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. Everyone is welcome.

Quick Links

Panel I Bios | Panel II Bios | 53North T-Shirts | Donate to PAAIR

Agenda

10am - 11:30am‍ ‍

Session I - The Arts

Description Available Soon
View Panelists

11:30am - 1pm‍ ‍

Lunch, Networking, Exploration

Lunch will provided at the Welcome Center
We encourage attendees to explore Port Austin during the break

1pm - 2:30pm‍ ‍

Session II - The Impact

Description Available Soon
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

Mary Trybus & Jim Boyle, Welcome & Session I Introduction

Founders, 53North

Mary Trybus is an award-winning creative leader with more than 25 years of experience helping brands connect with their most important audiences. She had directed experiences for some of the world’s top brands, often on the world’s biggest stages.

Jim Boyle is Vice President of Programs and Strategy at the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation, where he helps lead grantmaking and initiatives focused on economic development, entrepreneurship, public spaces, youth recreation, and nonprofit support.

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

Sarah Ayers, Session II Introduction

Executive Director, Signal Return + Co-Founder of Patch & Remington, Marcellus.

Sarah Ayers is an arts administrator and researcher whose work examines the intersection of community-led cultural practice, participatory curatorship, and rural creative economies. Executive Director of Signal-Return in Detroit, her professional practice spans organizational strategy, nonprofit leadership, and arts advocacy with a focus on strengthening cultural infrastructure in underrepresented communities. She regularly presents her research at national and international conferences including the State of Michigan Office of Rural Prosperity Rural Futures Summit, (Michigan, USA), IN SITU “Culture Matters Here”(Valmiera, Latvia), Social Theory, Politics and Art Conference (Osuna, Spain), among others.

Randy Maiers, Moderator

President and CEO, Community Foundation of St. Clair County

Maiers is President and CEO of the Community Foundation of St. Clair County, where he has led efforts connecting philanthropy, placemaking, community leadership, and regional prosperity since 2002. Under his leadership, the foundation has grown to manage more than $130 million in assets and has advanced major place-based projects, including the Blue Water River Walk. With more than 35 years of nonprofit experience, Maiers began his career with Michigan ArtTrain and has held leadership roles supporting arts, education, and community development.

Jeff Garrett

Program Manager & ADA Accessibility Coordinator, Michigan Arts and Culture Council

Jeff Garrett is a grant Program Manager and Accessibility Coordinator for the State of Michigan Arts and Culture Council. Previously, Jeff served as the Director of the Art School at the Flint Institute of Arts. He has teaching experience in Michigan Public Schools, has been adjunct faculty at Vincennes University, Saginaw Valley State University, Mott College, and was Head of the Art & Design Department at Crowder College in Missouri. He received a Master of Fine Arts degree in Ceramics with Distinction from Indiana State University.

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 has served as Executive Director of the Huron County Community Foundation since 2014, leading efforts in community philanthropy, grantmaking, youth engagement, talent retention, and local partnerships. Price regularly represents rural philanthropy at the state and national levels and serves on several Council of Michigan Foundations committees, including as co-chair of its Rural Philanthropy Peer Community. Her work focuses on connecting local resources and community leadership to investments that strengthen Huron County and its future.

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

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. Click on a graphic to see photos and learn more about the art.

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