Rural Arts & Culture Summit Videos

The Rural Arts & Culture Summit was held from June 6-8 in Morris, MN, and it was magical. 400 artists, community development professionals, leaders, and advocates from 22 states came to the town of 5,000 people in the rolling Minnesota farmland to share ideas, practical steps, and paths forward together. Look for more writing, photos and coverage of the Summit to come, and check out the #racsummit hashtag to get a glimpse of the conversation that happened in between performances, songs, and workshops. Here are the livestreams of the plenary panels and keynote address, for your reference and inspiration.

Wednesday Morning Plenary – Welcome (Event starts at 22:00, audio clears up at 52:12)
Laura Youngbird, Recognition of Native Land
Bart Finzel, Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs and Dean, University of Minnesota, Morris
Roger Rose, Executive Director, Center for Small Towns
Michele Anderson, Rural Program Director, Springboard for the Arts

Scanning the Field
Lauren Carlson, Poet
Mary Swander, AgArts
Jeremy Staab, First Peoples Fund
Haley Honeman, Theater artist
Cecilia Cornejo, Filmmaker
Andrew Nordin, Visual Artist and Curator

Wednesday Afternoon Plenary – Creating Inclusive Rural Places through Arts and Culture (Event starts at 12:20)
Carlton Turner, Executive Director at Alternate Roots
Michael Strand, Ceramicist and Head of Visual Arts at North Dakota State University
Meredith Martin Moats, Folklorist and founder of McElroy House
Anton Treuer, Author and Professor of Ojibwe, Bemidji State University
Moderator: Laura Zabel, Springboard for the Arts

Thursday Morning Plenary – A Reciprocal Relationship: Rural and Arts Advocacy (Event starts at 19:00)
Sheila Smith, Executive Director at Minnesota Citizens for the Arts
Sarina Otaibi, Granite Falls City Council and Preservation Alliance of Minnesota
Representative Erin Murphy, Minnesota House of Representatives, 64A
Hugh Weber, Institute of Possibility
Moderator: Ashley Hanson, Public Transformation

Thursday Morning Keynote – New models for rural creative economies (Event starts at 4:13)
Dr. Jessica Metcalfe, Beyond Buckskin

Featured photo: Musicians Kelle Jolly & Will Boyd of Knoxville, TN, perform at the community dinner Wednesday night. Photo by Michele Anderson.