Yearly Archives: 2015

The Holding Ground Conference, March 14-15, 2015 – New York City

The Holding Ground conference will bring together artists of all mediums who are interested in using their creativity to explore the potential of an ecologically conscious society, in a world beyond unsustainable energy practices.

The conference will take place in NYC on March 14-15, 2015. Our emphasis throughout the conference will be on using art as a means to explore place.

We hope that this event will recharge and inspire participants to become “seeds” of alternative consciousness. Yet we are also humbly committed to helping create new connections that persist and sustain well beyond the weekend’s events – to form networks of roots for holding ground.

Weekend Overview:

Saturday Location: The Commons, Brooklyn, 388 Atlantic Ave. (btwn Bond and Hoyt) - 9 AM – 10 PM

morning:

  • welcome & introductions
  • “dérive” walk in which participants will have a unique experience of place by paying attention to details in the landscape that are otherwise often overlooked

afternoon:

  • all participants will have a voice in explaining their dream or current project, being encouraged to focus on ways they might share passions, talents, and experiences with others
  • participants will take part in a series of discussion and interactive sessions facilitated by working artists and artist-activists

evening:

  • we will gather for a concert, art, and the announcement of a new environmental arts award sponsored by New York Loves Mountains

Sunday Location: Textile Arts Center in Manhattan, 26 W. 8th St. (btwn MacDougal and 5th Ave.) - 10 AM – 1 PM

  • we will merge talents and passions to create a collaborative public art piece, guided by Toronto-based visual artist Tania Love, using plant based inks
  • the piece will be on view for the community to the end of March

Sessions Facilitated by Nicole Pouliot, James Cersonsky, Andrew Munn, Monica Hunken and others.

For more information and to apply, visit www.newyorklovesmountains.org/holding-ground-conference/

Culturizing Sustainable Cities: Call for examples – potential case studies

How can artistic/cultural practices be embedded within the planning and development of more sustainable cities? The research project Culturizing Sustainable Cities is searching for examples, from anywhere in the world, of two types of initiatives: (1) Development / implementation of policy and other actions of local authorities to integrate culture into local sustainable city planning and public policies, and to support art-environment activities; and (2) Local artistic/heritage/cultural activities involving local residents that help connect people to the environment and develop more sustainable living practices. In Phase 1, we will develop an online collection of profiles and case studies (globally distributed) selected from these examples. In Phase 2, two locations where clusters of cultural-environmental activities or major policy/planning innovations are identified will be examined in-depth. For more information on the Culturizing Sustainable Cities project and to submit case suggestions, please visit: http://www.ces.uc.pt/projectos/culturizing/

Thank you – Dr. Nancy Duxbury, Researcher, Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, Portugal