Grantee Spotlight: Artist, Helen Butler
CultureWorks Grantee, Artist Helen Butler - Photo Daniel Jones/CW
“When older adults are not just recipients of care, but active contributors to culture, relationships, and community life, they are creating stronger communities.”
Helen butler is an artist living and working in Petersburg, Virginia. She is a recipient of a CultureWorks 2026-2027 Community Impact Grant for her project, Our History Is In Our Hands.
CultureWorks: Your art background is diverse. What are some of your favorite mediums and projects you worked on before?
Helen: Creating story particular to connection and belonging is at the core of my artistic work.
Early stages of my process began as an actor working most notably in black theatre with Ernie McClintock’s Jazz Actors in NYC and Richmond. After Ernie’s transition, I found recreating story through quilts a satisfying substitute. My fiber works have been exhibited nationally and internationally in galleries, private collections and publications. In the 2000’s I returned to performance by creating several audience participation storytelling (Engagement Theatre) pieces in Atlanta, Chattanooga, and Chicago based on a variety of themes: spiritual renewal, the Great Migration, and racial amity. My work continues to evolve in response to current issues by working in group settings using fiber, mixed media, story and creative practices.
CultureWorks: What brought you to Petersburg?
Helen: The need for warmth, lots of light in the form of a loft space and the ancestors.
CultureWorks: You speak a lot about "community building", "connection", and "collaboration". What do those words mean to you and how do you believe the arts serve them?
Helen: Growing up in the Appalachian region of Pennsylvania rooted the primary themes of connection and belonging which consistently appear in my work. I have been able to intertwine these themes with my faith tradition (Bahai) which says the arts, crafts and sciences have the capacity to uplift the world of being. My perspective of community building, connection and collaboration continues to evolve.
My current awareness is that arts engagement for older adults is as necessary and essential as it is for youth. We are connected across generations and influenced by and affect one another whether we are aware of it or not. Community is the place where we are seen, embraced and made whole. If we are all connected and it is through these relationships that we know come to know ourselves, and each other, then collaboration is the highest form of interaction and advancement. Whether young, middle-aged or old the arts have the capacity to nourish and enrich the individual and collective ability to thrive.
CultureWorks: Tell us about the project for which you received a CultureWorks grant.
Helen: The name of this pilot project is “Our History Is in Our Hands”. It is part craft and part oral history collection for the senior citizens of the African Diaspora communities in Petersburg, VA. Because this is the 250th Anniversary of our nation, the voice of this community is an important contribution to the on-going narrative of place and time. The project invites senior citizens to joyfully gather, unearth buried, undocumented stories, and give value to their experiences. We aim to harvest these stories and present/preserve these intimate experiences for current/future generations.
CultureWorks: What impact do you hope your project has on the community?
Helen: Our History/Our Hand’s premise is that as people gather around craft and storytelling, a framework based upon traditional values will emerge. We believe that conversations can seed creative solutions within a community when generative ideas areexplored. These seeds can grow if this community is encouraged and included in the city’s planning efforts. This senior population can contribute to Peterburg’s betterment because of their lived experiences and because they are one of its valued resources.
CultureWorks: What does receiving a CultureWorks grant mean to you?
Helen: CultureWorks values diversity and inclusivity and believes everyone in our community should have access to arts and culture, as well as the opportunity to express their culture through the arts.
The receipt of this grant signals that CultureWorks recognizes that “creative aging” opportunities are under-resourced in this community. Creative aging means that creativity is essential to health and well-being of older adults. When older adults are not just recipients of care, but active contributors to culture, relationships, and community life, they are creating stronger communities: reducing isolation, improving mental and physical health, and a deepening a sense of purpose across generations.
We are grateful that CultureWorks is lifting up the under-represented hands and voices of older adults as essential cultural contributors to the Petersburg community.
To learn more about Helen Butler and her work, visit her website here.
