The Creative Economic Development Summer Workshop Series is a three-part learning experience designed for economic development professionals, chamber leaders, tourism staff, and community champions across Southwest Minnesota.
Come hear how Rocky has built a mission-driven creative studio, used art to support youth mental health, and continues to spark meaningful conversations through storytelling and imagination.
Department of Public Transformation has an open call for five rural Minnesota communities interested in developing creative strategies for civic engagement. Selected community teams will receive funding, curated technical assistance, and peer learning as a cohort for 12 months!
Join us at The YES! House for a vibrant, family-friendly Pride celebration centered on community, creativity, and YOU.
Join us for an afternoon of connection, creativity, and conversation at Rural Assembly Everywhere’s live event hosted by Department of Public Transformation and the Rural Assembly on Thursday, July 23rd from 2:00–6:30 PM CT at The YES! House and Bluenose Gopher Public House in downtown Granite Falls, Minnesota!
In each Spark webinar, we sit down with one Ignite Rural artist to hear reflections on their journey since completing the program, explore how their creative work has evolved, and learn what’s next on the horizon. Attendees will also have the opportunity to participate in a live Q&A conversation.
We’re partnering with Right To Be to offer this interactive, and experiential learning experience that will teach you how to author your own resilience, using Right To Be’s resilience methodology: sit with what is, create your story, and be in choice.
This virtual informational session will provide an overview of the 2026 – 2027 Engage Rural Civic Arts Cohort and the application process.
Please join us for an intimate virtual conversation with award-winning author, performer, and documentary filmmaker, Tim Z. Hernandez (El Paso, Texas) at our next Beyond the Clock, which will take place on Tuesday, May 12th from 4 – 5 PM CT.
Engage Rural helps rural community leaders develop creative strategies for civic engagement. This session will introduce participants to arts-based civic engagement, DoPT’s Engage Rural offerings, and how to get involved!
Join the Department of Public Transformation (DoPT) for a virtual Activate Rural Workshop on Wednesday, May 6, from 12–1:30 PM CT, featuring rural artists and activators who are building economic opportunities and community connections around their creative places.
Come celebrate the Grand Opening of The YES! House with DoPT!
Join us at The YES! House for a night of insight, strategy and connection! No matter what stage you are with your business or creative idea, this networking event is a low pressure environment for artists, creative entrepreneurs, small business owners, activators and nonprofit volunteers to hear from three business owners making it work in their rural towns.
Join us as we listen to the impact of how investing in civic artists contributes to creative leadership, community building, and growth.
This workshop will help launch the Virginia Small-Town and Rural Arts Network pilot! The pilot is led by the Randolph College MFA in Arts Leadership program and Small Town Big Arts and is supported by the Virginia Commission for the Arts.
Join us for an inspiring virtual conversation with rural artist, musician, poet, and storyteller Brigid Reedy (Dillon, Montana) at our next Beyond the Clock!
This workshop dives into the practical realities of funding for day-to-day operations, programming, and building stewardship. Panelists will share insights on budgets, revenue mix, partnerships, grants, earned income, and the challenges of long-term sustainability. The panel will be moderated by Sarina Otaibi, Activate Rural Program Director at DoPT.
Engage Rural helps rural community leaders develop creative strategies for civic engagement. This session will introduce participants to arts-based civic engagement, DoPT’s Engage Rural offerings, and how to get involved!
Applications are due February 20, 2026 at 11:59 PM CST
At this informal event, we will introduce our 2026 Beyond the Clock Resident Artist, Nikiko Masumoto, and we will share updates for this year's BTC season!
The virtual informational session will provide an overview of the 2026 – 2028 Activate Rural Learning Lab and the application process for building activation projects in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana.
Join us at Bluenose Gopher Public House in Granite Falls, MN for a night of insight, strategy, connection, live music, and fun!
We will be sharing in music, celebration, intention setting, and reflections from the past year.
There are two opportunities to raise a glass, enjoy live music, and celebrate the stories and songs that connect us! Come as you are; sparkles encouraged! Join us in either Minneapolis (Dec 9) or Granite Falls (Dec 10), or both!
Are you a rural community leader curious about applying creative civic engagement strategies with your community?
Are you a rural artist interested in stepping more into community engagement?
Join us for more information!
Join us for November's Beyond the Clock with Kyle Mesteth (Pine Ridge, South Dakota) on Tuesday, November 18th from 4 – 5 PM CST!
An intimate happy hour conversation at the Bohemian Biergarten in Boulder, CO, featuring Ash Hanson, Founder & Creative Executive Officer (CEO) of Department of Public Transformation in conversation with Evan Weissman of Warm Cookies of the Revolution.
A virtual information session about the RVR Artist Residency will be held on October 28, 2025, from 12–1 PM CDT.
Join Department of Public Transformation (DoPT) for the Activate Rural Summit on October 21, 22 and 23, 2025. The virtual gathering will share stories and learnings from artists and community leaders activating creative places in rural communities.
Join DoPT and The YES! House on Wednesday, September 17th for a full day of connection, creativity, and community as we host a local watch party and live gathering for Rural Assembly Everywhere in Granite Falls!
Join the Department of Public Transformation (DoPT) at our Southeast Activate Rural Public Workshop in Spring Grove, MN (pop. 1,219). This one-day workshop will provide connections for artists, creative entrepreneurs, small business owners, activators and leaders developing creative physical places of connection for their communities.
Join us for September's Beyond the Clock with Viktor le. Givens (Crockett, TX) on Tuesday, September 9th from 4 – 5 PM CDT! Through unspoken language, ancestral play, and acts of repair, Viktor invites us to examine our relationship with time and place, rematriate our connections, and call in our past, present, and future kin.
Hear from rural artists and activators share stories of how cultivating creative places of connection plant the seeds of a creative ecosystem for their communities.
Join the Department of Public Transformation (DoPT) at our Northwest Activate Rural Public Workshop in Mahnomen, MN (pop. 1,210). This one-day workshop will provide connections for artists, creative entrepreneurs, small business owners, activators and leaders developing creative physical places of connection for their communities. Participants will take away community engagement strategies, funding resource ideas, and structures for stewardship and operations for rural creative gathering places.
Beyond the Clock co-hosts, Anna Claussen and Ash Hanson, along with 2025 Resident Artist, Eliza Blue, will be at two in-person events in Montana in June and we want to SEE YOU!
