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| A new series of
works by choreographer Ann Carlson, pictured above, will be part of the "Feet to the Fire"
festival on May
10. |
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| Posted 05.01.08 |
Eco-Arts Festival Explores Impact of Climate Change
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The Wesleyan community will explore its environmental impact through an
eco-arts festival called “Feet to the Fire” on May 10 that will feature
food, music, art, theater and a premier by a world-renowned choreographer.
Running from noon to 5 p.m. at Veterans Park in Middletown, “Feet to the
Fire” will combine the variety of arts performances, interactive exhibits
and a farmers market with food from Connecticut vendors. Exhibits
coordinated by the Jonah Center for Earth and Art will highlight energy
conservation, sustainability and resilient communities.
Ann Carlson, award-winning choreographer, launches a new series of
performance works, Planet Next, that envision life on a future earth.
The first of these works, "Green Movement," uses elements of humor and
surprise while challenging the audience to intimately confront the realities
of their present day existence.
"Feet to the Fire is an extraordinary campus-wide and community exploration
of one of the most urgent issues facing our world today,” says Pam Tatge,
director of Wesleyan’s Center for the Arts. “The idea that so many students,
faculty members, community members, and artists have collaborated to make
works for the festival is simply thrilling.”
The event will also feature a sculpture garden, labyrinth, theater, dance,
music, poetry, art and performances by Art Farm’s Circus for a Fragile
Planet, Marion Belanger, Tom Callinan, Electric Junkyard Gamelan, Green
Street Arts Center, Independent Day School, Kalimba Liberian Group, Geoff
Kaufman, Jesse Karlsberg, The Middletuners, Mixashawn, Noah Baerman Trio,
Oddfellows Playhouse, RJ and the On-the-Spot Jug Band, Susan Romano, Sirius
Coyote, Toussaint Liberator, Wesleyan students and more.
The festival is a part of “Feet to the Fire: Exploring Global Climate Change
from Science to Art,” an 18-month project that includes research
opportunities for a team of students and faculty to explore first-hand the
effects of global warming, fieldwork studies in art and science,
performances, pedagogical exchanges in existing courses, commissioning of
artists and convening of experts.
“All of us working on the Festival are united in the belief that the arts
have the potential to help us see and understand the impact of climate
change while at the same time assist us in envisioning a sustainable
future,” Tatge says.
The project is funded in part by a grant from the Association of Performing
Arts Presenters Creative Campus Innovations Grant Program, a component of
the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Wesleyan’s grant is one of only eight
grants given to challenge campus-based performing arts presenters to
integrate their programs more organically within the academic environment.
The Festival is co-sponsored by Wesleyan’s Center for the Arts and
Environmental Studies Program, the Jonah Center for Earth and Art and the
City of Middletown, in collaboration with the Center for Creative Research
and the Green Street Arts Center.
Feet to the Fire will take place from noon to 5 p.m. rain or shine.
Admission is free and open to the public. The event is located at Veterans
Memorial Park in Middletown, located off Newfield Street. For more
information and directions call 860-685-3355. |
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