Rural communities in Portugal face compounding structural challenges: housing insecurity, the erosion of local cultural heritage and declining civic participation. "Criadores à Conversa" is a programmatic response to these conditions. Every second Saturday, local creators and artists-in-residence co-produce a public conversation facilitated by a community mediator embedded in village life. Formats vary across workshops, debates, walks and participatory activities, held within the institution and in public village spaces. The mediator conducts ongoing community mapping, identifying emerging needs and points of civic engagement — intelligence that directly informs each session, ensuring community knowledge is placed on equal footing with contemporary artistic practice. Through this model, Cultivamos Cultura fulfils its mandate as both a contemporary arts institution and a civic resource — demonstrating that cultural programming can serve as a meaningful mechanism for community resilience and democratic participation.