On this episode of Luce Change, Sean Buffington sits down with Ash Hanson—theater artist, rural cultural worker, and Creative Executive Officer at the Department of Public Transformation—to explore why bending the arc of history toward justice has to start locally. Ash makes the case that civic culture erodes the way sandstone does: slowly, incrementally, and at enormous cost to the communities least resourced to rebuild.

With only 3–7% of philanthropic dollars reaching the 20% of Americans who live in rural places, Ash argues that geographic inequity is foundational to the democratic crisis, and that artists and cultural organizers are doing the essential work of shifting community narratives and building civic imagination before traditional engagement can even begin.

Articles & Organizations Mentioned:

Department of Public Transformation: dopt.org

Voices for Rural Resilience: voicesforruralresilience.org

The Mellon Foundation: mellon.org

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson: justmercy.eji.org

SiP Culture: sipculture.org

Blue Sky Center: blueskycenter.org

Cheyenne River Youth Project: cryp.org

No Hate in My Holler: nohateinmyholler.com

Epicenter Utah: epicenterutah.org

Art of the Rural: artoftherural.org

Springboard for the Arts: springboardforthearts.org

Daily Yonder: dailyyonder.com

Center for Rural Strategies: ruralstrategies.org

Rural Assembly: ruralassembly.org

Masumoto Family Farm: masumoto.com

Country Queers: countryqueers.com

Civic Lex: civiclex.org

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