Rural Regenerator Fellows Selected

Fergus Falls, MN – Springboard for the Arts is excited to announce the inaugural cohort of Rural Regenerator Fellows for 2021.

Springboard for the Arts has selected 11 Rural Regenerator Fellows who live or work in communities of 50,000 people or fewer across the Upper Midwest (Minnesota, North and South Dakota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, Illinois and the Native Nations that share those geographies).

The peer selection process prioritized people who are Black, Indigenous, Native, People of Color, LGBTQIA+, women and gender non-binary people, and/or people with disabilities. Each fellow will receive $10,000 in flexible funds to support their existing work or to launch a new project in their community, and will participate in two years of learning exchanges with their fellow rural artists.

The inaugural cohort of Rural Regenerators includes:

• Alice M. McGary (Rural Central Iowa)

• Amber Hansen (Vermillion, South Dakota)

• Annie Hough (North Moorhead, Minnesota)

• Bethany Lacktorin (Ordway Prairie in Pope County, Minnesota)

• Elisha Marin (Albert Lea, Minnesota)

• J Erin Hutchinson (Herbster, Wisconsin)

• Inkpa Mani (Wheaton, Minnesota)

• Mai’a Williams (Winona, Minnesota)

• Molly Hassler (Watertown and Milwaukee, Wisconsin)

• Sandra Kern Mollman (North of Vermillion, South Dakota)

• Talon Bazille (Bad Nation, South Dakota)

This inaugural cohort is an exciting mix of individual artists, makers, and culture bearers, grassroots organizers, community development workers, public sector workers and other rural changemakers who are committed to advancing the role of art, culture and creativity in rural development and community building. For the next two years, they will problem solve together on specific rural issues and build community and collective knowledge on equitable post-pandemic relief and recovery, and questions of community care, land stewardship and creative people power.

“This is one of few programs in the United States that provides unrestricted financial support and long term learning exchanges between rural artists, and it’s long overdue,” said Michele Anderson, Rural Program Director at Springboard for the Arts. “The artists in this cohort have been doing essential work in their communities. They see wild possibilities when communities are most stuck, and they use art, culture and creativity to help reframe challenges and opportunities, build relationships, repair historic harms, and dream big about a future that works better for everyone. They’re doing much of this work without consistent or reliable resources and without opportunities to learn deeply with other rural practitioners. We’re so excited to support and amplify their work, and to learn alongside them about the best ways to sustain and expand the impact of rural artists in general.”

Springboard’s Rural Program, based in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, recently celebrated its 10 year anniversary. The Rural Regenerator Fellowship expands on Springboard’s work supporting and connecting creative rural leaders in the upper Midwest who are committed to strengthening their communities through art, culture and creativity. The Rural Regenerator Fellowship will initially support three cohorts between 2021 and 2025, with applications opening for the second cohort in Spring 2022.

See more about the Rural Regenerator Fellows: https://springboardforthearts.org/rural-regenerator-fellows/

For more information or press requests, contact Michele Anderson, Rural Program Director, at michele@springboardforthearts.org or 218-531-1594.

About Springboard for the Arts

Springboard for the Arts is an economic and community development organization for artists and by artists. From our offices in Fergus Falls and Saint Paul, MN, Springboard provides programs that help artists make a living and a life, and programs that help communities connect to the creative power of artists. Our work is about creating communities and artists that have a reciprocal relationship, where artists are key contributors to community issues and are visible and valued for the impact they create. We do this work by creating simple, practical solutions and systems to support artists. Springboard’s work has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Stanford Social Innovation Review and The Guardian and directly impacts over 25,000 artists each year in our home state of Minnesota. Through national tools and training Springboard’s programs have been replicated in over 100 communities across the U.S. and internationally. Learn more about our work at: http://www.springboardforthearts.org.