AC Discussion | Institutional Responsibility + Carbon Neutrality
On Tuesday, April 7th, we sat down with Merica Whitehall, Carol RedWing, and Rachel Adams for a virtual discussion about moving the institutional goalpost toward carbon neutrality in Omaha.
Influenced in many ways by organizational shifts in response to Covid-19, and a few minor technical difficulties aside, the conversation connected concerns related to climate change, public health, and the role cultural organizations play as advocates for meaningful change. Each of our speakers identified climate change as a risk to public health and described initiatives happening within their individual organizations to mitigate its most severe impacts. They suggested partnerships, resource sharing, and structural changes the cultural sector might adopt as a whole to prioritize the health and safety of the communities it serves. Our speakers also shared the feeling that our current situation provides an important opportunity to eschew a ‘business as usual’ approach and instead look optimistically to a future in which we’re fully prepared to implement broad changes that protect our land, water, and air to keep our human, and more-than-human, neighbors healthy.
Watch the full discussion below and share your thoughts in the comments section.
Rachel Adams: Rachel Adams is the Chief Curator and Director of Programs at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts. From 2015 until October 2018, she was the Senior Curator of Exhibitions for the UB Art Galleries in Buffalo, NY. Adams holds an MA in Exhibition and Museum Studies from the San Francisco Art Institute and a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her areas of research are varied but include a focus on the crossover between contemporary art and architecture, performance and video and new media practices. Recent exhibitions include Alison O’Daniel: Heavy Air, Jillian Mayer: Timeshare, and she co-curated Introducing Tony Conrad: A Retrospective, the first exhibition of Tony Conrad’s work after the artist’s death. Her 2017 exhibition Wanderlust: Actions, Traces, Journeys 1967-2017—a 50-year survey of artists performing in the landscape—was awarded grants from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts with a catalogue by MIT Press. Forthcoming curatorial projects include solo exhibitions with Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Claudia Wieser, Maya Dunietz and All Together, Amongst Many: Reflections on Empathy, a group exhibition in response to the upcoming 2020 elections in the United States.
Carol RedWing: Carol RedWing is an enrolled member of the Yankton Dakota Tribe with Santee Dakota descendancy. She runs the Membership department at Film Streams, a local nonprofit that promotes the discussion and presentation of film as an art form. Carol also teaches Native American Studies courses at the University of Nebraska at Omaha; her coursework emphasizes the relationship between Indigenous cultural survivance and empowerment through community engagement. In 2017, Carol received her Master of Public Administration degree, with a Nonprofit Management concentration from UNO. During her undergraduate career, Carol primarily studied Environmental Science, Indigenous Studies, Music, and Language. Along with being a board member of Mode Shift Omaha, Carol is also on the Chancellor’s Native American Advisory Cabinet at UNO. When it comes to art, her favorite mediums to work with are acrylic paints and beads, albeit not simultaneously.
Mercia Whitehall: Merica Whitehall is Executive Director of Fontenelle Forest, a nonprofit nature center and 2,100 acre forested greenspace bordering the Missouri River and located in the Omaha metro area. Fontenelle Forest’s conservation efforts include statewide rescue and rehabilitation of migratory birds of prey; land protection and ecological restoration; and, environmental education and nature-based programming for all-ages that focuses on inspiring current and future generations to care for the natural world. Prior to leading Fontenelle Forest, Merica served as Executive Director of the Nature Consortium in Seattle, WA. There she produced employed environmental artists as educators and facilitators of nature-based learning and reflection. She also produced the Arts in Nature Festival, a two-day multidisciplinary art festival at a 40-acre urban forest in West Seattle. In 2016, with Merica at its helm, Fontenelle Forest launched the Helen and Hollis Baright Gallery Artist Series. Each year, Fontenelle Forest exhibits artist’s works that reflect a diversity of mediums and cultural perspectives on nature, the environment, and the land that has become the property of Fontenelle Forest.
Merica has over 20 years of nonprofit leadership experience including nine years as a nationally touring artist and arts manager. As a dancer and musician, Merica performed at theatres and festivals including the Houston International Festival, Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, Memphis in May, and the Spoleto Festival USA to name a few. Merica earned an Executive Master’s Degree in Nonprofit Leadership from Seattle University. Upon completion of her degree, she taught as a faculty member for Seattle University’s Institute for Public Service. Merica has also worked as an independent consultant and trainer for ArtsWA, STG’s Paramount Theater, Seattle Center Festal Cultural Festival Series, the Intiman Theatre, and Seattle Children’s Theatre, and SEEDArts among others. Merica currently serves on the board of directors for the Nebraska Land Trust, Back to the River, and Opera Omaha.