1. Thinking “Bigger” About Smaller Places: A Conversation about the Changing Landscape of Rural America
Presented to the
Museum on Main Street
2019 National Planning Meeting
Baltimore, MD
May 29, 2019
Charles W. Fluharty
Founder & President Emeritus
Rural Policy Research Institute

2. RUPRI’s Rural Arts and Cultural Policy Commitment
Why RUPRI engaged
Where it led us
Where we’re headed
Charles W. Fluharty
Founder & President Emeritus
Rural Policy Research Institute

3. RUPRI’s Focus on Comprehensive Rural Wealth

5. • Regional Networks
• Rural Creative Placemaking Summit
• Digital Learning Commons

9. RUPRI’s Rural Cultural Wealth Lab: A Wealth-based Conceptualization of Arts and Culture
What is comprehensive wealth?
Financial capital
Built capital
Natural capital
Human capital
Intellectual capital
Social capital
Political capital
Cultural capital

10. RUPRI’s Rural Cultural Wealth Lab: A Wealth-based Conceptualization of Arts and Culture
The Rural Cultural Wealth Lab is focused on better understanding:
The nexus of arts and culture, innovation, entrepreneurship, and rural sustainability and prosperity; and, how the unique assets of rural communities contribute to the wellbeing of rural people, and the sustainability of rural communities.
How to measure wealth:
Individual wellbeing is fundamentally a flow measure;
GDP is our most common measure of economic flow, but wellbeing is dependent on our stock of assets (wealth);
Our true wealth goes far beyond financial assets