Springboard for the Arts is proud to announce a new round of Artists Respond projects exploring rural democracy in West Central Minnesota this fall 2026 and winter 2027. Artists Respond: Roots of Democracy will support three creative, community-rooted projects that encourage civic participation and explore the conditions that help build resilient democracies in smaller communities. The participating artists are Jennifer Aranda of Moorhead, Jennifer Sheets of Detroit Lakes, and Leah Leach of Moorhead.
Aranda, a community-engaged scholar and practitioner, activist, storyteller, and emerging social practice fiber artist, will create a community-based fiber art project that builds on existing relationships and invites Black women to explore belonging, ancestry, community, and civic participation through storytelling and collective making.
Sheets, a writer, social designer, and founder of the Loon Writer’s Festival, will explore the role of writing in civic engagement. Through skill-building opportunities, she will support individuals in writing about current events and participating in healthy dialogue through writing.
Leach, whose work draws on women’s history as a tool for healing at the intersection of storytelling, mythology, and meditation, will facilitate creative conversations about the role of mothers in building a resilient democracy.
“These projects demonstrate the ways we can start with small, but deeply intentional ideas to build agency and local power. It is about imagining and then acting on the changes we want to see in our communities and our country, one conversation at a time,” said Michele Anderson, Senior Director of Partnerships & Rural Strategy at Springboard for the Arts. “Culture and creativity are at the heart of the social infrastructure we need to have those conversations, whether they are joyful, difficult, practical, or surprising.”
Dr. Jennifer Aranda
She/her
Red River Valley, MN
Dr. Jennifer L. Aranda, Black artist, scholar-practitioner, educator, and community builder, works at the intersections of leadership, belonging, equity, and creative practice in rural Minnesota. Through social fiber art, storytelling, and participatory experiences, she curates spaces for connection, reflection, and collective possibility. Her work weaves storytelling, making, and community-rooted learning together to build power and deepen belonging, particularly among people whose knowledge and narratives have been overlooked. Jennifer enjoys working on her microfarm, celebrates being a mom, and brings joy, art, and soul into her daily life. She lives and works in the rural Upper Midwest.
Jenny Sheets
She/her
Detroit Lakes, MN
Jenny Sheets is a social designer, community advocate, writer, and mom in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota. She founded Discover Outdoors with the goal of bringing people together, face-to-face, outdoors. Her primary art form is writing, and she’s fortunate to have been published in many great regional and national publications including The Sun, Montana Quarterly, Tiny Spoon, and Northern Eclecta. She writes about nature and place with the hopes that her writing encourages others to look inward and connect outward. Jenny is also an avid traveler and can’t imagine a world without visiting far-away places. Some of her favorite spots include Bolivia, France, Morocco, and hiking in Antarctica. She has a five-year-old son named Henry Danger, a dog named Bernie Polka Dot, and is married to a talented musician.
Leah Leach
She/her
Moorhead, MN
Leah Leach is the founder of Gals Guide, a women’s history academy. Leah utilizes women’s history as a tool for healing and boosting creativity. Her creative practice is at the intersection of storytelling, women’s history, mythology, and meditation. Leah is an award-winning writer, filmmaker, and podcaster with multiple (silly) honorary doctorates. In 2024, Leah was awarded Arts Leader of the Year from Noblesville Creates. In 2022, Gals Guide won Organization of the Year and received a special recognition from Congress for “outstanding and invaluable service to the community.” She has recently moved from Noblesville, Indiana, to Moorhead, Minnesota.
Artists Respond is a Springboard for the Arts program that supports small, community-rooted projects that respond to local issues and opportunities through creativity and culture. Past Artists Respond projects have focused on social isolation, environmental stewardship, rural and urban solidarity, and economic justice. Learn more about the program.
Funding for Roots of Democracy was provided in part by West Central Initiative.
Help Artists Thrive Donate