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Creative Change Coalition, Field Conversation: Rural-Urban Solidarity

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Date: October 16, 2024
Time: 2:00 pm to 3:30 pm CST
Location: Zoom Meeting
Price: Free
Category: Creative Change Coalition

Rural and urban communities need each other. While it may seem on the surface that we have little in common, our lives are more intertwined than most national media narratives or politicians want us to believe.

Over the last decade, the so-called “urban-rural” divide has increasingly become a political strategy to provoke division and fear, rather than supporting solutions, common ground, and shared meaning across our geographical differences.

Join Springboard for the Arts in conversation with Art of the Rural, CultureSource (MI) & RedLine Contemporary Art Center (CO) as they discuss lessons learned, celebrations, and share project examples that uplift and explore:

  • • What might happen if we take the time to discover and affirm the ways in which urban and rural people share a future together?
  • • How might some of the daunting challenges of our time be re-framed, and how could new or deeper connections across geographies lead to more equitable and human-centered solutions?

 

This conversation will be moderated by Laura Zabel, Executive Director of Springboard for the Arts.

 

Guest Presenters:

Michele Anderson (she/her), Rural Director, Springboard for the Arts. Michele Anderson is the Rural Director at Springboard for the Arts where she leads local, state and national programs including the Rural Regenerator Fellowship, the Rural Futures Summit, and Artists on Main Street. Her writing and ideas on rural life have been featured in mnartists.org, the New York Times, and more. She recently directed the writing and publication of Springboard’s newest resource, “Heartland: Heartwork,” a comprehensive field guide on rural leadership and placemaking. Michele is based in Fergus Falls, MN and is also a composer, writer, and pianist.

Matthew Fluharty (he/him), Executive Director, Art of the Rural. Matthew is a writer and curator currently living in Winona, Minnesota, a town located within Dakota homelands along the Mississippi River. Matthew is the Founder and Executive Director of Art of the Rural and a Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Curatorial Fellow. His work flows between the fields of art, humanities, policy, and community development. With Art of the Rural, Matthew has served as organizing curator for High Visibility: On Location in Rural America and Indian Country, a long-term collaborative effort that began with an exhibition and publication with the Plains Art Museum. Through the Spillway initiative, Matthew is learning from the Honoring Dakota organization and members of Prairie Island Indian Community toward building deeper intercultural and cross-sector relationships that can seed social, cultural, and land-based impacts in the region.  Matthew is a novice priest and assistant teacher in the Zen Garland Order, a sangha that is a part of what’s known as the Socially Engaged Buddhist movement.

Louise Martorano (she/her), Executive Director, RedLine Contemporary Art Center. Louise Martorano is the Executive & Artistic Director of RedLine, a non-profit contemporary art center and artist residency located in Denver, Colorado. RedLine’s mission is to foster education and engagement between artists and communities to create positive social change. Under her leadership, RedLine has received Denver Mayor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts (2014 & 2015), the Greenway Foundation’s “Partner in Change” award, and recognition from Denver Public Schools for excellence in community engagement and 2021 Business for the Arts honoree. In 2017, she was awarded a Livingston Fellowship for leadership from the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation. Martorano holds a M.H. from the University of Colorado at Denver with a focus in Contemporary Art History & Music. She is new Trustee for the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation, Board Chair for the Harmony Hammond Trust, Board Treasurer of the National Performance Network, and Secretary for the Denver Center for African Art.

Omari Rush (he/him), Executive Director, CultureSource. Omari Rush engages the arts as a passion and profession, and in each mode, he enjoys discovery and deepening impacts. As executive director of CultureSource in Detroit, he advances efforts to have creative expression thrive in communities. His complementary civic service ranges from recently completing an appointment to the State of Michigan Arts and Culture Council (serving three governors, two as their council chair) and a term as chair of the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, to currently working as a board member of the Lewis Prize for Music and SeaChange Capital Partners. Omari earned degrees in music from the University of Michigan and Florida State University, and now as a lapsed clarinetist, Omari primarily plays on a Rivendell Clem-L bicycle, which he rides daily on streets and trails.

Event Details:

  • - Wednesday, October 16, 2024
  • - 12-1:30PM PDT / 2-3:30PM CDT / 3-4:30PM EDT (US & Canada)
  • - All are welcome, designed for place-based organizations
  • - Free, Zoom Meeting

 

Online Platform: Zoom Meeting. Meetings are designed to be a collaborative event with all participants being able to turn on their video and audio, and see who else is in attendance.
Breakout Rooms: Breakout rooms (smaller discussion groups that are separate from the main Zoom session) may be used during this event. Participation in breakout rooms is optional.
Recording
: This session will not be recorded.
Captioning: This event will be captioned using AI generated live transcription.

Register: To register, click on the red "Register" button above. If you have questions, email sara@springboardforthearts.org.