The day before Hurricane Helene engulfed Western North Carolina, artist Karen Maugans was working at her gallery in the River Arts District. The space she leased on Lyman Street was on the first floor of the two-story Riverview Station Building, right on the French Broad River. As the storm approached, she received a warning email from her landlord about the river’s rising waters, urging her to leave.
“At this point the storm hadn’t even hit yet, but the river was already high from the rain we had a few days before,” Maugans explained. “The landlord said, ‘Take what you can with you. Take your most valuable stuff.’”
Maugans, who specializes in still life photography, immediately called the other two artists who shared the gallery space and asked them to come quickly. In a matter of hours, their cars were filled with as much as they could carry, and they left for higher ground, hoping for the best.
Ten days later, Maugans returned to her storefront from her home in Black Mountain. The loss was overwhelming.
“It was a complete annihilation of everything in there,” she said. “Nothing was salvageable. Water had gone up through the ceiling into the unit above us,” she explained. “Everything was lost — even little things you don’t think about like business cards and packaging supplies.”
In the days to follow, Maugans heard about the WNC Small Business Initiative (WNCSBI) created by Dogwood with Appalachian Community Capital. WNCSBI provided grants of up to $25,000 to eligible small businesses that sustained physical storm damage or economic damage in North Carolina’s 18 westernmost counties.
“At first I wasn’t even going to fill out the application. I was really struggling mentally with everything that had happened. I couldn’t think straight,” she recalled. Fortunately Maugans persisted with her application, learning just a few weeks later that she would receive support for the recovery of her business.
“When I learned about receiving the grant, I just couldn’t believe it. I am so grateful,” she reflected, adding that the funding enabled her to resume payroll, which she had stopped because of the flood.
According to a 2023 study by Americans for the Arts, a thriving arts economy has a significant economic impact on local communities, and Buncombe County is no exception. The study shows Buncombe County’s nonprofit arts and culture industry generating $51 million in economic activity in 2022 alone, with an estimated 483 establishments in the arts and culture sector.
“(WNCSBI) made the difference between me feeling like I had to close my business to thinking that maybe I can actually keep going,” Maugans remarked. “It made me feel like I could rebuild some of what I lost, replace my inventory, work on new things and hopefully even open up another space of my own again,” she said.
Since the storm, Maugans has relied primarily on doing business through her website, and she also has photographs displayed at Woolworth Walk in downtown Asheville. Although returning to her original gallery site will not be feasible for some time, as Maugans rebuilds her business, she counts the blessings of being a part of Asheville’s vibrant arts community.
“This community is amazing in its love of the arts and support of artists. I have every confidence that the area is going to come back stronger than ever, and so much of that is because of the support from organizations like Dogwood.”