Department of Public Transformation

MISSION

Department of Public Transformation is a nonprofit organization that develops creative strategies for increased community connection, civic engagement, and equitable participation in rural places.

VISION

Our 150-year vision is one where rural communities across the country acknowledge, support, and integrate art and artists as vital contributors to economic, community, civic, and social life.

We believe that rural people and places have the answers they need to address community challenges and opportunities, but economies of extraction and narratives of deficit have fragmented many rural communities. This hinders the ability to reimagine rural spaces and share the knowledge, skills, and resources we have to dream and build welcoming, vibrant, and resilient rural futures.

We support rural communities in identifying and leveraging resources through creative, cross-disciplinary, and asset-based approaches. 

We believe in celebrating rural culture and cultural workers by uplifting small-town stories and connecting people to each other and their places. In doing so, we are working to shift damaging dominant narratives of what it means to live and work in rural America, build stronger civic ties and public participation, and expand creative capacity that benefits the whole country.

HOW WE WORK

Department of Public Transformation uses these four key strategies to address rural challenges and achieve our mission:

→ Activate rural community assets

→ Connect rural municipalities with creative strategies

→ Support rural arts and cultural workers

→ Nurture the rural arts and culture field

We support rural communities through creative, cross-disciplinary, and cross-sector initiatives that celebrate and build on existing efforts while inspiring new ideas, approaches, and ways of thinking. 

Our work sits at the intersections of economic development, community well-being, democracy and civic engagement, and arts and culture. Through piloting and building programs and networks with bird’s-eye-view fieldwork, we operate as connectors and pollinators, encouraging creativity and ideas to grow. We also operate as an intermediary, distributing funds directly to artists and communities. 

Thank you for supporting creative and resilient rural futures!

Learn more at publictransformation.org

Banner Image features the 2023 Ignite Rural Cohort celebrating the completion of their Artist Showcase in September 2023 at The YES! House in Granite Falls, MN. Pictured (L-R): Lynne M. Colombe, Rocky Casillas Aguirre, Omani Luger, Leticia (Gonzales) Snow, Leah Xiuzhen Rathe, Esmarie Cariaga-Whiteman, and Cecily Rose Engelhart. Not Pictured: Alixena Patnaude. Photo credit: Mitch McCallson