NPR and WWNO are proud to announce the world premiere of NPR Presents Water +/- on Saturday, October 25, 2014 at 8:00 p.m. ET at the Saenger Theatre. NPR Presents Water +/- combines national and local news coverage, music, poetry, storytelling and visual projections to explore how too much or too little water is shaping lives and affecting communities around the country and the world.

NPR Presents Water +/- brings together Tony-Award winning director Kenny Leon, award-winning NPR Science Correspondent Christopher Joyce, and award-winning theater writers Arthur Yorinks and Carl Hancock Rux with an original sound score by acclaimed violinist Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR). The show starts its eight-city tour in New Orleans. It will be co-hosted by NPR’s Michele Norris and WWNO’s Eve Troeh and will feature Tony Award-winner Anika Noni Rose (Caroline, or Change); Tony Award-nominee, Michele Shay (August Wilson’s Seven Guitars); Jason Dirden (Tony Award-winning Production, A Raisin in the Sun); and Lucas Caleb Rooney (Boardwalk Empire).

“NPR Presents Water + brings together NPR’s journalistic rigor with the artistic and poetic nature of theatrical storytelling, amplifying local stories about water issues that are significant to each region and have a global resonance,” said Indira Etwaroo, executive producer and director of NPR Presents. “We are thrilled to partner with WWNO, who received the Edward R. Murrow Award for their coastal coverage, to create and present the premiere event and to hold it at the historic Saenger Theatre, which reopened after its own dramatic water story post-Hurricane Katrina.”

Tour Dates

• October 25, 2014, New Orleans in partnership with WWNO
• November 8, 2014, Weekend in Washington, NPR
• November 10, 2014, New York, NY in partnership with WNYC
• November 12, 2014, San Francisco, CA in partnership with KQED
• November 13, 2014, Seattle, WA in partnership with KUOW
• November 17, 2014, Atlanta, GA in partnership with WABE
• November 18, 2014, Cleveland, OH in partnership with Ideastream
• November 19, 2014, Detroit, MI in partnership with WUOM

“Water is such an important topic, not only for Louisiana, but also for the nation and the world. NPR Presents Water +/- will help to open conversations and the meaningful exchange of ideas in a new way,” said Paul Maassen, WWNO general manager. “We are honored to have the World Premiere here in New Orleans, and for WWNO to play a role in this local and national collaboration among NPR and public radio stations across the nation.”

“I am excited to work with NPR Presents on this meaningful and highly relevant undertaking,” said director Kenny Leon. “Theater has the ability to illuminate the human experience in a way that is unique, vital and authentic. Our goal is to allow Water + to showcase our shared humanity, our shared challenges across the US and the globe.”

Building on NPR and Member Stations’ news coverage, the NPR Presents Water +/- series will highlight each city’s unique, nuanced relationship with water. The scripts are created in partnership with the Member Station combining local sensibilities with national themes. No artistic licenses are taken with the news content; stories are adapted from on-air and online coverage, as well as oral histories, into monologues and dialogues.

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A cultural programme for the 21st United Nations Conference on climate change. Paris, from the 30^th of November to the 10^th of December 2015.

COAL and CAPE FAREWELL,
 the two European partners behind ArtCop21 willmobilise artists and the wider cultural sector to create a festival and cultural symposium during the Cop21 conference. From 30th November until 10th December 2015 they will create and exceptional cultural-climate festival in the city of Paris.

ART AND COP21

The 21st Conference of the United Nations climate is an important step in the negotiations for a future international agreement to fight against climate change.

The agenda of Cop21 is primarily scientific and political. ArtCop21 provides an alternative agenda, recognising that for a real cultural shift, we need to encourage a diverse range of citizens to engage with the topic. Arts and culture have always played a critical role in responding to political, environmental and social issues.

The United Nations have officially recognised the direct link between culture and the three pillars of sustainable development – economic, social and environmental – confirming that culture is both a catalyst and an engine of sustainable development.

