Three-Day Program Features Panels, Performances, Art, and NC Local Partnership for “The Heart of the Mountains: Stories from a Year of Courage, Kindness, and Community after Hurricane Helene”
Asheville, North Carolina (August 28, 2025) – The University of North Carolina Asheville has unveiled the schedule for the Post-Helene Symposium, a faculty-led, interdisciplinary event taking place September 24–26, 2025. The symposium will bring together storytellers, scholars, students, and community voices from across the region to explore the themes of “Remembering, Rebuilding, and Reimagining” on the anniversary of Hurricane Helene. This free three-day event will feature panels, concerts, art exhibitions, interactive activities, and much more to amplify the voices of Western North Carolina and position Asheville to lead the conversation about the storm, its aftermath, and how the city envisions its future.
“It is heartening to see our entire campus community pull together at this important moment for our city. With over 70 separate events involving hundreds of participants, the symposium will provide needed opportunities for learning, processing, planning, and healing,” says NEH Distinguished Professor and UNC Asheville Professor of Music William Bares, who co-founded the event. “The faculty proposals have shown a real commitment to serving and involving all of Asheville, and that’s reflected in this schedule.”
Through a partnership with media outlet NC Local, the symposium will feature a storytelling event, The Heart of the Mountains: Stories from a Year of Courage, Kindness, and Community after Hurricane Helene. The September 24 evening event will bring together 12 news organizations from across the state to celebrate community, unsung heroes, and first-account stories that have yet to be told. Beginning with a “News Cafe” reception in the UNC Asheville Blue Ridge Room, guests can meet journalists who covered Helene and learn from representatives from Grow NC—The Governor’s Recovery Office for Western North Carolina, initiated by Governor Josh Stein. The evening will continue with powerful storytelling from the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, when neighbors became lifelines and communities across the region rose together in resilience.
“With so much emphasis on recovery and rebuilding, there hasn’t been enough time, space, or energy to reflect and tell some of the stories of people who jumped in and took care of one another at hours of greatest need,” says NC Local’s Editorial Director, Laura Lee. “This event and symposium are an opportunity for everyone to take a step back, process, and really reflect on all that happened and appreciate those things that maybe seem small that we did for one another in those really challenging times. The headlines were full of big heroic things, but there were so many moments of people helping one another, and that’s the fabric of what WNC is. While this is a really solemn and difficult occasion, it is in some ways a celebration of that fabric that we’re all connected by, and an acknowledgement of what we did for one another.”
Highlights of Scheduled Events
Looking Back to Move Forward
“Looking Back to Move Forward” is an art exhibition featuring work by students, faculty, and alumni that addresses both the devastation and the ongoing recovery around Hurricane Helene. To help shape the exhibition’s narrative, faculty who engaged in sustainability efforts across campus were invited to select works that, together, tell the story of Helene and highlight the broader impacts of climate change. The exhibition will open September 8 and run through October 5 in the S. Tucker Cooke Gallery in Owen Hall, open from 9 a.m.–6 p.m. daily.
Hard Times, No More showcase
“Hard Times, No More” is a Music faculty showcase concert that will feature a roster of Helene-related musical performances. From intimate, short works to grander compositions and large ensembles, audiences will be introduced to original compositions and arrangements by professors in a range of styles, from classical to jazz, pop to folk. Performances will include “Miracles of St. Helene” by Professor of Music William Bares, “Lifted” by Professor of Music Brian Felix, and “Asheville My Home” arranged by Associate Professor of Music Christine Boone. The concert will take place at 7 p.m. on September 25 in the Blue Ridge Room.
Impacts of Helene on the Outdoor Recreation Industry
Millions of visitors each year come to Western North Carolina to enjoy beautiful trails, waterways, and wildlife, but Hurricane Helene had a devastating impact on the region’s natural spaces and the businesses that they support. Professor of Biology and Director of Undergraduate Research Rebecca Hale will facilitate a panel to explore the impact of the storm and recovery efforts around the recreation industry in the area at 10:30 a.m. on September 25 in the Mountain Suites.
