Description
Please join us at an open house celebration to honor John P. Davis and his accomplishments Tuesday, June 26 from 4 to 7 p.m. at The Granary in Lanesboro with refreshments provided by Pedal Pushers Café.
Lanesboro Arts will soon be led by a collaborative leadership team consisting of current staff members. Gallery Director Robbie Brokken, Program Director Adam Wiltgen and Advancement Director Kara Maloney will together lead the organization beginning July 1 as longtime Executive Director John P. Davis begins rural advocacy work.
Davis, who has served as Executive Director of Lanesboro Arts 2000 – 2003 and 2007 onward, was awarded a prestigious fellowship from the Bush Foundation in March. While continuing to reside in Lanesboro, the Bush Fellowship will allow Davis to further amplify his voice nationally for rural advocacy by partnering with the Rural Policy Research Institute, and other regional colleagues like Art of the Rural, to focus on the intersection between public policy, the arts, economic development, and community sustainability while connecting Lanesboro and rural communities like it with tools and resources. Davis is one of 24 Bush Fellows for 2018, chosen from 751 applicants.
Davis was the recipient of the 2011 Visionary Leadership Award from the Minnesota Council of Non-Profits for his community-building work in the arts in Lanesboro. His work with the Lanesboro Arts Campus initiative contributed to Lanesboro being named one of the “Top Twelve Small Town Artplaces in America” in 2013, as well as Lanesboro Arts being awarded a Bush Prize for Community Innovation in 2014. Davis has more than 30 years of experience with small town and rural creative social change work. He is a national speaker on rural arts issues and his work has been featured on National Public Radio and broadcast on C-Span; it has also been featured in USA Today, The New York Times, and the NBC Today Show.