In the autumn of 2015, thousands of civilian actors, foundations and NGOs will show their commitment to change the world at the Paris-Le Bourget site that will host COP21. ArtCop21 wants to share this energy to the public through art and creative engagement.

ArtCop21 will open the doors to the wider public and show the political players that there are alternatives to comprehend the complexity of the climate chal- lenge; a cultural shift inspired by creativity and innovation.

ARTISTS EMBRASE THE CLIMATE CHALLENGE AND IMAGINE THE WORLD OF TOMORROW

ArtCop21 is a cultural event that will take place in Paris during the COP21. Mission of Artcop21 is to engage the wider public in creating a positive vision for a sustainable future.

ArtCop21 is an unprecedented collaboration of cultural actors who are keen to instigate an ecological transition towards a healthier environment- through arts and culture.

ArtCop21 will mobilize artists to develop projects of cultural expression that will engage and inspire public participation.

ArtCop21 will mount a forum to articulate the power of inspiring a cultural shift that embraces a sustainable future for all.

With ArtCop21, knowledge and action around the climate challenge will make the topic accessible and fun for the wider public.

SYSTEM

ArtCop21 irrigates the city through artistic, collaborative and innovative proposals.

It will include:

1 - The Conference of Creative Parties bringing together twenty one international artists, creatives and intellectuals to invent a creative vision for tomorrow’s world. A three-day public facing symposium at La Sorbonne.

2 - Five monumental and participatory art installations in public space, co-created by five invited international artists and the citizens of Paris.

3 - An artistic journey through the Ile-de-France in multiple locations that are united for ArtCop21 artists’ studios, museums, art associations, institutions, theatres, galleries and shopping centers.

4 - A major exhibition in a significant cultural institution presenting the work of leading international artists engaged in the field of ecology.

5 – A special edition of the Coal Prize Art and environment, which by an international open call, brings hundreds of artistics proposals for climate.

See you in the fall of 2014 for the ArtCop21′s launching!

PARTNERS

On the Move, Julie’s Bicycle, University of the Arts, London, Studio Orta – les Moulins, Zone sensible, la Réserve des arts.

CONTACT

Lauranne Germond

COAL
2 rue Caffarelli
75003 Paris
+33 (0)1 75 57 87 63
contact@projetcoal.fr
www.projetcoal.fr

David Buckland
CAPE FAREWELL
University of the Arts Chelsea
16 John Islip Street
London SW1P 4JU
+44 (0)207 514 8079
yasmineostendorf@capefarewell.com
www.capefarewell.com

Crédit image : Lucy + Jorge Orta, Antarctica – Métisse flag, 2010, Banksy, Global Warming, 2009, Gideon Mendel, drowning world, Ackroyd & Harvey, Testament, 2011

Climate change is one of the most pressing issues facing the world – now more than ever. Last year was one of the hottest on record internationally, but the sceptics keep pumping their rhetoric into the atmosphere, almost as fast and furiously as we’re polluting it. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude and reality of it all, or flummoxed by the polarising conversations. What can we do to make a difference?

The People’s Weather Report is a global response to the enormity of climate change, from a number of very personal perspectives. In an installation created by eco designer Tanja Beer, using recycled materials and showcased duringGoing Nowhere, audiences are invited to experience a 24 hour sound work of original ‘weather reports’, collected from participants located around the world.

Taking the temperature of our collective response to climate change, our partner ABC RN will also produce two one-hour packages for radio broadcast selected from the submitted reports.

We are looking for participants to take part in this global project

The People’s Weather Report is seeking 300 ‘weather reporters’ from around the world – and we would love to hear from you!

If you’d like to make a contribution and respond personally, politically, poetically or scientifically, reflecting on your individual connection to weather and the climate, please email going.nowhere@melbourne.vic.gov.au. We’ll send you full technical instructions on how to create and submit your three-five minute audio weather report.

Your weather report should connect with your concerns, beliefs and ideologies within your local context. Once submitted, these weather reports will be edited together to create the sound work for the installation.

Weather report submissions close on 13 October.

