What does art/science collaboration really mean?

Eric Magrane is a Ph.D. candidate in Cultural Geography at the University of Arizona in Tucson.

Eric's work is, "particularly interested in the encounters that ensue when creative practices occur within environmental research or tourism sites and how contemporary artworks and poetries may reflect, complicate, or disrupt environmental narratives."

Magrane is Poet in Residence at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, leading the design for poetry installations at the museum. Eric is currently in a van with a group of students somewhere in the Great Basin, leading a class that is visiting many of the iconic land art sites, and several field research facilities in the American Southwest.

He also maintains a blog for the Institute of the Environment called, "Proximities". Here is a great post about what art/science collaboration means. The article includes this thought-provoking quote from Barbara Morehouse:

"This is not about making scientists out of artists or vice versa; it is perhaps more about rethinking the Renaissance ideal of intellectual versatility in the context of very complicated times. It’s about developing a fully developed understanding of the environments we enjoy and on which we must necessarily depend."

NEH Common Good program

The National Endowment for the Humanities is up to some interesting things.

Here's a note from Eva Caldera, Assistant Chairman for Partnership and Strategic Initiatives (emphasis added):

Our new NEH initiative, The Common Good: Humanities in the Public Square, includes an invitation to the humanities community to examine opportunities for the humanities to contribute to the changing understanding of the relationships between humans and the natural environment. If you or any of your colleagues would like to learn more about the initiative or its grant programs or the work of the Endowment more generally, please feel free to be in touch.

Great meeting tool

This probably looks like spam, but I thought it would be a useful thing to pass along.

We just tried this service--Free Conference Calling. It turned out to be a great tool for staying connected. It is very easy to use and reliable. You can record and archive your meetings, too, for folks who can't be there.

Interesting paper on art at LTER sites

Earth Stewardship
Ecology and Ethics Volume 2, 2015, pp 249-268

Arts and Humanities Efforts in the US Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network: Understanding Perceived Values and Challenges

Lissy Goralnik, Michael Paul Nelson, Leslie Ryan, Hannah Gosnell

Abstract

Calls for interdisciplinary approaches to environmental problem-solving are common across the biophysical and social sciences. Recently, some of these collaborations have incorporated the creative arts and humanities, including projects across the 24 sites of the US Long-term Ecological Research (LTER) network. A substantial body of artistic and written work has been produced by LTER-affiliated sites. However, there has been no systematic analysis of this work. We used a cross-site, social scientific analysis to understand the extent and nature of arts and humanities inquiry in the LTER network and to assess perceptions about the values and challenges associated with it. We found that 19 of the 24 LTER sites agree or strongly agree that arts and humanities inquiry is important and relevant for the sites. Perceived values of this work include its goodness in and of itself, as well as its ability to foster outreach and public involvement and to inspire creative thinking. Contrarily, participants identified funding, available labor, and available expertise as limiting factors in the growth of arts and humanities inquiry in the LTER network. Respondents highlighted themes relevant to the relationship between ecological science and ethics, including participants’ willingness to accept fostering empathy, an identified value of arts and humanities inquiry, as pertinent to LTER network goals and research on some level. This ethical potential of arts and humanities inquiry in the LTER network provides an opportunity to bridge ecological research with arts and humanities inquiry in ways that are meaningful for Earth stewardship.

Insight from an artist/scientist

Brandon Ballengée is a biologist, professor, and an important environmental artist. Here's a recent article where he talks about how the two intersect.

"In science one has to be very detached, to be as objective as possible and just let the data speak for itself. Whereas in art you can be coming from this idea of wonder in a very different way that can be used to captivate audiences."

Clore Leadership Programme

The Clore Leadership Programme is a UK-based organization that offers a range of programs for outstanding individuals who wish to develop as cultural leaders.

By investing in individuals, we aim to strengthen leadership across a wide range of creative and cultural activities.

The annual Clore Fellowship award provides support to Brits and a few internationals who "...may be working freelance or within cultural organisations, of all types and sizes, in areas ranging from archives to theatre production, and including visual and performing arts, film and digital media, heritage, creative industries, museums, libraries and cultural policy."

While Americans probably don't qualify for the awards, there may be opportunities to do interesting projects with Clore Fellows.

"The programme blends real-life examples with practical skills and tools.

You will be expected to challenge and stretch yourself. Peer learning is a key element of the programme. It is not a taught course and there are no exams or qualifications. Instead you will learn from experience, your own and others, by sharing and reflecting and by putting your new-found skills into practice through workshops, a secondment and collaborative enquiry.

You will be encouraged to be curious, to question, to discuss and to write about cultural leadership."

UCNRS emphasizes arts partnerships at reserves

The University of California Natural Reserve System (UCNRS) has identified building stronger arts/humanities ties as a focus in their recent strategic plan. This is the largest university-managed system of natural reserves on the planet, so that's influential.

From the plan:

Initiative 31. Expand the existing partnership with the UC Institute for Research in the Arts to offer more fellowships to art students to work at NRS reserves.

Initiative 32. Work with the University community to develop programs that enable arts and humanities students to appreciate, incorporate, and support the sciences.