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Mark

The role of the cultural worker is to discern, nurture, cultivate, and encourage the existing culture of a place.


Mary Welcome (Palouse, Washington/Idaho) is a multidisciplinary cultural worker.  As an artist-organizer, her projects are rooted in community engagement and the development of intersectional programming to address equity, cultural advocacy, inclusivity, visibility, and imagination. She brings a nuanced perspective to the contemporary field, as an organizer working in service to small towns, as a cultural producer across American geographies, and as a facilitator of place-based arts programming.

She believes in small towns, long winters, optimists, parades, and talking about feelings. 

She is currently serves as the artist-in-residence for the Washington State Department of Transportation and a civic designer for the City of Palouse

Her collective and collaborative partners include Cabin-Time, Homeboat, M12 Studio, Brokeback Palouse, the Department of Public TransformationCamp Little HopeArt of the Rural, Common Field, Springboard for the Arts, and the United States Postal Service.

︎  ︎ ︎

God Bless the USPS


“I don’t want to live in a world without the post office.” 


︎︎︎    Read the full interview
        Washington Post, Oct 2020

︎︎︎    Podcast: Love Letter to the USPS
        The Daily Smile, Jan 2021
︎︎︎    Indie Folk: Mary Welcome's art reflects her interest in advocacy for rural communities
        The Inlander, Jan 2022

︎   @godblesstheusps
An early quarantine essay:

We Are Out in the Fields


It’s a really tough time for cultural workers. You can support my continued community work during COVID19 by making a donation via venmo or paypal. Thank you!
Website rebuild in progress!             

In the meantime, here’s a

Mary Welcome Reader


→ WSDOT announces the first statewide residency program, Washington State Department of Transportation
→ Get To Know Washington State’s New Artists-in-Residence, Transportation for America
→ Mary Welcome + Nicole Lavelle, Wolfman’s New Life Quarterly
→ We Are All We Have: The Practice of Neighboring, MN Artists (with Ashley Hanson)
→The Great Middle America Motion Picture Show, Medium, Mary Welcome
→ Mary Welcome welcomes new neighbors all around the country, Artists With Impact, Creative Exchange
→ Artist Profile: Mary Welcome, Artist Trust
→ Artist Spotlight: Mary Welcome, Artist Trust

MARY WELCOME WELCOMES YOU
PO BOX 364          PALOUSE, WASH

Neighbor first, all else follows