The Mojave Project is an experimental transmedia documentary by Kim Stringfellow exploring the physical, geological and cultural landscape of the Mojave Desert. The Mojave Project reconsiders and establishes multiple ways in which to interpret this unique and complex landscape, through association and connection of seemingly unrelated sites, themes, and subjects thus creating a speculative and immersive experience for its audience.

The Mojave Project will explore the following themes: Desert as Wasteland;Geological Time vs. Human Time; Sacrifice and Exploitation; Danger and Consequence;Space and Perception; Mobility and Movement; Desert as Staging Ground;Transformation and Reinvention.

The Mojave Project will materialize as the project progresses over time. Deep research and direct field inquiry involving interviews, investigative reporting and personal journaling will be supported with still photography, audio and video documentation. Field reports will be shared in Desert Dispatches throughout the production period beginning in July 2014.

Funding for the The Mojave Project is provided through a Cal Humanities 2014 California Documentary Project Research and Development Grant with additional support from San Diego State University. The Mojave Project is a project of the Pasadena Arts Council’s EMERGE Program. The Mojave Desert Heritage & Cultural Association and KCET Artbound are project partners.

Is culture the fourth pillar of sustainability, alongside the ecological, economic and social aspects? How does culture act as a catalyst for ecological sustainability, human well-being and economic viability? What would our futures look like if sustainability was embedded in the multiple dimensions of culture, including different worldviews and values, ways of life, and other forms of cultural expression?

A cultural transition that embeds sustainability in the cultural understandings and daily practices of society has the power to shift humanity’s currently unsustainable trajectory. Culture already plays many roles in (un)sustainability but the scientific, policy-making and societal spheres lack understanding of the essence of culture and how it influences sustainability.

A landmark conference

This conference is both an ending and a beginning. It caps the work of the European research network COST ActionInvestigating Cultural Sustainability. But rather than closing the book on this international network, this inclusive conference aims to set directions for future research and actions. During the conference, scholars, policymakers, artists, planners and others will discuss thedifferent roles and meanings of culture in sustainability. Representatives from different sectors and across disciplines will explore how culture(s) can support sustainable development and vice versa. The new ideas generated here about understanding culture(s) in sustainable futures will pave the way for integrating sustainability with cultural studies and practices.

Large and small group work, including a stage for scholarly and artistic expression, will feed this dialogue:

Plenary sessions: lectures from invited speakers on culture, sustainability and development from the inter- and transdisciplinary perspectives
Parallel research paper sessions: sessions to present and discuss research papers
Parallel panels: sessions providing transdisciplinary dialogue between scientists, policymakers and practitioners (artists, planners, etc.).
An “open stage”: a space for posters, art and performances

The conference explores ontheories and conceptual approaches; policies and governance; and practices and methodologies that explicitly analyse role(s) of culture(s) in sustainable development. Multiple  narratives of culture(s) in sustainable futures are emerging. Some of them have originated in the social and humanistic sciences, philosophy, and environmental sciences, while others have emerged from planning practices, policymaking and the arts. The meaning of culture ranges from worldviews to livelihoods and everyday life practices, from natural and cultural heritage to planning and bottom-up initiatives in different spatial contexts. Various ideas about sustainability will be threaded through these explorations of culture and the participants will reflect on contemporary sustainability challenges such as environmental  change, economic crises, poverty and human rights.

The conference will explore the following dimensions: 

Theories and conceptual approaches: How can we explore and understand the role of culture in a range of sustainable futures? How can inter- and transdisciplinary approaches (including the artistic and policy) contribute to this? What kind of theories can be useful when analysing values and ethics, or the human-nature nexus, and why? How can we address the normativity inherent in the discussion of culture and sustainability? To what extent does culture need to be sustained or transformed, in which ways, and by whom?

Policies and governance: How can the issue of culture be addressed in relation to sustainability policies? How can culture be included in sectoral and cross-sectoral policies and politics? What types of policies facilitate a culturally embedded transition to possible sustainable futures? What kind of new planning and governance cultures are needed to create sustainable futures? What role can cultural policies play in the transition to sustainability across all levels of culture? How can the cultural turn in sustainability be facilitated?

