Islands & Rivers: Poetry and the Art of the Possible in the Age of Climate Change is a two-day series of gatherings, performances, screenings and workshops presented by Casa de las Americas at LaGuardia Community College, Lost & Found: The CUNY Poetics Document Initiative and the Center for the Humanities at the CUNY Graduate Center, and Engaging the Senses Foundation. The aim of series is to bring an environmental justice framework to creative, humanistic practices; and to conversely bring creative, humanistic practices to bear on environmental justice work.
Islands & Rivers begins at the CUNY Graduate Center with a night of environmental poetry grounded in water-based and island-born knowledgeways integral to our understanding and implementation of climate adaptation and just transition writ large. Programming continues the following day at LaGuardia Community College with a poetry/storytelling/spoken word workshop for LaGuardia students wishing to give voice and form to their own environmental autobiographies; a brief excerpt from the film The Story of Everything, and an open-mic poetry reading featuring new student work; a short, hands-on presentation of community-led data collection techniques intended to document and support mental health in the era of climate change; and finally, a musical performance by a group of feminist educators and cantadoras who open spaces for the music, culture, and traditions of the Caribbean region of Colombia to flourish in New York City. The series will continue in October 2023!
Islands & Rivers begins at the CUNY Graduate Center with a night of environmental poetry grounded in water-based and island-born knowledgeways integral to our understanding and implementation of climate adaptation and just transition writ large. Programming continues the following day at LaGuardia Community College with a poetry/storytelling/spoken word workshop for LaGuardia students wishing to give voice and form to their own environmental autobiographies; a brief excerpt from the film The Story of Everything, and an open-mic poetry reading featuring new student work; a short, hands-on presentation of community-led data collection techniques intended to document and support mental health in the era of climate change; and finally, a musical performance by a group of feminist educators and cantadoras who open spaces for the music, culture, and traditions of the Caribbean region of Colombia to flourish in New York City. The series will continue in October 2023!