Application for the 2026 cohort of storytellers is open! Apply here.
Calling rural Upper Midwest innovators who are engaged in regeneration on the land and in your communities!
You are writing a new story for rural people and the lands we steward. We want to support you telling your story because we need more conversations in rural places about what’s possible and necessary for our children and future generations to thrive.
In 2026 we are inviting rural Upper Midwest storytellers to work within one of these themes:
Theme #1: Reciprocity
Your story explores the give and take between people, land, animals, and past and future generations. Showcase what reciprocity looks like in your daily life or community practices. How do you care for the land and how does the land care for you?
Theme #2: Resilience
With multiple, intersecting crises at our door, how are you building land-based resilience in your work, your communities, and your livelihoods? Highlight the hopeful, practical work you are doing to build resilience so you and future generations can thrive. Highlight how you are restoring soil, water, and ecological health, rebuilding community networks, or tending to the wellbeing of neighbors who are harmed by unjust systems. How are you rebalancing relationships disrupted by extraction, colonization, or climate change?
Theme #3: Love as Stewardship
This theme invites you to share the story of what you love most about your land, your community, or your place — and what you’re doing to protect it. Show us what’s at stake and what you are fighting for, tending to, or nurturing. How does love become a force for stewardship, protection, and action?