Practices and methodologies: Culture is both tangible/material and intangible/immaterial. What are possible methodologies for communicating the value of culture in sustainability? What kinds of tools exist to evaluate culture? Where do these tools fall short, and how should such tools be further developed? How can cultural knowledge or values be produced, co-produced and represented? How can culturally sensitive and embedded approaches be promoted in planning, cultural or place mapping, and through artistic and/or planning practices?

Examples that illustrate and reveal the role(s) of culture in sustainable futures may be found in livelihoods, everyday life practices from housing to consumption, food systems, tourism, landscapes, heritage, media, education, planning, architecture, design and more. They may take place in urban, peri-urban or rural contexts, and on a scale ranging from global to local.

Attend the conference – share your knowledge, ideas, and creative expression

The Conference is open for all fields of study and practice. Selected full papers and other contributions will be published in conference proceedings and in a book within the recently-launched book series Routledge Studies in Culture and Sustainable DevelopmentThe conference is organised by COST Action “Investigating Cultural Sustainability” www.culturalsustainability.eu and hosted by the University of Jyväskylä, Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy.

The conference is organised by the COST Action Investigating Cultural Sustainability and is hosted by the University of Jyväskylä (Finland), Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy. The conference venue, “Wanha Satama”(Finnish for “Old Harbour”), is a renovated warehouse for coffee and spices located in the heart of Helsinki and close to the seashore.

You can participate in the conference in the following way:

Parallel research paper sessions

are traditional / conventional parallel sessions where conference participants can present their research papers. If you want to propose a theme for such a session, send your session proposal by 1 October 2014 to: landmark2015 [at] jyu.fi. Please provide the following information:

• Name(s), affiliation(s) and contact information of the proposer(s)
• Title of the proposed session
• Abstract (250-300 words)  including the aim and  scope of the session and the type of contributions sought

The scientific committee of the conference will review the session proposals and announce the accepted sessions by 15October 2014. The paper abstract submission to the confirmed research paper sessions will be open from 15 October 2014 until 5December 2014. The abstracts should be submitted through an online submission system. The session chairs will review the abstracts.

Parallel panels

are sessions with 3-4 presenters, a chair and a discussant. These sessions provide a moderated dialogue between the contributors. In particular, we encourage transdisciplinary debate on a specific theme between scientists, policymakers, and different practitioners for instance from the fields of art, culture and administration. To organise a panel you should invite 3-4 presenters and a discussant. The proposals for panels including the confirmed contributions and abstracts (the abstract of the panel: 250-300 words, abstracts of the presentations: 150-200 words) should be sent by an online submission system by 5 December, 2014. The panel proposals will be reviewed by the Scientific Committee. (NB. Detailed instructions for submissions coming up soon!)

The open stage

for posters, artistic expressions and performances is a space to explore the relationship between culture and sustainability through different presentational forms, by employing the methods of science and/or arts. These contributions will be organised in a transversal way by a curator according to the themes they display. This space will be open continuously throughout the conference. The call for proposals runs from 15 October 2014 to 5December 2014. The proposals should be submitted through an online submission system. The curator will review the proposals.

Note: The online submission system will open on 15September 2014.

Time Schedule

A couple faced with the possibility of having a child embark on separate journeys through time and space.  A multidisciplinary theatrical event exploring the personal, social and environmental questions surrounding contemporary issues of overpopulation. Created collaboratively and remotely by international teams of artists and scientists based on limitations inspired by the Voyager Golden Record.

EARTH is a cross-disciplinary, cross-cultural and international collaboration. Based on prompts and limitations given by Superhero Clubhouse, teams of artists working remotely (that is, in cities outside NYC) created highly personal scenes, images and dances inspired by themes and questions related to population. The material given to us by Satellite Teams was then developed in dialogue with our artists here in NYC. At this stage of development, we are asking three questions: 1. What is the play, and how does it confront the ecological research? 2. How do we collaborate with artists from afar? 3. How canEARTH be a singular event with consistency of vision, aesthetic and narrative, despite so many “cooks in the kitchen”? By asking these questions, we are also exploring what it means to get along in the world, in the face of global limitations, environmental crises and a population not yet at its peak.

