamic conversation titled Think Globally, Jennifer discusses her expanding commitment to being a local leader and a global citizen. The LEAF Global Arts organization resides in Asheville, North Carolina, Jennifer's hometown. But, to be more precise, Jennifer grew up in the Swannanoa Valley on Camp Rockmont, her family's business for many years, and the former campus of Black Mountain College. LEAF Global Arts and Black Mountain College Black Mountain College (1933-1957) took an experimental non-hierarchical approach to higher education. A former Black Mountain College student, Rena Rosequist, who ran the Mission Gallery in Taos, once told me she watched Buckminster Fuller (who taught at the college) erect his geodesic dome by Lake Eden only to watch it collapse before lunch. After lunch, Fuller, who knew how to think globally, raised it again. Like Buckminster Fuller, Jennifer Pickering erected the LEAF Festival around Lake Eden in 1995. You can think of it as another kind of dome that has housed twenty-five years of dreams and visions imagined the festival-goers numbering in the tens of thousands, many of whom, like Jeniffer, know how to think globally. LEAF Global Arts Around the World Jennifer's grand vision of The LEAF Festival grew into LEAF Global Arts, which expanded far beyond Lake Eden to Bequia, Rwanda, Guatemala, Mexico, Tanzania, Costa Rica, Panama, Haiti, and Ivory Coast Saint Vincent. On the homefront, you'll find Jennifer, along with her think- globally staff, busy at work in their new downtown Asheville LEAF Global offices at 19 Eagle Street in a neighborhood everyone knows as The Block. Back Home in Asheville What are they busy doing? Well, I'll tell you. They are busily cultivating a thriving global community inspired by the power of curiosity, fueled by the desire to make meaningful connections, and driven by their commitment to foster cultural preservation through worldwide music, arts education, and international experiences. Jennifer Pickering dared to think globally and made a difference in the world. Jennifer understood she could not go it alone. So Jennifer asked and received plenty of help along the way. When you think globally, you quickly realize we can only achieve our greatness with the help of others. The most important person on earth is the one right in front of you. Enjoy this interview with Jennifer Pickering,