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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