Lori McKinney-Blankenship, co-founder and administrator of The RiffRaff Arts Collective, is primarily a performing and recording artist (vocals, drums, dance, spoken word). She has been writing and recording music since the year 2000. Her years previous were spent gaining a B.A. in Music Theatre from James Madison University, performing in scores of productions there, and performing professionally over the summers as a featured singer / dancer at Paramount’s Carowinds in Charlotte, NC and Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, TN. She spent a semester her senior year in London, UK, where she discovered her alternative sensibilities and emerged as an independent, veering from a life of auditions into a world of her own creation. She established LLyniuM entertainment and dreamed of producing multimedia shows which would bring people together and inspire change. Lori searched for musical collaborators and hit the jackpot when she found her soul mate, Robert. The two merged in a profound way and have not stopped writing and recording since. Choosing to plant roots in McKinney's home town of Princeton, WV, together they founded Culturefest World Music & Arts Festival, now in its 10th year, a weekend long, multicultural immersion in the creative arts, and Option 22, a performing ensemble, in 2004; Option 22 is currently touring their new album, "The Change." Together they formed The RiffRaff Arts Collective in 2006 in Princeton, opening the doors for opportunities for people of all ages in an under-served area and catalyzing a creative revitalization movement of a once depressed and abandoned downtown. They also founded All Together Arts Week, now in its 5th year, which aims to unite artists and arts organizations, promoting unity and showcasing the arts community. She feels abundantly thankful to have merged with the rest of the members of the collective; they have found a mutual space in which to create, encourage, and inspire one another and the community. Lori lives and works at The RiffRaff, doing what it takes to make the wheels of the business turn as she and the other artists conceive productions for the future.