Stories From The Road: Roots & Grass Theater and Mni Wichoni Health Circle
By Activate Rural Program Director Sarina Otaibi and Associate Director Courtney Bergey Swanson
Wednesday, July 15, 2026
After fueling up (with both gas and coffee) in Broadus, MT, we hit the road back east towards South Dakota for the next Learning Lab site visit. A few hundred miles and several hours later, we were sitting across from Kithship Collective team members Eliza Blue and Kallie Kronberg, having sandwiches and french fries at the Lazy Spurr in Bison, SD (population 302).
Eliza (a musician and rancher) and Kallie (the local school and public librarian) have been working with their community to activate several places in the small ranching town.
They host children’s arts programming at the library, steward a community garden at the fairgrounds, and invite the public to concerts and meals in the “sheep shed cafe.” They use restored vintage campers and out buildings on a nearby ranch to host artists-in-residence and teaching artists from all over the country. We were lucky to step foot in all of these places, and even luckier to meet several lambs, three kittens, two dogs, and a pet rabbit!
Throughout the next few years, the team in Bison will be working on enhancing their current spaces to be more suitable for year-round programming.
They have big plans for updating buildings using sustainable materials, and creating more high-quality cultural opportunities for their community.
To learn more about Kithship Collective and the Roots & Grass Theater Co programming, visit kithshipcollective.com/roots-grass-theater-co/
Thursday, July 16, 2026
After driving from Bison, SD to Fort Yates, ND, we spent the morning on the Standing Rock Reservation with the team at Mni Wichoni Health Circle. We sat together to enjoy homemade nettles quiche (see recipe below!) and fresh fruit at their office in McLaughlin, SD, and then set off on a whirlwind tour of the spaces where Mni Wichoni supports its community:
An earth lodge ceremony site just outside of McLaughlin
Land that was donated to Mni Wichoni in Fort Yates, ND
A local cafe in downtown McLaughlin
The entrepreneurial center at Sitting Bull College
Throughout the tours of these places, we heard many stories from co-executive directors Lacey Weishaar and Victoria Birds Head and their team. They spoke of the opportunities to re-activate buildings to address community needs, while also serving their mission. They shared the challenges of navigating multiple jurisdictions, straddling state lines and time zones. They dreamed about ways to provide access for their relatives, forging new partnerships and creating new places to be nourished and educated.
To learn more about Mni Wichoni Health Circle and support their work on the Standing Rock Reservation, visit:
After a delicious lunch and a medicine ball tea at Dakota Grounds Coffee Shop, we said goodbye to the Mni Wichoni Health Circle team and headed north to Bismarck. Before catching our flight home, we had dinner with North Dakota Council on the Arts Director Jessica Christy and our DoPT colleague, Ignite Rural Program Director, Holly Doll–a great way to wrap up our trip!
Thank you to our generous hosts and partners for taking the time to show us your beloved places!
And a special thank you to Della No Heart for sharing her delicious quiche recipe with us.
Department of Public Transformation (DoPT) believes in working with artists, cultural workers, and connectors to strengthen rural places by supporting the role of community assets—social, cultural, and built—as a lens to help communities investigate and celebrate their collective story: past, present, and future. 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.
