Ten Creative Third Places Selected for the 2026-2028 Activate Rural Learning Lab
Activate Rural launched in 2023 with an inaugural Learning Lab Cohort of five building activation projects in rural Minnesota communities. The Learning Lab provides unrestricted grant funding and ongoing curated technical assistance through monthly project check-ins, workshops and gatherings, and allocated staff time to support the development of the project’s operations, activations, and stewardship. During the 2023-2025 Learning Lab, every $1 of Activate Rural funding leveraged an average of $4.30 from other public and private funding sources.
In August 2025, the Department of Public Transformation (DoPT) announced a $1.5 million grant from the Mellon Foundation to expand its Activate Rural program. The investment supports the growth of creative “third places” across rural communities, such as galleries, performance spaces, cafés, studios, and multi-use cultural hubs, in places with populations under 20,000, including Native Nations across the Upper Midwest and Northern Plains. Through a combination of Learning Lab cohorts, workshops, and one-on-one coaching, the program helps artists, entrepreneurs, and community leaders develop and sustain spaces that foster connection, belonging, and civic engagement.
Today, May 15, 2026, Department of Public Transformation (DoPT) is pleased to announce ten projects selected for the 2026-2028 Activate Rural Learning Lab. The ten projects will receive a total of $500,000 of unrestricted funding and a 2-year curated cohort experience. Selected projects include teams of entrepreneurs, artists, and activators cultivating creative third places in rural communities of under 20,000 people across Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, and the Tribal Nations that share this geography.
The following ten projects were selected out of 128 applications for the 2026-2028 Learning Lab
“This cohort reflects a range of activation projects that are redefining the role of creative places in rural communities,” said Sarina Otaibi, Activate Rural Program Director. “We feel fortunate to get to work alongside these impactful projects and support their visions for bringing people together around place, stories, health, culture, and play."
DoPT invites you to get to know the new 2026-2028 Learning Lab Cohort below:
Mainspring, Caledonia, MN (pop. 2,847)
Mainspring is activating a historic church building to intentionally and organically grow their rural community centering artists in the essential work of rural future-building, radical healing, and intentional justice-oriented work.
Kingsley History Project, Broadus, MT (pop. 459)
The Kingsley History Project is activating the Broadus CornerStore, an operating gas station/convenience store with an adjacent courtyard and a metal building, to reimagine their space as a cultural commons – Páeo'hé'e Commons – a place where you can still grab coffee and fuel, but also encounter public art, hear local music, join a story circle, or attend a small workshop.
Cultivate Cut Bank, Cut Bank, MT (pop. 3,056)
Cultivate Cut Bank is activating a 1940s commercial building and surrounding public space to connect their community through experiences that inspire belonging and shared understanding, while also celebrating local identity, culture, history, and traditions.
Creative Healing Space Inc., Worthington, MN (pop. 13,780)
Creative Healing Space is activating a downtown storefront as a “cultural living room” designed to function as a welcoming, arts-centered third place where shared tables and accessible creative materials invite informal gathering, conversation, and creative play, as well as regular creative programs such as open studios, drop-in art nights, open mics, storytelling circles, performances, and rotating exhibitions.
Nis'to Incorporated, Sisseton, SD (pop. 2,670)
Nis’to, Inc is a part of a community collaborative of art organizations and Christophersons Corner that are activating a spacious historic downtown building to provide a variety of art studios, cultural arts workshops, gallery exhibitions, and pop-up art shows as well as health wellness activities and food sovereignty initiatives.
Roots & Grass Theater Co, Bison, SD (pop. 302)
Roots & Grass Theater Co is activating agricultural spaces throughout its prairie ranching community, creating opportunities for neighbors to reconnect to food heritage, oral narratives, and shared human experience through summer stock-style theater productions, pay-what-you-can meals at the Sheep Shed Cafe and community garden, and a variety of local arts programming for visiting and local writers, musicians, and land-based artists.
Mni Wichoni Health Circle, Fort Yates, ND (pop. 169)
Mni Wichoni Health Circle is activating Tribal college spaces to carry out its mission as a cultural care community that provides wellness programming rooted in ancestral practices of kinship, traditional craft, food sovereignty, storytelling, and community gathering.
Project49, Livingston, MT (pop. 8,780)
Project49 is activating the historic Teslow grain elevator and renovating it to become a permanent creative gathering place complete with artist studios, a community makerspace, and flexible spaces for youth programming, workshops, and events.
Folk Forum, Oak Center, MN (unincorporated)
Folk Forum is activating the 114-year-old Oak Center General Store, continuing its legacy as a rural gathering place and performance hall while building new programming that expands outreach and develops a cultural archive of its rich history and stakeholder stories.
Ground Control, Pine Ridge, SD (pop. 3,138)
Ground Control is activating a 6,000-square foot industrial building as an indoor skatepark, performance venue, and multimedia studio functioning as a vibrant community hub for local youth, skaters, and community members of the Pine Ridge Reservation.
About Department of Public Transformation (DoPT): Department of Public Transformation is a nonprofit organization that develops creative strategies for increased community connection, civic engagement, and equitable participation in rural places. More information at www.publictransformation.org.
About Activate Rural: Activate Rural supports third places, creative space use, and building activation projects—art galleries and cultural centers, creative coffee shops and taprooms, theaters, artist studios, performance and event venues, multi-use creative places, and more—that inspire, motivate, and open up possibilities for rural communities with a population of 20,000 or less across the United States and the Native Nations that share that geography. DoPT offers support, peer learning, and resources through a curated Learning Lab cohort, workshop series, and 1:1 coaching sessions to artists, creative entrepreneurs, organizations, and small business owners. More information at https://www.publictransformation.org/activate-rural