A note from dramaturg Megan McClain

Last year, the Voyager 1 spacecraft entered interstellar space, becoming the farthest human-made object from Earth. On board is the Voyager Golden Record, a disk containing images, music, greetings in 55 languages, and sounds meant to capture the diversity of life on our planet. Created in 1977 by Carl Sagan and a team of collaborators, this time capsule was launched in the hopes that it might be found by intelligent life. Though ambitious, the Voyager Golden Record project was plagued by limitations. How could they hope to represent all of Earth on one record? In creating EARTH (a play about people), we faced a similar challenge. How can we tell a story about human life on this planet of 7.2 billion people? Taking the contents and limitations of the Voyager Golden Record as our inspiration, we have created our own imperfect performance time capsule filled with observations, stories, and experiences devised by a team of 20 local artists and scientists and dozens of artists from other countries including Romania, Australia, China, Japan, Greece, and Denmark. Our play begins with a couple waiting to find out if they are pregnant.  In this temporal limbo, they each embark on separate journeys through time and space. In a world fraught with limited resources and an alarmingly booming human population, what are the environmental, social, and personal implications surrounding the decision to have a child? How do we balance the beauty and brilliance of our species with the impact our very presence has on the world we rely on?

Support EARTH!

From now until September 13, we are operating a fundraising campaign to benefit our fall EARTHworkshop, taking place on Governor’s Island in September as part of a Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Process Space grant and culminating in a public performance on September 20. We have just over a month to raise $5,000– this covers paying stipends to our company of twenty artists, plus other production expenses like design materials, transportation and cookie ingredients. Read more about the campaign and consider making a tax-deductible donation by clicking HERE.

September 20, 2pm - Work-in-progress performance

Building 110 on Governor’s Island

Free and open to the public

The culmination of a Process Space residency from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council 

Team NYC

• Co-directed by Jeremy Pickard, Harry Poster & Hannah Wolf
• Made and performed by Nanda Abella, Sergio Botero, Jonathan Camuzeaux, William Cook, Janouke Goosen, Eben Hoffer, Yanghee Lee, Andrew Lindqvist, Bella MacDiarmid, Katey Parker, Jeremy Pickard, Sophia Remolde, Leah Shelton & Sonia Villani 
• Written by Satellite Artists in collaboration with the NYC company 
• Dramaturgy by Megan McClain & Anne Zager
• Original music by Jonathan Camuzeaux 
• MusicalArrangement by Janouke Goosen
• Featured choreography by KatieRose McLaughlin
• Lighting design by Bruce Steinberg
• Sound design by Sarah Hughes
• Design dramaturgy Solomon Weisbard
• Production assistance by John Le

Satellite Teams 

• Per Bech Jensen (Idom Kirkeby, Denmark)
• Tommy Dickie & collaborators (Los Angeles, USA)
• Tina Yotopoulou (Athens, Greece)
• Christina Pickard (Perth, Australia)
• Brian O’Neal & collaborators (Minneapolis, USA)
• Nadia Serantes & collaborators (Santiago, Chile)
• Toma Danila, Ioana Manciu & Horia Suru (Bucharest, Romania)
• Byron Yee & Lyrica Yin (Guangzhou, China)

“Every one of us is, in the cosmic perspective, precious. If a human disagrees with you, let him live. In a hundred billion galaxies, you will not find another.” ― Carl Sagan

Originally conceived by Sarah Hughes, Jeremy Pickard and Anne Zager

December 2012: early workshops in NYC
June 2, 2014: work-in-progress showing in NYC
September 20, 2014: work-in-progress showing on Governor’s Island, NYC (as part of a Lower Manhattan Cultural Council “Process Space” grant)
2015: first-draft production, NYC

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