How the Arts Rebuild Rural Democracy

How the Arts Rebuild Rural Democracy

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 [http://dopt.org]  Voices for Rural Resilience: voicesforruralresilience.org [http://voicesforruralresilience.org]  The Mellon Foundation: mellon.org [http://mellon.org]     Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson: justmercy.eji.org [http://justmercy.eji.org]  SiP Culture: sipculture.org [http://sipculture.org]  Blue Sky Center: blueskycenter.org [http://blueskycenter.org]  Cheyenne River Youth Project: cryp.org [http://cryp.org]  No Hate in My Holler: nohateinmyholler.com [http://nohateinmyholler.com]  Epicenter Utah: epicenterutah.org [http://epicenterutah.org]  Art of the Rural: artoftherural.org [http://artoftherural.org]  Springboard for the Arts: springboardforthearts.org [http://springboardforthearts.org]  Daily Yonder: dailyyonder.com [http://dailyyonder.com]  Center for Rural Strategies: ruralstrategies.org [http://ruralstrategies.org]  Rural Assembly: ruralassembly.org [http://ruralassembly.org]  Masumoto Family Farm: masumoto.com [http://masumoto.com]  Country Queers: countryqueers.com [http://countryqueers.com]  Civic Lex: civiclex.org [http://civiclex.org]    Interested in joining the conversation? Share this episode with a friend, follow Henry Luce Foundation on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/hlucefdn/]& LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/henry-luce-foundation-inc], or subscribe to our newsletter [https://www.subscribepage.com/lucemonthly].

Rebooting Democracy: Richard Young on Revitalizing Civic Assemblies

On this episode of Luce Change, Sean Buffington speaks with Richard Young, Executive Director of CivicLex in Lexington, Kentucky, about the power of place, and why local democracy is the most underestimated front in the fight to rebuild civic life in America. At the center of the conversation is CivicLex’s first-ever civic assembly: 36 randomly selected, demographically representative Lexington residents convening across six sessions to deliberate on proposed changes to the city charter. Like the concentric rings of a public square, the assembly draws people inward toward a shared decision–Young believes that is exactly how civic repair begins. Articles & Organizations Mentioned: CivicLex: civiclex.org [http://civiclex.org] American Academy of Arts and Sciences: amacad.org [http://amacad.org] Everyday Democracy (Martha McCoy): everyday-democracy.org [http://everyday-democracy.org] Harvard Kennedy School / Archon Fung: hks.harvard.edu [http://hks.harvard.edu] Kentucky Rural-Urban Exchange: kyrux.org [http://kyrux.org] Oak Ridge Periodic Tables (David Allred, Oak Ridge, TN): oakridgeperiodictables.com [http://oakridgeperiodictables.com] Black Yarn (Lexington, KY): blackyarn.com [http://blackyarn.com] Outlier Media (Detroit, MI): outliermedia.org [http://outliermedia.org] People’s Budget Office / Mural Arts Philadelphia: muralarts.org [http://muralarts.org] North Carolina Local News Lab Fund: nclocalnews.org [http://nclocalnews.org] Panelot (sortition software): panelot.org [http://panelot.org] The Austin Common (Austin, TX): theaustincommon.com [http://theaustincommon.com] The Village Square (Liz Joyner, Tallahassee, FL): tlh.villagesquare.us [http://tlh.villagesquare.us] Good Neighbor Week (San Francisco, CA): sfgoodneighborweek.org [http://sfgoodneighborweek.org] Department of Public Transformation: publictransformation.org [http://publictransformation.org] Knight Foundation: knightfoundation.org [http://knightfoundation.org] Bluegrass Community Foundation: bgcf.org [http://bgcf.org] Interested in joining the conversation? Share this episode with a friend, follow Henry Luce Foundation on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/hlucefdn/]& LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/henry-luce-foundation-inc], or subscribe to our newsletter [https://www.subscribepage.com/lucemonthly].

Can Faith Save Democracy?

In this episode of Luce Change, host Sean Buffington sits down with Paul Brandeis Rauschenbusch, an ordained Baptist minister, CEO of Interfaith Alliance, and co-author of an essay suggesting the US may be entering its next Great Awakening. Paul makes the case that every major leap forward in American democracy has been powered not just by policy, but by a moral and spiritual awakening. He argues that what looks like a crisis may also be an invitation: a moment when people across lines of faith, race, and class are choosing to become neighbors to one another. Articles & Organizations Mentioned: "We Need a New Great Awakening" by Paul Brandeis Rauschenbusch & Ian Bassen: thebulwark.com [https://www.thebulwark.com/] Interfaith Alliance: interfaithalliance.org [https://www.interfaithalliance.org/] Faith for Libraries (Interfaith Alliance initiative): interfaithalliance.org [https://www.interfaithalliance.org/] American Library Association: ala.org [https://www.ala.org/] No Kings: nokings.org [https://www.nokings.org/] ISAIAH (Minnesota): isaiah-mn.org [https://www.isaiah-mn.org/] March Minnesota: marchmn.org [https://www.marchmn.org/] Interested in joining the conversation? Share this episode with a friend, follow Henry Luce Foundation on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/hlucefdn/]& LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/henry-luce-foundation-inc], or subscribe to our newsletter [https://www.subscribepage.com/lucemonthly].

Seeing Is Believing

What does a photograph prove—and who gets to decide? Recorded live at MacDowell [https://www.macdowell.org/], archaeologist Nam Kim [https://www.onlguam.org/dr-nam-kim], curator and Magnum Foundation [https://www.magnumfoundation.org/] executive director Kristen Lubben, and photographer Accra Shepp [https://www.macdowell.org/artists/accra-shepp] join Sean Buffington on this episode of Luce Change to wrestle with photography’s contested role as historical evidence.     At a moment when AI is blurring the line between documentation and fabrication, their discussion cuts to the heart of how we trust images.

Building a Culture of Citizenship with Eric Liu

We exist in challenging times. Deep, generational problems have surfaced as very real, present pain and terror. Where do we go from here? On this season of Luce Change, we ask: what comes after a crisis? What will it actually take to bend the arc of history? And where do we start? Host Sean Buffington sits down with Eric Liu, co-founder and CEO of Citizen University, to explore the tools we have, and which we might want to cultivate, to bend the arc of history toward justice—not in the next election cycle, but over generations.  The conversation moves beyond headlines to examine something deeper: the slow erosion of civic culture and our weakening faith in shared institutions. From the corridors of Washington, DC, to community-rooted work in Seattle, Liu has discovered that real civic renewal happens through relationships and local engagement, not national political theater.  Organizations mentioned:  * Citizen University: https://citizenuniversity.us/ [https://citizenuniversity.us/] * Civic Nebraska: https://civicnebraska.org/ [https://civicnebraska.org/] * Trust for Civic Life: https://trustforciviclife.org/ [https://trustforciviclife.org/] Articles mentioned:  * Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship: https://www.amacad.org/ourcommonpurpose/report [https://www.amacad.org/ourcommonpurpose/report] * “We Need a New Great Awakening” by Paul Brandeis Raushenbush and Ian Bassin: https://www.thebulwark.com/p/we-need-a-new-great-awakening [https://www.thebulwark.com/p/we-need-a-new-great-awakening]