At the 2025 Main Street Now Conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, one session highlighted the transformative potential of artistic engagement and existing assets in rural and small-town revitalization, especially when driven by the people who know their communities best.
At the heart of this movement is the Activate Rural Learning Lab (ARLL), an initiative of the artist-led, non-profit Department of Public Transformation, which is equipping local leaders, especially from Native American and underrepresented communities, with the tools, networks, and inspiration to bring their visions for place-based development to life.
The Activate Rural program is a hands-on, cohort-based approach that is designed to support grassroots community revitalization across rural areas. It focuses on the social, cultural, and built assets that already exist in a community and utilizes those assets to bring positive change and opportunities to rural communities.
Through this approach, participants have gained strategies for transforming underused spaces into more vibrant, multi-use cultural hubs such as art studios, classrooms, community centers, performance venues, and more. The program emphasizes the importance of these projects as a means for building community wealth and supporting local entrepreneurship.
The session highlighted two Minnesotan Native-led organizations who are putting the Activate Rural model into action. Their projects are turning existing Main Street buildings and other assets into community gathering spaces that celebrate community identity, support entrepreneurship and highlight local artists, and build community identity through community-owned buildings and assets.
Example: Mni Sota Arts
Mni Sota Arts, one of five ARLL Cohort Teams, is currently renovating a former café into a gallery and retail space dedicated to Native artists. In its first year with the cohort, the organization acquired the building, cleared the site, developed architectural plans, launched a website, applied for grants, and began establishing internal systems.
In the coming months, renovations will continue with local contractors, including roof, HVAC, and electrical upgrades, restoration of the original brick façade, and interior enhancements such as the tin ceiling and hardwood floors.
“Part of being in a historical space is also providing true and accurate historical accuracy of native people and our community. Most people who live here native and not do not have an accurate understanding of historical events in this area of SW Minnesota and Dakota people. Part of the experience of having a physical space is to have meeting and gallery space that will help foster visiting and local artists sharing their work and creating a safe space for truthful historical sharing.”
– Mni Sota Arts Team
The Activate Rural Learning Lab offers a free public workshop series and coaching sessions that are designed to offer support, peer learning, and resources to creative entrepreneurs, artists, organizations, and small business owners with creative physical places of connection in rural communities across the U.S.
Image Credit: Department of Public Transformation
Image Credit: Mni Sota Arts
Virginia Main Street 