2021 ANNUAL REPORT
G R EAT S MOK Y MOU N TAIN S ASSOC IAT ION supports the perpetual preservation of Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the national park system by promoting greater public interest and appreciation through education, interpretation, and research.
FROM THE CEO AND THE BOARD S E A R C H I N G F O R T H E N E W N O R M A L I N 2021 In the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, Great Smoky Mountains Association continued to adapt to changing conditions. We teamed up with our National Park Service partners to expand our in-person retail and visitor orientation services while keeping everyone safe. We became proficient at using Zoom, Slack, and Teams. We refined our presence and offerings on the web and in social media. We welcomed new board members Lisa Davis and Jan Houston-Hickman. We bid farewell to Katie Kerr, who wrapped up six years of board service with distinction—and while giving birth to her two children! We also said a fond farewell to board chair Ellis Bacon, who wrapped up another six years of board service in December 2021. Ellis’ two years of service as board chair (2020 and 2021) had the dubious distinction of being carried out exclusively over Zoom due to pandemic mitigations in place at that time. COVID lockdowns inspired in many of us a driving desire to get outside. GSMNP welcomed a record 14.1 million visitors in 2021, which drove our retail sales to its own record of $10.9 million (gross) and added thousands of new members to the association. We closed 2021 with 29,271 individual members and 141 Lookout League business members. Our Legacy Fund operating endowment grew to more than $2.1 million, putting us well on our way toward the goal of $20 million. When fully funded, the interest generated by this endowment is intended to offset the association’s operating expenses. This will in turn allow us to contribute even more of our net proceeds to park projects. We were beyond pleased that the Public Lands Alliance judges chose our nominee, Superintendent Cassius Cash, for a 2021 Agency Leadership Award. This award recognizes a public land management agency employee for outstanding accomplishments in championing, cultivating, and leading partnerships. We nominated Superintendent Cash based on his steadfast commitment to leading the Smokies throughout the prior six years from the highs of the National Park Service Centennial and the Great American Solar Eclipse to the lows of the tragic Chimney Tops 2 fire, a 35-day government shutdown due to a lapse in congressionally appropriated funds, and a 46-day park closure during the early days of the pandemic lockdown—as well as for demonstrating outstanding guidance through a difficult 2020 wrought with fear, isolation, and social unrest. GSMA weathered this turbulent second pandemic year buoyed by the support of our members, customers, vendors, park partners, and Public Lands Alliance network of peers across the nation. It is a privilege to share with you our passion for Great Smoky Mountains National Park and all it protects and preserves. We appreciate your continued stewardship of the association very much!
M I T C H C R I S P,
Chair, Board of Directors
With gratitude, L AUR EL R EMATOR E,
Chief Executive Officer Mitch Crisp, Chair, Board of Directors Laurel Rematore, CEO 2
2021 GSMA ANNUAL REPORT
BOARD OF DIREC TORS
Jamie Ballinger Geoff Cantrell, Vice Chair Mitch Crisp, Chair Lisa Davis Jerry DeWeese Jan HoustonHick man, Secretary Gaynell Lawson, Treasurer Ed McAlister Dan Pierce Tom Taylor Jill Thompson
