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Art, Sustainability, and Activism Centers Creative Solutions to Climate Change

September 25, 2024 Community

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Rib bone of Staccato, North Atlantic Right Whale (Eubalaena glacialis), UMass Natural History Collections. Photograph by Stephen Petegorsky
Rib bone of Staccato, North Atlantic Right Whale (Eubalaena glacialis), UMass Natural History Collections. Photograph by Stephen Petegorsky

By Chloe Borgida '25

For the sixth year in a row, UMass Amherst's Art, Sustainability, and Activism (ASA) event series returns to campus, this time in early October. A collaborative series from the the Fine Arts Center, the MFA for Poets and Writers, and the School of Earth & Sustainability, ASA creates deliberate opportunities to connect artists, scientists, and changemakers to reckon with climate change.

In preparation for this profound collaboration of science and art, we had the opportunity to sit down with one of the event’s integral members: English Professor and ASA co-founder Noy Holland. Over sips of herbal tea and moments of laughter, we were able to learn more about the history and infrastructure of ASA.

Since its beginning, ASA has undergone innumerable amounts of growth, progress, and development. In 2019, the Fine Arts Center featured a panel conversation with notable figures across a variety of fields centering creative and meaningful solutions to climate change. Holland’s team was invited to put on an interdisciplinary literary series in tandem with the event. 

Following the panel from the Fine Arts Center, Holland sat down with Michael Sakamoto, director of the Asian and Asian American Arts and Culture Program at UMass, and decided that they had something amazing in their hands. At this time, they didn’t have plans to make this series an annual event. All they knew was that their event was exciting and basked in the art of collaboration. 

From there, with the help of an interdisciplinary research grant from the Provost's Office, the ASA annual event was born. 

In the series’s growth, Holland recounts that “it’s been a very gratifying, sometimes confusing, but really great learning experience working across disciplines like this”, a foundational bone to the panel’s success. As time progressed, the event has become more involved on and beyond campus, honing in on their goal to connect with a wide array of minds.

Attending an event with this much color and engagement may be overwhelming first-time visitors with excitement, but Holland recommends coming with “an open heart and an open mind”. 

Though it is interdisciplinary, the shared message remains clear. For further content, she also recommends visiting the UMass Fine Arts Center archives page to interact with past panels. 

Holland says the prose field for climate has vastly expanded in the past five years, as well as the recent publishing and celebration of climate activism novels. The hope is that the panel series offers an accessible, tangible way for people to interact with activism. When asked which she is looking forward to most, Holland couldn’t pick just one: she says ASA is filled with a variety of events that everyone can enjoy.

Though this year’s event series are still on the horizon, Holland and her team already have their sights set on year seven. If they receive a grant with a strong Massachusetts basis, they hope to expand to the Five College system, honing in their aim to work cohesively across different disciplines.

The ASA is dependent on the generosity of their donors. For those looking to support interdisciplinary activism, please contact noy [dot] holland83 [at] gmail [dot] com (noy[dot]holland83[at]gmail[dot]com). 

Article posted in Community for Faculty , Staff , Current students , and Public

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