Rural Landscapes

The Impact of Rural Arts

Rural Landscapes: The Impact of Rural Arts

A day-long convening in Port Austin, Michigan — October 1st, 2026 at the Port Austin Community Playhouse

For the first time, the artists behind Michigan's 53North project will gather in one place — alongside community leaders, economic development officials, and cultural funders — to ask a simple question: How do ambitious rural arts projects actually happen? How do they impact community and what do they leave behind?

Join us for a day that combines candid conversation with firsthand experience of the work itself, including a guided tour of the 53North installations. You'll hear directly from the artists about their process and connection to place, then dig into the economic and community impact with leaders shaping rural development across Michigan.

This is a working gathering for anyone thinking seriously about the intersection of art, place, and rural vitality — artists, funders, economic development professionals, and community leaders alike.

Agenda

10am - 11:30am‍ ‍Session I - The Arts

Description
View Panelists

11:30am - 1pm‍ ‍Lunch, Networking, Exploration

Lunch will provided and we encourage attendees to explore Port Austin

1pm - 2:30pm‍ ‍Session II - The Impact

Description
View Panelists

2:45 pm - 5pm‍ ‍Bus Tour of Art Projects

Tour the 4 barn art projects with the artists discussing their projects

Session I - The Arts

Laura Mott, Moderator

Chief Curator, Cranbrook Art Museum

Laura Mott has served as Chief Curator at Cranbrook Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills since 2022 and leads the museum’s curatorial vision, exhibitions, publications, and collection development. Her work has included ambitious site-specific projects and collaborations with contemporary artists throughout Detroit and beyond.

Catie Newell

Professor of Architecture, University of Michigan Taubman College; Founding Principal, *Alibi Studio

Newell is an architect, artist, and founding principal of the Detroit-based practice *Alibi Studio. Her work reinterprets existing spaces through material interventions and the carefully controlled presence of light and darkness. For 53North, she created Secret Sky, transforming a barn with a dramatic passageway that opens the structure to daylight and the sky. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, and she has been recognized as a Kresge Arts Fellow, Lucas Fellow, and Fellow of the American Academy in Rome.

Scott Hocking

Detroit-Based Artist

Hocking is a Detroit-based artist known for creating site-specific installations, sculpture, and photography using found materials and neglected locations. His work explores transformation, ephemerality, mythology, chance, and the cycles of nature. For 53North, he transformed an abandoned barn into the monumental installation Celestial Ship of the North. His work has been exhibited internationally and recognized with numerous honors, including Kresge and Efroymson Contemporary Arts Fellowships and artist residencies around the world.

Steve & Dorota Coy

Founders and Artists, Hygienic Dress League

Steve and Dorota Coy are the husband-and-wife visual artists behind Hygienic Dress League, a conceptual art corporation they legally established in 2007. Through murals, installations, public interventions, projections, and digital media, their work uses the language and structure of a corporation to examine commercialism and contemporary society. For 53North, they created Walden and American Gothic, the first installations in what became the barn art collection. Their work has appeared internationally in cities including Berlin, Madrid, Montreal, and Bogotá.

Bakpak Durden

Detroit-Based Artist

Bakpak Durden is a Detroit-based artist whose paintings, murals, and interdisciplinary projects explore human consciousness, spiritual existence, identity, and transformation through Baroque, cinematic, and Afro-Surrealist influences. For 53North, Durden created Confronting Loneliness, a barn mural inspired by the work of Port Austin poet Jane Mayes. Durden’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including at Cranbrook Art Museum, MOCAD, and the University of Michigan’s Stamps Gallery, and has received a Kresge Gilda Award and Playground Detroit Emerging Artist Fellowship.

Session II - The Impact

Randy Maiers, Moderator

President and CEO, Community Foundation of St. Clair County

Maiers has led the Community Foundation of St. Clair County since 2002, advancing initiatives that connect philanthropy, placemaking, community leadership, and regional prosperity. Under his leadership, the foundation has supported major place-based projects, including the Blue Water River Walk.

Jeff Garrett

ADA Accessibility Coordinator, Michigan Arts and Culture Council

Garrett’s role with MACC makes him well positioned to speak about accessibility, public participation, and the resources that help Michigan communities benefit from arts and cultural activity.

Samantha Schnettler

Executive Director, Huron County Economic Development Corporation

Schnettler leads economic development efforts across Huron and Sanilac counties, focusing on strategic planning, business support, housing, workforce development, and quality of place. Under her leadership, the Huron County EDC launched a community-driven placemaking grant program supporting projects that strengthen public spaces, community engagement, and local vitality. She also led Huron County’s first comprehensive economic development strategy in more than 20 years and was named Michigan’s 2025 Emerging Star in Economic Development.

Mackenzie Price

Executive Director, Huron County Community Foundation

Price joined HCCF as Executive Director in 2014 after experience with youth philanthropy and community foundations at the local and statewide levels. Her work focuses on community philanthropy, grantmaking, youth engagement, talent retention, local partnerships, and investments that strengthen Huron County communities.

Chris Boyle

President, Port Austin Artist in Residence; Founder/Owner, Port Austin Kayak

Boyle is a Port Austin entrepreneur, community builder, and arts advocate whose projects have transformed underused properties into destinations for recreation, hospitality, arts, and community gathering. As president of the Port Austin Artist in Residence program, he has helped support artist residencies, public art, and creative placemaking throughout the region.

Find out more about 53North, the projects, and the artists.

Vist

Hosts & Partners

53 North T-Shirts Are Here!

A limited run of 53North T-shirts featuring original art by talented artist and friend Clinton Snider are now available.

You can find them @ PAK's in Port Austin OR preorder online and pick up during the October 1 convening. All proceeds will help continue this important work!