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SEPIA TONES A PODCAST MINISERIES EXPLORING BLACK APPAL AC HIAN MUSIC During 2021, Great Smoky Mountains Association developed a branch of our newly established Smoky Mountain Air podcast that would grow to become larger-than-life and garner a great deal of public attention: Sepia Tones: Exploring Black Appalachian Music, a podcast miniseries funded through the African American Experiences in the Smokies project in collaboration with Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This miniseries is hosted by Dr. William Turner, African American studies scholar and retired Distinguished Professor of Appalachian Studies and Regional Ambassador from Berea College, and Dr. Ted Olson, music historian and professor of Appalachian Studies at East Tennessee State University. Through interviews with musical guests and scholars, Turner and Olson use the podcast platform to shine a light on the contributions of Black musicians to the songs of Southern Appalachia, a significant influence that is not widely known to the general public but is well understood and enthusiastically regarded by performers who have studied Appalachian musical roots. “One of the things I noticed quickly, conspicuously, when we started down a path of trying to learn about Black history and culture in the mountains of the South is the absence of a body of literature that deals specifically with the music of Blacks in the South,” said Dr. Turner, whose book The Harlan Renaissance: Stories of Black Life in Appalachian Coal Towns was published in 2021 and won the 2022 Weatherford Award for best nonfiction book about Appalachia. “I was inspired to get interested in this type of music, and in this podcast in particular, because we are filling a void.” Through their many years of scholarship and their connections to the intersecting worlds of Appalachian studies and music education, Turner and Olson bring an
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impressive lineup of guests to Sepia Tones. The first episode in the series is a round-table discussion featuring guests such as the late Loyal Jones—a founding figure of Appalachian studies—and accomplished musicians Sparky Rucker and James Leva. Subsequent episodes bring together musicians, scholars, and those whose personal experiences of growing up Black in Appalachia provide insight to this distinct regional culture. Sepia Tones episodes explore the roots of Appalachian music and how it is preserved today, the musical traditions of the church, how music played a role in the civil rights movement, and how today’s performers are interpreting Appalachian traditions through their own work. In addition to lively conversations about the music, Sepia Tones presents the music itself—some rarely heard historic recordings, contemporary pieces from artists like Amythyst Kiah and Dom Flemons, and guest performances performed live for the podcast. Sepia Tones had its debut in March of 2021. Great Smoky Mountains Association produced three episodes during 2021 and three more 2022. Sepia Tones is part of GSMA’s Smoky Mountain Air podcast and can be found on major audio streaming services. The miniseries won two regional awards in 2022: an e-Appalachia Award from the Appalachian Studies Association and an Award of Distinction from the East Tennessee Historical Society. In April of 2023, Great Smoky Mountains Association received national recognition at the 2023 Public Lands Alliance Partnership Awards for Sepia Tones, which won the award for Outstanding Public Engagement. PLA publicly announced and honored the winners of its annual Partnership Awards at a virtual ceremony on Thursday, April 27. “I’m incredibly honored to be a part of this podcast miniseries,” said Valerie Polk, Sepia Tones editor and
SEPIA TONES
GSMA videographer and publications associate. “The recognition we have received for Sepia Tones highlights the importance of exploring this history. I’m thankful for Dr. Turner and Dr. Olson’s masterful leadership through
these enlightening conversations and for our knowledgeable guests for joining us on this journey into the roots of Appalachian music.”
Aboove: Sepia Tones cohosts Dr. William Turner (left) and Dr. Ted Olson (right) interview guest Dom Flemons (center) as he shares examples of African American influence on Southern Appalachian music. Interviews and performances have been conducted through an online video chat. Left: A three-man band from around 1890. Image courtesy of the W.O. Garner Collection, Blount County Public Library, Maryville, Tennessee.
