By Ash Hanson, DoPT CEO
The DoPT crew headed east to Keene, NH, for another inspiring Radically Rural Summit!
Ash, Courtney, Sarina, and Vivian joined rural changemakers from across the country for three days of learning, sharing, storytelling, and reconnecting with some of our friends in the field.
This year's theme, Reckoning & Reorienting, invited us to consider the challenges facing rural communities and the creative ways people are building more connected, resilient futures.
We kicked things off with the opening session, spent our afternoons exploring new ideas across tracks, Ash led the group of us in a choreographed flashmob for the evening reception, and we enjoyed plenty of good conversations over tasty food, drinks, and everything in between.
Our second day was especially full! Sarina and Courtney joined our friends Geoffrey Kershner of Small Town Big Arts and Joe Allen of Manoomin Arts Initiative to present in the Arts & Entrepreneurship Track, while Ash co-presented with Rebecca Dallinger, also of Manoomin Arts Initiative, in the Arts & Education Track. Vivian dove into the Journalism Track, gathering ideas and connections for Amplify Rural.
That afternoon, DoPT teamed up with Rural Assembly to host Radically Rural Storytellers: PBR & Popcorn, a happy hour featuring DoPT’s Vivian, artist and storyteller Nhatt Nichols, and Trish J. Gibson of Rural Assembly and Backwoods Literary Press, co-hosted by Ash and Taneum Fotheringill.
With cheap beer, boxed wine, popcorn, and some brilliant rural minds in the room, we dug into who gets to tell the stories of rural America, how artists and journalists shape our understanding of place, and what happens when rural people take the narrative into our own hands. We rounded out the evening at a Storytelling Open Mic, where we got to see our friend Dawn Espe of The Sowing Room share her gifts with the crowd!
Ash and Vivian stuck around for the final day of sessions, including an open space session with Taneum, the closing Solutions Slam, which featured our fiscal sponsorship partner ReStory, and a night of karaoke!
Before heading home, we made one final stop in Ashfield, MA, to visit the incredible folks at Double Edge Theatre and learn how they're weaving arts and culture into the civic infrastructure of their community.
It was a fitting end to a few days filled with creative ideas, generous people, and reminders of what becomes possible when rural communities learn from one another.