Screening of Small Town, Mountain Strong
Filmmakers from Here for Good Films will host a screening of their full-length feature Small Mountain Strong: The Documentary, on rebuilding and resilience in the communities of Western North Carolina heavily impacted by Helene. Professor of Mass Communication Don Diefenbach will moderate an audience conversation with filmmakers on media coverage of the storm and its aftermath. The screening and panel discussion will take place at 3 p.m. on September 25 in the Mullen & James Humanities Hall.
Tuned In: How Local Radio Served As A Lifeline Through Helene
Featuring local DJs and broadcasters from KISS Country, Blue Ridge Public Radio, and iHeart Radio, the panel “Tuned In: How Local Radio Served As A Lifeline Through Helene” will explore how twice-daily briefings and community-driven broadcasts kept Asheville informed and united when power and internet outages left radio as the region’s most trusted lifeline.
Dedication reception for alum Sami Zoobi
As part of the symposium, UNC Asheville’s New Media Department will celebrate the art and design of alum Sami Zoobi—who perished in the flood of Hurricane Helene—through a dedicated exhibition and the naming of the 3rd floor Owen Gallery in their honor. The exhibition, opening September 27 with a reception, will remain on view through October 31.
Blue Ridge Orchestra premieres Sinfonietta Helene
Closing the symposium, the Blue Ridge Orchestra will perform the world premiere of Sinfonietta Helene, an original work by Asheville-based composer Jay Sanders. Made possible through the Dan Lucas Memorial Fund—established in 2010 to honor the life and legacy of UNC Asheville music alum Dan Lucas—the concert will be held Sunday, September 28, at the Wortham Theater.
The three-day symposium runs Sept. 24–26, 2025, and will support the planned remembrance by the City of Asheville on the anniversary of the storm, September 27. Symposium events will mostly be held on the UNC Asheville campus, in academic halls, the Highsmith Student Union, and on the Quad. All on-campus events are free and open to the public. Additional ticketed evening and weekend special events will offer further opportunities for reflection, connection, and creative expression throughout the city.
To register for the event and view the full schedule, visit posthelenesymposium.com.
NC Local’s The Heart of the Mountains Media and Community Partners
Ashvegas
Asheville Citizen-Times
The Assembly
The Beacon-Tribune
Blue Ridge Public Radio
Carolina Public Press
The Charlotte Observer
Enlace Latino
Mountain Xpress
The News & Observer
Smoky Mountain News
Buncombe County Special Collections Library
About UNC Asheville
Founded in 1927, UNC Asheville is the designated liberal arts institution in the University of North Carolina system. Located in the picturesque Blue Ridge Mountains, UNC Asheville consistently ranks as a national top 10 Public Liberal Arts and Sciences University by U.S. News & World Report, The Princeton Review’s “The Best 390 Colleges,” among others. With 16 NCAA Division I Teams in the Big South Conference, UNC Asheville student-athletes perform on the court, the field, the pool, and in the classroom, as they consistently earn above a grade-point average of 3.0 each year. The University offers more than 30 undergraduate majors, including a Mechatronics and Engineering joint degree program with NC State, as well as a new Master of Science in Environmental Resilience. Upon graduation, over 90% of students have paid positions in the workforce at top organizations, including Apple, Google, Deloitte, Major League Baseball, The Weather Channel, in local, state, and federal government, with non-profit organizations, among others. The first tuition-free public college in North Carolina, today the University’s Access Asheville program covers full tuition and fees for qualified students in North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, and Tennessee. For more information, please visit: www.unca.edu. Follow us on LinkedIn Instagram Facebook Twitter (X) and TikTok.
About NC Local
NC Local is a nonprofit news organization that works in partnership with other newsrooms across the state to ensure all North Carolinians have access to accurate, trustworthy and useful information about how issues affect their lives. The Heart of the Mountains event is produced in partnership with Asheville Citizen-Times, Ashevegas Hot Sheet, The Assembly, Beacon-Tribune, Blue Ridge Public Radio, Buncombe County Special Collections, Carolina Public Press, The Charlotte Observer, Enlace Latino NC, Mountain Xpress, The News & Observer, Smoky Mountain News and UNC Asheville.
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