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OUTDOOR LITERACY STORYBOOK TRAIL OF THE SMOKIES INVITES YOUNG READERS TO EXPLORE THE PARK In early April 2021, GSMA partnered with Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the University of Tennessee Extension Office to launch the Storybook Trail of the Smokies—a new initiative specifically dedicated to engaging young people and their families in the outdoors through books. Between April and May 2021, the Storybook Trail presented a new book every two weeks along the onemile nature loop at Cosby Campground, a less-frequently traveled corner of the park near gateway communities Cosby, Hartford, and Newport, Tennessee. Adapted for reading while on the move, featured books were separated
into page spreads, paired with a range of educational interpretation and activity prompts, and professionally printed onto 24 x 18-inch temporary signs posted along the trail. The books to be displayed were carefully selected to engage a range of reading levels and spark curiosity about the Smokies. Those featured in spring 2021 included We’re Going to the Mountains by Steve Kemp, Singing Creek by Morgan Simmons, and The Great Smoky Mountain Salamander Ball and The Troublesome Cub, both by Lisa Horstman. In September, the Storybook Trail returned with a month-long installation presenting A Search for Safe Passage. The team also collaborated with the Cherokee Speakers Council to present We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga by Cherokee author Traci Sorell in spring of 2022. Each book explores themes related to the natural or cultural history of GSMNP. GSMA secured permissions from authors—and publishers in the case of We Are Grateful—to share their books in the park, and Creative Team designers and editors adapted the books for the trail and wove in interpretive messages and educational content developed by NPS staff that aligned with state curriculum standards. The team also developed virtual-learning opportunities for students hosted through the project’s Facebook page and Smokieees.org. In the weeks before the spring launch, teachers, families, and homeschool groups were reached through social media, press releases, local news, and flyers distributed at schools. To generate further excitement, GSMA arranged for featured book authors and illustrators to make special appearances on the opening Saturday for each new title in
“Most everyone we spoke with loved the story, the signs, and the trail, too,” said GSMNP Ranger Katie Corrigan. According to Corrigan, trail visitors included those from nearby communities, including Cosby, Maryville, and Knoxville, but also those from as far away as New Mexico, Indiana, Ohio, and Illinois. “It was a great way for our entire family to enjoy this trail,” said one visitor. 6
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OUTDOOR LITERACY Cosby. Joined by NPS interpretive rangers, GSMA staff, and the UT extension agent, authors and illustrators spoke with visiting families, wandered the trail, signed copies of their books at an author’s table, and even performed live music near display and sales tables featuring books and related products. The first 20 families to arrive on the trail received free signed copies of the featured book. NPS coordinators estimate 6,273 visitors experienced the storybook trail during the months of April and May 2021 and more than 1,100 visitors enjoyed the fall launch of the trail in September. The NPS redeployed the first four storybook trail signs again during the summer months between June and August 2021 along the Elijah Oliver Trail in Cades Cove, which attracted 19,683 visitors according to trail counters. The program also distributed more than 300 free books to families and children in local schools and supplied teachers with additional teaching materials and activities for use in the classroom. In visitor feedback collected by the NPS, one visitor said, “It was a great way for our entire family to enjoy this trail.” Another said, “The activities were perfect for breaking up the trail and looking for things along the way.” The Storybook Trail of the Smokies reached hundreds of young people and their families in 2021 who might not have otherwise had the opportunity to experience or learn about their local national park. The following year, the Public Lands Alliance brought national attention to the project when its judges named the Storybook Trail the recipient of the 2022 Outstanding Public Engagement Award.
Trail signs display book illustrations and text while encouraging interaction with the trail through educational prompts developed by NPS staff. Bottom: A young hiker poses with Lisa Horstman, author of The Troublesome Cub and The Great Smoky Mountain Salamander Ball. 2021 GSMA ANNUAL REPORT
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FINANCIAL REVIEW 2021
STATEMENT O F A C T I V I T I E S
Donor Gifts 6.3%
as of December 31, 2021
SUPPORT AND REVENUE ANALYSIS Membership
SUPPORT AND RE V ENUE
Retail Sales Cost of Goods Sold Donor Gifts Membership Sales, Events, and Programs Investment Income and Other Revenue
$10,970,461 ($5,101,532) $883,286 $887,552 $1,327,088
Total Support and Revenue
6.3%
Other Revenue 9.4% Retail Sales 78%
$8,966,855
F U N C T IO N A L E X P E N S E S RE TAIL SAL ES $10,9 70, 4 61
Program Services
Park Management Reallocation In-Kind Salaries and Benefits Salaries and Benefits (NPS-requested positions) Resource Management and Science Resource Education
Total Aid to Park
$324,634 $778,948 $276,512 $30,720 $320,046
$1,730,860
Support Services
Publications
Audio/Visual
Souvenir
$1,888,949
$95,556
$ 1,156,482
Food/Mill
Apparel/Gifts
Convenience
$672,754
$ 6,936,942
$139,035
Administrative $3,644,119 Total Expenses
$5,374,979
Excess of Revenue Over (Under) $3,591,876 Due to pandemic-related impacts to both GSMA and its auditing firm’s workloads, the association’s audited financial statements for 2021 and 2022, and its corresponding annual reports, are being issued later than usual. GSMA remains committed to full transparency and accountability of its work. We appreciate your patience while we strive to recover from these unavoidable reporting delays.
