Presentation by Kathie Denobriga and Melanie Hammet

In this episode, Kathie Denobriga and Melanie Hammet give several live performances to demonstrate how their music-making intersects with their work in politics. They also discuss how they hold multiple identities in a society that seeks to limit our capacity to do so.

Kathie Demobriga is the Mayor of Pine Lake, Georgia. She holds a Master's degree in Theatre and a Bachelor's Degree in Speech Communications/Theatre Arts. Her early careers include managing a local theatre, serving as a Visiting Artist for an Arts Council, and an acting ensemble member with the Road Company of Johnson City, TN. She also was a founding member of Alternate Roots, a regional service organization for arts and activism.

Melanie Hammet is a musician and composer with a long history of performance and musical theater. She is also a two-term city council person in her hometown of Pine Lake, and currently serves as Mayor Pro Tempore. Hammet has written and produced more than a dozen recordings, including her last release, Crooked Spoke. She has refocused her songwriting on a new genre she calls "documentary songmaking."

Presented in partnership with Virginia Tech Department of English, IPG, CAUS, Office of the Senior Vice President and Provost, Department of Religion and Culture, Center for the Arts, SPIA, and Virginia Cooperative Extension.