Activate Rural Public Workshop: Northwest Minnesota
Location: Manoomin Arts Initiative (MAI), Mahnomen, MN (address coming soon)
Date + Time: Tuesday, June 24, 2025, 9am - 3pm
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. During the workshop, attendees will hear from the following speakers:
Sarina Otaibi, DoPT Activate Rural Program Director, will lead a discussion with a panel of speakers (coming soon) about the funding opportunities and challenges that exist in Northwest MN and share DoPT’s capital campaign journey with The YES! House.
Joseph Allen, MAI Executive Director, will share how Manoomin Arts Initiative (MAI) is cultivating their creative place for community as a part of DoPT’s Activate Rural Learning Lab.
Luwaina Al-Otaibi, The YES! House Program Coordinator, will share how artist-led building activation and community engagement around physical spaces can cultivate a creative ecosystem for your community and region with examples from The YES! House in Granite Falls, MN (pop. 2,697).
Benjamin Domask-Ruh, Activate Rural Program Coordinator, will share how groups can integrate transparency and accountability into their community engagement approaches when implementing projects.
Travel Stipends: If the cost of travel is a barrier to your participation, you may request a travel stipend for mileage reimbursement when registering for the workshop. The travel stipends are for participants traveling within the northeast region of the state and are on a first come, first serve basis.
Registration is required, but it is free. Food and beverages will be provided including lunch. For workshop and registration questions, please contact Benjamin Domask-Ruh, Activate Rural Program Coordinator, at benjamin@publictransformation.org.
This workshop is a part of the Activate Rural Public Workshop Series, workshops and sessions designed to offer support, peer learning, and resources to creative entrepreneurs, artists, organizations and small business owners with creative physical places of connection based in rural Minnesota communities and the Native nations that share this geography, with a population of 20,000 or less. This program is supported, in part, by the State of Minnesota through a grant from The Office of Small Business Development, Department of Employment and Economic Development.