Rural Regenerator Fellowship: Connection, Exchange and Solidarity
By Springboard for the Arts
This year, Springboard for the Arts is proud to welcome 6 artists to the Rural Regenerator Fellowship: Reyna Hernandez, Rubina Martini, Sharon Mansur, Rebeka Ndosi, Jennifer Morales, and Ray Janis!
This 18-month Fellowship provides support, learning, and peer exchange for rural cultural organizers who are using art, culture, and creativity to cultivate care, safety, and solidarity in their communities. Each artist receives an unrestricted award of $15,000 in recognition of their work, participation in an in-person retreat, $3,000 in travel support for Fellow exchange experiences, and the opportunity to attend and present at Springboard’s bi-annual Rural Futures Summit.
The new Fellows join a growing network of 44 artists across the Midwest who are part of the Rural Regenerator community. Since 2021, Springboard’s Rural Regenerator Fellowship has invested more than $1 million in rural cultural organizers across the Upper Midwest, building a lasting and resilient network grounded in support, solidarity, and exchange.
“At its heart, the Rural Regenerator Fellowship is about sustaining the people and practices that help rural communities thrive. By bringing rural artists into a supportive peer network, the Fellowship creates space for Fellows to deepen their existing work while building relationships across geography, disciplines, and communities. Together, they are growing a network of rural cultural organizers rooted in mutual support, shared learning, and solidarity across the Midwest.” – Molly Johnston, Rural Program Manager.
Reyna Hernandez
She/her
Vermillion, SD
Reyna Hernandez is a rural based Ihaŋktoŋwaŋ painter/muralist living and working in Southeast, South Dakota. Reyna’s work explores the complexities of her relationship to culture and place and is heavily inspired by the many star quilters in her family history. Her process is rooted in critical observation of who/what is being represented in public spaces and examines the influence that visual language has over the formation of collective societal value structures. Throughout her body of work, Reyna draws on cultural symbolism, metaphor, and storytelling to explore themes of identity, visibility, and erasure.
Rubina Martini
She/they
Nelsonville, Wisconsin
Rubina Martini is a social practice artist, community organizer, and creative focused on culture, sustainability and identity. The majority of their time is spent curating community meals, gatherings and cultural events from Wisconsin through Iowa and down to their home reservation for the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska. For over a decade, Rue has co-stewarded 5 acres in central Wisconsin with her partner, two kids, three goats, and many chickens. Rue also owns PROCESS, a community inspired sustainable general store. Rue is currently working on land back initiatives within their tribes traditional homelands.
Sharon Mansur
She/her
Winona, Mni Sota Makoce and Dakota homelands
Sharon Mansur is an Arab American dance and interdisciplinary artist, curator, educator, and community engager. She resides by the Mississippi River in Winona, Mni Sota Makoce, on Dakota homelands. A facilitator of people, spaces and imagination, Mansur’s creative practices integrate movement, visual elements, films, shared meals, and conversations. Her art is an invitation and a space for resistance and solidarity. Ongoing curiosities include: subtle intimacies between human and environmental bodies, and nurturing the creative ecology of a community. Sharon facilitates The Cedar Tree Project, a platform for SWANA (Southwest Asian & North African) contemporary art and artists, and SHIFT~ experimental performance salons.
Jennifer Morales
Any pronouns
Viroqua, WI
Jennifer Morales is a poet, fiction writer, and performance artist based in rural Wisconsin whose work wrestles with questions of gender, identity, complicity, and harm. Their first book, Meet Me Halfway (UW Press), a short story collection about life in hyper-segregated Milwaukee, was Wisconsin Center for the Book’s 2016 “Book of the Year,” among other honors. They organize LGBTQIA+ folks in the Driftless Region through the Driftless LGBTQ+ & Allies Network and serve on the boards of Driftless Writing Center and Viroqua Arts Council. More info at moraleswrites.com.
Rebeka Ndosi
She/her
Two Harbors, MN
Rebeka Ndosi M.S., L.Ac is a healer, teacher and the founder and visionary behind Maji ya Chai Land Sanctuary, a nonprofit organization providing a 40-acre land-based community space, on the North Shore of Gichigaming (Lake Superior), just outside of Two Harbors, Minnesota. A board licensed acupuncturist, community coach, and soul answer healer, Rebeka brings a powerful blend of mind-body-spirit wisdom to her work. With a background that spans biology, youth media production in the U.S. and South Africa, and holistic health, she’s dedicated her life to nurturing the wellbeing of youth of color and the communities that surround them. She is the creator of the Warriors of Light™ kids yoga card deck, founder of the Youth Healing Justice Network, and a nationally respected leader in healing justice.
Ray Janis
He/him
From Kyle (Pejuta Haka), SD, and based in Rapid City (Mni Luzahan) SD
Ray “Rock Boy” Janis is a contemporary artist based in Mni Luzahan (Rapid City, SD), blending pop culture, modern design, and street art energy with a Lakota perspective. His work explores identity, history, memory, and belonging through digital design and mix media. Inspired by video games, movies and his Lakota heritage, their practice is both intentional and intuitive. Their portfolio includes digital illustration, logos, murals, and educational graphics created for Native nonprofits, youth programs, and public art spaces.
The Rural Regenerator Fellowship is a two-year fellowship that brings together rural artists, creatives, and culture bearers to deepen their relationships, grow their work, and support rural exchange and solidarity across the Upper Midwest. Learn more.
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