Radically Rural is going remote.
The annual summit started in 2018 and has twice filled downtown Keene, New Hampshire, with rural leaders from around the nation. This year the event will move online in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The 2020 gathering, called Radically Rural: Remote, will be a one-day online event designed to host panels of speakers and allow audiences to interact with their own questions. It will take place on September, 24.
The summit “showcases ideas of importance to small cities and towns.”
This year, organizers will focus on what they identified as six key sectors for rural communities: Main streets, entrepreneurship, community journalism, arts and culture, land and communities, and clean energy.
Panels and discussions will also have address the pandemic, trying to provide advice and expertise useful in unusual times.
“We don’t know where we will be as a country in September when we host this event,” said co-founder Terrence Williams, president of The Keene Sentinel. “But we do know that because so many things are different now, Radically Rural is even more meaningful.”
Keynote speakers at this year’s virtual event will be Becky McCray, an international speaker on rural economics, a rancher, and co-founder of Save Your Town, and John Molinaro, president and CEO of Appalachian Partnership Inc., a business-led nonprofit working to increase the business impact on the economic vitality of Appalachian Ohio.
“So many of us, these days, are used to working remotely and accustomed to video conferencing,” Mary Ann Kristiansen, co-founder of Radically Rural said. “We think this platform will be one that folks will find useful and mostly seamless.”
A Radically Rural press release has more information about the event and you can register here.
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