For Maren Waldman, water and art — or making art about water — has been a natural fit.
About a decade ago, she stumbled upon Global Water Dances, an initiative that encourages dance artists around the world to create movement-based art to raise awareness about water issues. Artists get creative license to develop dances about and around water sources in whatever way resonates with them.
“Climate, environment is always something close to my heart,” Waldman, a dance artist and educator, said. “I was like, ‘That. Yes.’ And so I did that.” Fast forward to 2024, Waldman now runs Colorado Water Stories, which promotes environmental stewardship through artistry. Her work at the intersection of art and climate awareness is one of the seeds that led to the first Longmont Water Fair.
The Longmont Water Fair is Sunday, June 9, at Dickens Farm Nature Area. The St. Vrain Creek, which streams through the park, will be a key attraction of the free event. The fair features performances, participatory art projects, hands-on science activities, water conservation resources and a scavenger hunt. It’s a collaborative effort between Waldman’s Colorado Water Stories, Anima Arts, The Watershed Center and the City of Longmont’s Water Resources Division.
Event partners hope attendees leave with a deeper connection to water, inspiring them to ask more questions about where water comes from, how it affects their lives and what’s at stake as global water sources start to dry up.
‘In our everyday lives we’re so inundated by information all the time, especially those of us who are plugged into the climate.‘
Organizers credit Hope Bartlett, Longmont’s water conservation specialist, for initiating the fair. Bartlett, who joined the city in 2022, aimed to incorporate a stronger education focus into the department’s work. She wanted to organize a family-friendly gathering focused on water. After meeting and getting to know Waldman and Anima Arts founder and director Mimi Ferrie Lee, things started to click for the fair.
“In our everyday lives we’re so inundated by information all the time, especially those of us who are plugged into the climate and climate information. A lot of times it feels really doom and gloom and feels like this is a problem that I can’t solve,” Bartlett said. “I think that’s why it’s so important to integrate the arts piece into [this work] because it pulls at those heartstrings instead of just our knowledge strings.”
Event partner The Watershed Center, which focuses on protecting and restoring watersheds, has hosted an annual science-focused watershed event. Executive Director Yana Sorokin said partnering on the Longmont Water Fair aligns with the organization’s community engagement goals.
“Our staff members are scientists,” Sorokin said. “We communicate in science ways. But being able to incorporate art and dance into all of that helps us to reach more people and helps us to refine our message.”
‘Art is particularly good at evoking memory…it’s another pathway in.‘
Bartlett and Sorokin aren’t alone in believing art can convey climate messages more effectively than a lecture or politician. A study published last year in the peer-reviewed journal Communications Earth & Environment found that art can be more impactful than data or graphs in conveying the relevance of climate change to diverse audiences. Researchers found that artistic representations of data can evoke strong emotions and sometimes even bridge political divides.
“We need to integrate the whole person” when addressing climate issues, Waldman said. “Art is particularly good at evoking memory, and using the senses and getting to the body level of what we’re trying to say. Water, environment affects everybody. It’s another pathway in.”
Walking through the space, attendees will follow “the water’s journey from mountain to home,” said Ferrie Lee from Anima Arts. The first stop explains how much of our water is freshwater and accessible to living things, providing context for children. From there, people slide down a small incline, simulating water’s journey through Colorado, a “headwaters” state for much of the western and central U.S. Here, families can participate in water-centered science experiments with The Watershed Center.
Along the way, they’ll experience a morning water blessing offered by Danza Mexica Tlahuitzcalli. Alpine Artist Collective will perform contemporary dance work and poetry in and near the St. Vrain Creek, and West African dance and drum ensemble Mokomba Ensemble will perform.
A key component of the Longmont Water Fair is encouraging people to think about the future of water, including weighing in on water policy. One station will invite attendees to share feedback on what they’d like to see included in the next update to Longmont’s Water Efficiency Plan.
Attendees will also contribute to a large portable fabric mural depicting the people, places and things that are part of the St. Vrain Watershed.
“So hopefully people are leaving with this sense that … water is life, and it connects everything. So everything, everyone, everywhere is connected by water,” Ferrie Lee said.
They chose the site of Dickens Farm Nature Area for its access to the creek and its popularity among Longmont residents. Sorokin with The Watershed Center added that this is also “really the heart of the watershed.”
“The restoration work that we do is primarily in the upper parts of our watershed. We’re working in the forests and in the alluvial fan of the watershed,” she said. “I love that we’re connecting here, recognizing that the inputs and the benefits that we’re receiving here are coming from such a greater landscape.”
The Longmont Water Fair is Sunday, June 9, 2024, at Dickens Farm Nature Area in Longmont from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Find more details and an event schedule here, y en espanõl aqui.
