Activate Rural Learning Lab

This past spring, Project49 received this grant from the Department of Public Transformation. It allots $25,000 per year for two years, and, perhaps more importantly, includes a 2-year learning cohort with the other grant recipients.

In early June, Josh (President) and Lillian (Studio49 Operations Manager) attended the kick-off summit for this cohort in Granite Falls, Minnesota, where all the different recipients were introduced, familiarized with one another’s projects, and shown how community is built from the ground up. We spent 2 days sharing our stories, our missions, and the unique paths that brought us together. We were so inspired by the other ventures across our region, and really encouraged by the attitudes, hiccups, and continued commitment each group has to their project.

A huge part of this grant, aside from the financial support, is the “roadmaps” they are providing us with. They are here to support us on the internal side, by helping us organize our brains, support how we build in and expand staffing, how to rally community, and how best to stabilize the foundation of this organization so it can grow successfully. The people in this program who are supporting us have been through the trenches themselves. They have navigated the easy and the not-so-easy sides of taking on huge community projects, starting capital campaigns, answering questions, and showing up with the reality of what it means to get a space like ours off the ground.

On a personal level, I am really grateful to see a large, successful organization showing up with reality of how long it took to get their, integrity in their commitment to what they believe, honesty in the face of skepticism, and full-bent excitement on being part of the change in their own communities, and now in our nation.

We are so excited and grateful to be a part of this cohort. It is exciting to see others in places like ours caring about arts, trades, and community spaces. We look forward to sharing more of our successes, stutters, and strides with you as we build this project together!

Lillian Eaton

If you want to learn more about the ARLL Cohort, click here!