Active Energy: bringing local knowledge into the public realm

The event was on the creative intersection of learning with social and ecological issues. Loraine Leeson talked about her chapter “Active Energy: Bringing Local Knowledge into the Public Realm” for the recently published book Ecoart in Action: Fostering Social and Ecological Change.
Abstract of presentation: The arts are an excellent means of celebrating, communicating and consolidating ideas, but artists do not know everything and can work to greater effect with experts in other fields. These might be local people who are in touch with the needs of their community, professionals in other disciplines, or groups and institutions that can offer contextual knowledge. Collaboration creates insight, where each witnesses a multiplication of their own set of skills and experience when interfacing with others as part of a team. A function of the artist’s role in these situations is to nurture and facilitate this process in a way that allows for the diversity of expectations and enables each party, including themselves, to achieve their goal.