One Mic, One City: Cash Hollistah, Kansas Arts Honoree and Salina’s Entertainer of the Year

An Award That Confirms What Salina Already Knew

The recognition from the Governor’s Arts Awards and Kansas Commerce for Excellence in Arts Education didn’t change the story of Cash Hollistah. It confirmed it.

For more than a decade and a half, Hollistah has quietly built one of the most consistent, impactful creative footprints in Salina and across Kansas, blending performance, education, and community leadership in a way few artists ever manage. The statewide honor reflects years of work bringing hip-hop and poetry into classrooms, civic spaces, and community conversations, not as novelty, but as legitimate tools for education, expression, and connection.

That same long-term commitment is why Hollistah was recently named Salina’s Entertainer of the Year, following a community poll that drew more than 5,400 votes from Salina311 subscribers. The result felt less like a popularity contest and more like a collective acknowledgment of who has consistently shown up.

The Long Way to Entertainer of the Year

Cash Hollistah didn’t win Entertainer of the Year because of one big moment. He won it the slow way, the way that only works if you keep showing up.

His relationship with performance started early. At six years old, Hollistah was already on stage as part of The Curtis Family, a gospel group made up of his parents and siblings. Church became his first classroom, where he learned discipline, presence, and how to hold a room. Hip-hop followed at age nine, and the performances became personal.

“The early days were really just me finding my voice,” Hollistah said. “Rapping about kid stuff and, being a pastor’s kid, about my faith.”

Growing up in Salina didn’t offer a ready-made rap narrative. “The options of things to rap about were rather limited,” he said, laughing. That limitation forced originality.

A creative writing class at Salina Central High School shifted music from hobby to craft. After graduation, Hollistah briefly attended Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, where joining a campus hip-hop collective made the idea of a music career feel tangible for the first time.

“That’s where the journey into the music business started,” he said.

Building Something That Didn’t Exist Yet

Staying in Salina was never the easy route. Hollistah has been candid about the contradictions of a small city that prides itself on support while sometimes resisting growth.

“There’s a small-minded mindset that seems to permeate around here,” he said. “And sometimes you can tell there’s a cliquish mentality.”

Rather than fight for access, he opted out.

“I learned I don’t need a seat at those tables,” he said. “Just build your own.”

That mindset shaped everything that followed. Collaboration wasn’t branding, it was survival.

“Working as a silo is counterproductive,” Hollistah said. “That’s how you build community.”

That philosophy extends beyond the stage. For more than 15 years, Hollistah has worked as a teaching artist in Salina schools through the Arts Infusion program. His Poetry & Hip-Hop workshops connect contemporary rap with classic poetry, helping students find their voices and see language as something alive.

His influence reaches further through mentorship at The City Teen Center, service as a Salina Arts & Humanities Commissioner, board service with the Kansas Music Hall of Fame, and the annual Cash Hollistah Scholarship Fund.

When It Became Bigger Than One Mic

In 2012, Hollistah launched ONE MIC at Ad Astra Books & Coffeehouse. What began as an open mic quickly became something deeper. Rappers shared stages with poets. People from different backgrounds, beliefs, and cities listened to one another without posturing.

“That first gathering,” Hollistah said, “seeing people from different ages, races, backgrounds, belief systems, all sharing ideas despite their differences, that was a light bulb moment.”

It was also the moment the work stopped being just about him.

His presence has helped shape the tone of downtown events and community gatherings, drawing people together in ways that feel organic rather than manufactured.

Recognition That Reflects the Work

The Governor’s Arts Award and Kansas Commerce recognition for Excellence in Arts Education formalize what Salina has experienced firsthand. Hollistah is not just an entertainer. He is an educator, connector, and builder of cultural infrastructure.

“Local doesn’t mean small,” Hollistah said. “You have to start somewhere. That’s how beginnings work.”

He has had opportunities to leave and hasn’t ruled it out entirely. “But if or when I do,” he said, “I want to leave my city in a healthier spot than when I came in.”

Being named Salina’s Entertainer of the Year didn’t come from chasing attention or waiting for permission. It came from staying, teaching, building, and letting the work accumulate. The 5,400 votes simply put a number on something Salina already understood.

And now, with statewide recognition added to that local support, the long way looks like the right way after all.