Other
$80,743 10
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STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION
Reallocation In-Kind Salaries and Benefits 44.9%
as of Dec. 31, 2021 ASSETS
TOTAL AID TO GSMNP
Cash and Investments Inventories Receivables and Other Assets
$1,730,860 Park Management 18.8%
Salaries and Benefits 16%
$8,991,809 $1,229,276 $114,434
Total Current Assets $10,335,519 Property and Equipment, Net
$179,319
Total Noncurrent Assets $179,319
Resource Education 18.5%
RESOURCE EDUCATION PROJECTS $ 32 0,0 4 6
Resource Management and Science 1.8%
Total Assets
$10,514,838
L IABIL I T IES
Accounts Payable and Accrued Expenses
$565,956
Deferred Revenues and Support
$313,587
Total Current Liabilities $879,543 Resource Education Staffing Support
$122,904
Smokies Guide Newspaper
$47,236
Digital Interpretive Outreach
Tremont Store Support
$1,000
$31,350
GSMA Publication Development
Special Resource Education Project Opportunities
$69,243
$42,170
Other
$6,053 11
2021 GSMA ANNUAL REPORT
Total Liabilities
$ 879,543
NET ASSETS
Fund Balances Current Liabilities
$9,635,296 $879,543
Total Liabilities and Net Assets
$10,514,839
* Reserves are maintained to meet various future obligations to Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
SMOKIES LIFE-LINE P A N D E M IC-I N S PI R E D S M O K I E S LIV E B L O G G E T S R E FI N E D I N 2021 Anyone associated with the park is likely familiar with GSMA’s award-winning journal, Smokies Life, published twice a year for our members since 2007. But perhaps yet undiscovered by some is the journal’s virtual little sister, Smokies LIVE. The blog was born in the unforgettable spring of 2020 when—with the park closing and visitor center bookstores soon to follow—we had to bring the Smokies to people in their homes. But its style and the system we use to create it were both refined and perfected during the slightly less stressful 2021. Smokies LIVE was conceived as a virtual magazine for Smokies lovers—a blog that could be communal and cross-partner, cross-park. Each week there are multiple posts from different GSMA staff, park partners, local authors, and volunteers. The opportunities for education and interpretation are limitless with a virtual publication. Unlike the print magazine, which is planned a full year in advance and contains 10 to 15 stories, the blog allows the association to move from an idea to a finalized post in a matter of days. Many stories by various writers can be published each week. Blogs are posted on the GSMA website at SmokiesInformation.org/news. Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter posts drive social media followers to the website to read each new essay. Every two to three weeks, the most recent stories are collected and sent out to members and other readers in an email news blast: the Smokies LIVE roundup. One of the most popular elements are videos highlighting the park’s wildflowers, wildlife, cultural history, and many projects and programs related to the Smokies and its gateway communities. These are produced by GSMA’s videographer and publications associate, Valerie Polk, in connection with NPS and other park partners and organizations. “We all know that we’ll protect what we love,” Polk says. “For the millions who love the Great Smoky Mountains, the park’s partner organizations work fulltime to make this possible—through storytelling. Here at GSMA, Smokies LIVE has evolved into our main storytelling tool, one we turn to on a daily basis.” 12
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Smokies LIVE allows GSMA to capitalize on partnerships with programs and services including the African American Experiences in the Smokies; Safe Passage: The I-40 Pigeon River Gorge Wildlife Crossing Project; Smokies BearWise; Smokies Safe; Smokies Smart; and Sepia Tones: Exploring Black Appalachian Music. Organizations that have worked on the blog include A Walk in the Woods, Backcountry Search and Rescue, Brevard College, Carolina Mountain Club, Collections Preservation Center, Discover Life in America, Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont, the National Park Service, University of Tennessee–Knoxville, and University of North Carolina–Asheville. Born during times of uncertainty, finessed and solidified during 2021, today Smokies LIVE is the association’s primary and immediate means of communication with members and readers who follow our social media channels where it provides more than half of our content. Smokies LIVE essays allow us not only to share interesting nuances of the cultural and natural history of GSMNP but also to be immediately responsive to our park partner’s need to rapidly spread messages about resource protection. Articles are written by renowned Smokies authors and new park advocates alike—and we have published more than 475 of them by 45 different authors. “Like the park, I envision GSMA continuing in perpetuity,” said CEO Laurel Rematore. “We will honor our mission by adapting our business to these circumstances—and this new virtual magazine is part of that adaptation. We are an energetic and creative team of passionate, smart people. I am confident we will figure this out and emerge from the challenge stronger and wiser.”
