Artists from across the Upper Midwest are gathered this week in Fergus Falls, Minn., for the 3rd annual Rural Futures Summit.
The event is hosted by Springboards for the Arts, a nonprofit based in both St. Paul and Fergus Falls. The summit has featured celebrations, arts and culture workshops and story circles at different venues around town, including the Kaddatz Galleries and the Spies Riverfront Park pavilion overlooking the Otter Tail River.
“We started this program because rural artists are doing really critical work in their communities, and it can be a really isolating role to have,” says Michele Anderson, the rural director for Springboard.
“They're creating really safe and affirming spaces for people of all types, and burnout — it can be really real. Many of these artists are pushing against the status quo, but they're also really putting amazing things together with few resources. So we wanted to have a gathering where we could build solidarity and build power among rural artists and build a more resilient Upper Midwest.”
The artists are part of the Rural Regenerator Fellowship, an annual program that gives 12 fellows $10,000 in flexible funds to continue the work they are already doing in their communities. The fellows are based not only in Minnesota, but Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan and the Dakotas.
“This is the culminating celebration of their work, and they each get to invite colleagues, friends, family to come to this,” Anderson says. “It's a very intentional gathering of the people in their circles and in their orbit to build that network.”
Fellow Marcella Prokop drove up from Luverne. The writer, beekeeper and educator is opening the Cidery at Blackshire, which she wants to be a cultural gathering place on her farm.
Prokop says she’s used the summit and fellowship to network with other artists and community members who have started cultural hubs in their towns.
“We want to do things for the community and make sure that everybody feels like they have an opportunity to get plugged into something artistic and creative, and just see that rural spaces are really wonderful,” Prokop says.
Fellow Lyle Miller, a Lakota artist and educator, came from Mitchell, South Dakota, with his family for the summit.
“I wish South Dakota was like this — doing this sort of thing for their artists,” Miller says of the Springboard fellowship.
Miller says he’s become close with other artist fellows like Siricasso Garcia of Huxley, Iowa.
“It's opened a lot of doors for me, you know?” Miller says. ”It’s opened my eyes to a greater community of artists and knowing that the people from Minnesota are concerned and they want to be sharing their artwork and sharing their community with other artists to bring us together like this. To me, it's just a whole new branch.”
The summit culminates June 13 with the “Joy March,” a sidewalk parade through downtown Fergus Falls.
