The MAP, which stands for Media Arts Project, was born in 2003 after a coalition of media arts professionals decided they wanted to collaborate with each other, and that they also wanted more opportunities to create shows and segments for local public television and radio. At the time, Coats, a DJ at the Asheville low-power FM station WPVM, was already fully entrenched in local audio production and happily threw herself behind the cause.

First, they wanted a space (and at the moment, that’s still in the works). Second, they wanted to create an organization that would help keep savvy media types in the area.

"Too many people educated in the (media) field around here end up having to leave because there really aren’t that many jobs," says Coats, who sold her much-loved Montford book store, The Reader’s Corner, last year and is now MAP’s interim executive director. "We really felt like having a media arts center would be a way for them to tap in, connect and get their work out there."

Hilary McVicker, now chair of MAP’s board of directors, was one of those media types who got her training in Asheville but moved away because she felt that there were more job opportunities elsewhere. After four years working for a San Francisco media company that produces video game industry events and publications, McVicker moved back to Asheville last year and was pleased to find that the climate for creative types seemed to be changing. She got a job at the Elumenati, a West Asheville-based design firm known for its Geodome, a learning tool that uses an inflatable dome, a digital projector and interactive data visualization software to help both kids and scientists get a better grasp on big concepts like time travel and the distance between stars. Now, she thinks the mere fact that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has a hub in Asheville will mean more work for white-collar professionals down the road. "There’s a potential for a lot of data-visualization work that relates to awareness about one of the most critical issues right now, which is climate change," she says. "If we are able to let that serve our community by bringing our media artists in and joining them with this pool of data, there’s a huge capacity for growth."

Coats, who recently started New Mediacast, an audio podcasting production company, has been a tireless advocate for media arts. Since 2003, the MAP has made some $107,000 in grants to media projects large and small, from the Asheville version of the 48-hour Film Project to a local film called Moon Europa to HATCH Asheville, a five-day creative festival this spring that brought in artists from around the country to speak about topics in architecture, fashion, photography, music, journalism and design. The group hosts monthly "Off the MAP" discussions and screenings at BoBo Gallery in downtown Asheville, and it helps get the word out about events hosted by similar organizations, like the Asheville Filmmakers Group.

Unfortunately, one of MAP’s financial backers, AdvantageWest, an economic development group for 23 Western North Carolina counties, stopped funding the organization earlier this year because of budget cuts at the state level. And while funding from the Asheville HUB, a private economic development group for Buncombe County, was the boost it needed to get its slick website off the ground, money is still tight. "We’re totally shoestring, and it’s pretty amazing what we’re able to accomplish on such a small amount of money," says Coats. — Mackensy Lunsford