PASSAGE PROBLEMS A S EARC H FOR SAFE PASSAGE EDUCATES FAMIL IES ABOUT PARK WILDLIFE ISSUE In the year 2021, road ecology became part of America’s consciousness. And GSMA was at the forefront of the movement, offering an allegory with a powerful message for our time in a kids’ book with a wealth of literary allusion for adults. A Search for Safe Passage is at once a chapter book and an introduction to road ecology, the study of how life is altered for plants and animals when roads are nearby. It’s inspired by the real-life plight of animals who live in Great Smoky Mountains National Park but leave to find mates, food, and shelter, only to have to cross the treacherous Interstate 40 in Western North Carolina and East Tennessee. Nonfiction components follow the eight-chapter narrative, including an overview of the real animals and how they compare with the fictional ones and an educational section introducing readers to the various types of wildlife crossing structures that have proved successful around the world. “It’s a strange mix of materials that is nevertheless cohesive and transcends the young readers’ pigeonhole,” said the late George Ellison, co-author with Janet McCue of GSMA’s Back of Beyond: A Horace Kephart Biography. “The main story has all the elements of a fable—a short story, typically with animals as characters, conveying a moral that readers of any age can enjoy and learn from.” The storyline follows best friends Bear and Deer who grew up together on the north side of a beautiful Appalachian gorge. The dangerous Human Highway divides their home range into the north and south sides. To keep everyone safe, Turtle, the elder, has created a law forbidding anyone to try to cross, and a Forest Council has been formed to look for solutions. On the night of a full moon, two strangers arrive from the south with news that will lead to tough decisions, a life-changing adventure, and new friends joining in a search for safe passage. The story is fiction, but it is based on a real-life problem. The setting is a microcosm of the Pigeon River Gorge, a beautiful, wild landscape that extends the rugged habitats of animals living in GSMNP, but with the fourlane highway carrying some 29,000 vehicles each day bisecting corridors the wildlife have used for millennia. This publication helps the national park’s wildlife by addressing a problem occurring outside the park and
involving park gateway communities. It represents a collaborative effort of some 20 regional organizations working together as Safe Passage: The I-40 Pigeon River Gorge Wildlife Crossing Project. GSMA is part of the Safe Passage Fund Coalition, and author Frances Figart, GSMA’s Creative Services Director, was inspired by her road ecology committee work to write the book. Graphic Designer Emma Oxford’s illustrations mirror real photographs from the wildlife cameras monitored by Conservation Biologist Steve Goodman with National Parks Conservation Association, who reviewed the book and suggested details to add based on his Volgenau-funded research in the Pigeon River Gorge. A Search for Safe Passage is distributed by Ingram/ Publishers Group West and is sold in park bookstores and on the GSMA website at SmokiesInformation.org. Teachers and educators receive a 40 percent discount on the books and can download free discussion questions to use with classrooms. Since its launch in March of 2021, A Search for Safe Passage has sold 3,620 copies bringing in more than $41,000 in sales for GSMA. It won the coveted Publication of the Year award from the Public Lands Alliance in 2022.
