The Power of Place: Inside Minnesota’s Rural Arts Ecosystem
Reflecting on the 2025 preconference cultural tour in Waseca, MN
Erik Noonan
On Sunday, October 19th, Prairie Lakes Regional Arts Council hosted a portion of the GIA Conference at the Waseca Art Center in Waseca, Minnesota. Attendees were bused in from downtown Minneapolis to explore the impact of arts funding in a small rural community, and learned about the funding of the Regional Arts Council system along the way.
Many visitors came from large cities like Memphis, Boston, and San Diego, curious about what supporting art looks like in a town most had never heard of. Waseca, population just under 10,000, sits in a county of 19,000 on some of the most fertile farmland in the world. Locals describe it in relation to larger cities—“an hour south of the Twin Cities” or “half an hour east of Mankato.”
As attendees toured the ground-floor showroom of the historic Main Street building, they found local photography, ceramics, and paintings filling the space. The two-story brick structure has served many purposes—a department store, video rental, office space—and now stands reimagined as a thriving community arts center offering multidisciplinary lessons and eight exhibits a year.
Returning Home and Reinvesting in Community
During introductions, local arts council members and board members introduced themselves through personal ties: one knew Executive Director Anna Pollock through her mother’s music classes, another had attended school with her. The exchanges reflected a tightly knit community where generations intertwine.
That theme—of returning home and reinvesting in community—echoed throughout the day. Many spoke about “Rural Rebounders,” locals who leave for college or work but eventually return with new perspectives and skills to revitalize their hometowns.
Upstairs, in a high-ceilinged ballroom-esque space lined with gallery walls, a panel of arts leaders from small Minnesota communities took the stage.
DeAnne (De) Malterer, a farmer, teacher, and county commissioner, spoke about the challenge of promoting arts participation when many local leaders don’t see themselves as artists.
Nancy Valentine, Executive Director of Kaddatz Galleries in Fergus Falls, shared how partnerships helped transform her town into a place where “there’s a gallery on every block.” Popup demonstrations and community projects—like a splashpad born from their “Year of Play” initiative—have tied art directly to local needs.
Others discussed reframing what “arts programming” means in rural areas. From Manoomin Arts, Operations Director Rebecca Dallinger and Interim Executive Director Joe Allen described promoting art where there’s no theater or arts center—and where demographic shifts have reshaped the region. As farming modernized and casinos expanded, they turned to local art as regional branding, creating metal canoe sculptures to celebrate identity and heritage.
“There is no ‘I,’” Allen said. “There is only a ‘We’ in moving people forward to overcome barriers.”
Network by Necessity
Kara Maloney, Executive Director of Lanesboro Arts, spoke about how small towns are reinventing themselves through arts funding. “In our cluster of communities, we may have to go to the next town for a pharmacy or a school, but they come to us for arts,” she said. Her organization has become an unexpected local resource—sometimes even for technical help like audio-visual needs. “When one person moves away, the skills go with them. But seed funding can change that. Investment in your own community creates abundance.”
Panelists also addressed the realities of small-town arts work: limited unrestricted funding, chronic burnout, and the vulnerability of losing even one experienced staff member. “Rural advocates are a network by necessity,” one attendee noted. “We’re solving the same problems in different places, together.”
Before heading out to view a public art installation, Commissioner Malterer reminded the group of the importance of language. “When we talk about arts funding,” she said, “we must speak in terms even non-artists care about. This is economic development—arts funding has real returns for every dollar invested.”
A few blocks from the arts center, the group visited a mural-in-progress on a set of grain silos. Local artist Steve DeLaitsch, perched on a cherry-picker, described painting the several-story image of a horse-drawn plow—the first mural of its kind in the county. Permits, he explained, had been one of the project’s toughest hurdles.
After visiting local galleries, the group traveled to a different kind of cultural hub: the Pleasant Grove Pizza Farm. There, amid farmland and wood-fired ovens, attendees sampled pizzas made from ingredients grown just steps away. Owners Bill Bartz and Emily Knudsen shared how, much like rural arts initiatives, farm-to-table dining looks different outside urban centers. Their farm has become both a regional dining destination and a performance space for emerging Minnesota musicians.
“It’s a gathering space,” said Bartz. “A place where everyone can come together and appreciate local culture.”
Taking With Us Resilience and Imagination
As the autumn sun dipped low and the bus prepared to return to Minneapolis, many reflected on the day’s theme: that art in rural America isn’t a luxury—it’s a form of sustenance. In Waseca and towns like it, creativity isn’t confined to galleries or theaters; it lives in community ties, local pride, and shared effort. What visitors saw that day wasn’t just art—it was the resilience and imagination that keep small towns thriving.
