In many ways, the RFK in EKY performance was just an initial investment in continuing the conversations started by Robert Kennedy during his 1968 tour of eastern Kentucky. Partners and community members involved in the performance, never having experienced anything quite like it before, are processing the possibilities made apparent. Likewise, the project staff is using the performance as a springboard for deeper thinking about arts-based community development work in the region.

Documentary Material

A primary initiative is to catalog, archive, and manage the dissemination of the massive volume of documentation generated - transcribing audio recordings, editing dozens of video hours into useful pieces, tracking down and compiling the many writings about the project, and reviewing hundreds of photographs . . .

Concurrent with this process is the continuation of memorabilia gathering and interviews with people affected by Kennedy's visit.

The documentary goal of the project is provide accessible and useful material in a variety of formats to support further educational, artistic, and political explorations of the issues addressed in both the original visit and the recreation. To that end, the project will maintain and add to this website, build its archive, and is designing curriculum resource material and transportable presentations targeted to different audiences.

Ultimately, RFK in EKY hopes to generate a complete documentary film on the project, and a book. Just as important, the project plans to share focused documentation with the many libraries and schools that have supported the process, and with each community partner.

The RFK in EKY Reunion

A gathering of all the project's participants was held in December 2004. This reunion provided everyone the opportunity to share what they had processed, the lessons they had learned, and the ideas they had incubated.

Art, Drugs, and Community Intervention

RFK in EKY is continuing its powerful alliance with the LKLP Head Start Program. Head Start, along with UNITE and the Letcher County Action Team, is working with the project and LAPD (drawing on its experience with Agents and Assets ) to develop regional discussions on art and rehabilitation, and to explore treatment alternatives to drug incarceration.