Creating Community: Arts Center Ignites Cultural Renaissance

When it comes to the Lost Province Center for Cultural Arts, the mission is simple — revitalize, celebrate and teach and support.

“We’re primarily focused on preserving the culture and arts of the region,” said Kevin Little, program and events director at Lost Province. “The other prong of our mission is to restore the stone schoolhouse and make sure it’s there for another 80 years.”

Located in the historic Lansing School in Ashe County, Lost Province has become a beacon of creativity, connectivity, hope and harmony in this pastoral corner of Western North Carolina.

And when you delve into those three principles, they go as follows: revitalize the historic Lansing School, celebrate and teach Southern Appalachian culture and skills, and support the local community.

To note, the school itself was a community hub from 1938 to 1992. After its closure, there were many ideas on what to do with the large property. Little himself was also a student there before it closed.

“It was the center of everything,” Little said of the school. “It went through a plethora of owners, but a lot of things never took hold.”
Nobody in the community wanted to see the beloved structure torn down, but something had to fill the space, which is two-stories and nearly 17,000 square feet in size. By 2018, Lost Province formed as a nonprofit and quickly offered an array of arts/culture programming. “We went from 50 students that first year in the arts program to over 600 last year,” Little said.

Once Lost Province started inhabiting the school, the extensive renovations of the property began. Stripping down walls and replacing old infrastructure offers up a symbolic blank canvas as to what can, will, and now does take place within its walls. “So now, we’ve actually got a living, breathing, functional space,” Little said.

Within the cultural programming offered at Lost Province is a slew of workshops for adults and children alike, ranging from photography to pottery, food preservation to printmaking, fly fishing to painting, songwriting classes to winemaking, and much more.

In terms of music, Lost Province hosts its popular “LanSing Jams” on Thursday evenings. The property is also a host for numerous live acts throughout the year, whether it be performers onstage during the “High Country Boil” culinary extravaganza or its Mardi Gras Party.
“We don’t want to be competitive with anybody. We want to be collaborative,” Little said of the musical possibilities for the property. “We’ve got such a great venue and we’re looking to host more music.”

Another key event is the Fly Around Music & Arts Festival*. Taking place Aug. 1-2, the gathering will showcase sets by Joan Shelley & Nathan Salsburg, Myriam Gendron, Magic Tuber Stringband, Black Twig Pickers, Sammy Osmond & The No Hellers, and others. “It’s all indie artists, who are steeped in traditional music, but put their own spin on it,” Little said.

In its inaugural outing, Fly Around will not only celebrate the cultural and musical essence of Southern Appalachia, it’ll also be a fundraiser for the continued recovery in the area following the devastation from Hurricane Helene in 2024. “As terrible as Helene was, it really brought [Lost Province] back to the forefront because we became a relief distribution center,” Little said.

Little estimates that Lost Province served meals to around 600 people a day, with another 500 coming through each day for supplies. “It’s been an instrumental experience to prove the worth and value of the space and the organization,” Little said. “And to see what a huge impact a building can have on an entire group of people.”

With the historic school now headlong into this new, bountiful lease on life through Lost Province, Little can’t help but harbor a sense of gratitude that the building he once wandered into as a student long ago is now the same place still bringing folks together.

“So many hundreds and thousands of people went through this building [as students]. It just altered their lives, the experiences they had here,” Little said. “And we’re hopeful to do that with the arts programming — to give people a path and a way to improve their station and their situation in life with the arts.”

Cutlines/photo credits:

The Lost Province Center for Cultural Arts was a schoolhouse in Ashe County from 1938 until 1992. Donated photo

*Note: The inaugural Fly Around Fest happened on August 1 and 2, 2025. Thanks to the outpouring of support from sponsors, donors, and the community, it’ll happen again! The next fest is slated for July 31 – August 1, 2026.

This story was first published in the 2025 issue of Down the Road Magazine. Discover more articles here!