January 2024 Resiliency Conversation: Untapped Potential - Art as a Champion for Resilience
"Art helps us identify with one another and expands our notion of we - from the local to the global.” - Olafur Eliasson
We are exploring this very concept in this year’s Colorado Resiliency Summit. This year we are diving into “Stories of Resilience: Uniting for Climate Adaptation.” So often we seek traditional solutions to solving our complex and diverse community needs, and we usually outsource additional resources outside our communities to build our capacity. However, as stated by Aristotle, “the aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance,” and some of our best resources already exist within our communities!
In so many of our communities, there is an often untapped resource: artists. Artists and creatives have the ability to help us not only illuminate stories of our communities, but they also can provide unique perspectives on potential solutions. When addressing the resilience of our communities, there is never a one-size-fits-all solution, and when we allow ourselves to be creative, incredible things are possible!
Did You Know?
At this year’s Colorado Resiliency Summit, we are hosting a segment titled “Stories of Resilience.” We have the following incredible speakers lined up, who are showcasing examples of art creating change for climate adaptation in Colorado communities:
Andrea Gibson, Colorado Poet Laureate - Andrea will share one of their works titled Homesick: A Plea for Our Planet, to demonstrate how the power of poetry can move and inspire us, and bring us together around a common goal.
Beth Osnes, CU Professor of Theatre and Dance - Beth, who created SHINE, will share how youth, through the use of theatre performances, engaged local communities in climate adaptation planning, (and how you can too!).
Destiny Hardney and Wayne Watts of Dream, Create, Inspire Tour - Destiny and Wayne will demonstrate how the power of music and use of language can unify us and move us from a space of climate grief to one of climate hope.
Dive Deeper
Be sure to join us for our Colorado Resiliency Summit - an event that is free and open to all - on January 25, 2024, from 1:00 - 3:30 p.m. This event is entirely virtual, and we have even more incredible speakers lined up! Register and More Information.
Learn More about Resilience in Colorado
To learn more about how state agencies are working together to strengthen resiliency across Colorado, and how the Colorado Resiliency Office is facilitating strategic action, please visit the Colorado Resiliency Office's website.