Minnesota has been named the nation’s leader in using arts and culture to revitalize rural communities. Three rural towns—Fergus Falls, Lanesboro, Wykoff—are receiving funding and program assistance from national organizations such as the National Endowment for the Arts, ArtPlace America, and the Dreamery Rural Arts Initiative respectively. As the leader in the nation for highest arts funding per capita, the Minnesota arts and culture sector is unique in that it receives sales-tax money for the arts via the state’s Legacy Amendment. Due to the state’s investment in the arts and culture sector as well as support from private foundations, Chris Beck—senior projects adviser at the U.S. Department of Agriculture—noted that Minnesota is “arguably the nation’s model in terms of rural philanthropy.”

For example, in Lanesboro, the town of 750 residents is building an arts campus which will engage town residents, not just tourists, to participate in everyday art such as building “surprise” sculptures in unexpected places or making prints with rhubarb stalks at the farmers market.