Rural Regenerator Fellowship: Connection, Exchange and Solidarity
By Springboard for the Arts
Artists, culture bearers, and makers are essential to the future of rural places—and to the ways those places help our society develop and build new systems or policies that are human-centered, equitable, and resilient. Since 2021, Springboard for the Arts’ Rural Regenerator Fellowship has invested more than $1 Million in rural cultural organizers across the Upper Midwest, building a lasting and resilient network of support, solidarity, and exchange.
The Rural Regenerator Fellowship brings rural artists into a supportive peer network, helping to sustain and deepen their existing work, while cultivating a network of geographic exchange, mutual support, and solidarity across the rural Midwest.
Since its launch in 2021, 44 Fellows from across the Upper Midwest have come together to support each other’s work, and share ideas.
For this next Fellowship cycle, we will support artists who are organizing their rural places for care, safety and solidarity. The fellowship will support six rural artists, creatives, and culture bearers with an unrestricted award of $15,000, one in-person retreat, $3,000 to support travel for Fellow Exchanges, and the opportunity to attend and present at Springboard’s Rural Futures Summit. Apply by June 18, 2026.
We invite peers, collaborators, and supporters to nominate a rural artist they’d love to see apply to the Rural Regenerator Fellowship. Nomination is NOT required to apply. The nomination form is to help our community encourage applicants they think are a good fit, and reach people who may not know about the program. All applications are reviewed equally, and our selection committee will not know whether an applicant was nominated.
Header Image Credit: Rural regenerator fellows creating a collaborating art project. Photo by Neh-Dah-Ness Greene.
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