Key characters from A Search for Safe Passage. Illustration by Emma Oxford.
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PARK PARTNERING T H E S MOK IES M E DIA S T U DIO IM PROV ES GS M A - N P S PARTNERSHIP Since 1953, GSMA has collaborating with the NPS to publish media products of the highest quality—whether an interpretive brochure about Smokies history, a Junior Ranger activity guide, or the latest issue of the Smokies Guide newspaper. In 2021, this joint effort took on a new form: the Smokies Media Studio, which aims to streamline the process through which park staff from the many departments of GSMNP have their needs met by GSMA. The GSMA Creative Team is made up of six professionals with skills ranging from writing and editing to graphic design, illustration, photography, and videography. The new media studio, conceived by NPS Chief of Resource Education Stephanie Kyriazis, ensures our team can quickly and efficiently apply their talents to park initiatives. “The Media Studio concept has revolutionized our partnership with the park,” said Creative Services Director Frances Figart, who serves as a funnel for assigning the projects along with Design Team Manager Karen Key. “We usually start out the project with a Zoom call to listen to our partner’s media needs and then discuss the timeline and best ways to move forward utilizing everyone’s abilities in the most efficient way possible.” Requests typically arise from the desire to communicate a message to the public. The Smokies Media Studio determines the best format to suit that message. For example, sharing the current status of a historic building’s ongoing restoration work may call for temporary signage, but longer-term interpretation about what makes that building an irreplaceable piece of Smokies history would be more appropriately communicated with a permanent wayside panel. The African American Experiences in the Smokies project is one such park initiative that has made frequent use of the Media Studio. The Creative Team worked closely with NPS Science Communicator Antoine Fletcher 14
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to create a vinyl banner, a tabletop display, web graphics, and four wayside panels. These materials created a unified visual identity for the project while engaging with the public in several different mediums. Another example is the GSMA-produced Smokies Guide newspaper, which has the goal of communicating important messages about visitor safety and resource protection. The NPS has learned that long written warnings are rarely an effective way to draw the public’s attention to potential hazards. With this in mind, through the Smokies Media Studio, park staff called upon the Creative Team to develop more visual means of communicating about these issues. After reassessing the existing format of Smokies Guide, collaborators reduced the total amount of text and replaced it where appropriate with infographics and visual elements. The result is a paper that is inviting and accessible, quickly orienting and informing park visitors. Other projects that have benefited from this approach include an illustrated sign at Deep Creek that shows tubers the dangers of underwater debris and a digital infographic that encourages backcountry campers to pack up all of their trash and food scraps. Further expanding the park’s reach into digital media, the Creative Team worked through the Smokies Media Studio to create short videos educating visitors on camping and bicycling etiquette—complete with audio descriptions—as the park moves to make content more accessible for all audiences. Several of these projects have come to fruition in 2022 and 2023, but the collaborative process that guided their development began with launch of the Smokies Media Studio in 2021. Bringing a fresh framework and process to a longstanding partnership, the Smokies Media Studio is helping GSMA provide the park with a crucial service—a service that has been at the heart of GSMA’s mission since day one.
PARK PARTNERING
Above: Smokies Guide is the park’s official newspaper that comes out four times a year. Right: Vertical banner designed for the African American Experiences in the Smokies project.
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P.O. Box 130 · Gatlinburg, TN 37738 Membership@GSMAssoc.org 1.888.898.9102 SmokiesInformation.org
PHOTO CREDITS: QUINTIN ELLISON—2; NPS —6, 7; BILL LEA—3, 8–9, BACK COVER; NPS —6, 7, 15; MICHELE SONS–COVER. ©2023 GSMA