CLIMATE CHANGE: ART & ACTION Interactive Exhibition September 3-26

 Artists are powerful storytellers. Close observers of nature, they see climate change altering our world – often quickly and dramatically – through a combination of elevated temperatures, rising sea levels, prolonged droughts, and storms of record-breaking frequency, duration, and intensity.  Cities, especially coastal cities like Providence, are especially vulnerable.  Moved to respond, contemporary artists are creating an explosion of art exposing the hubris in our attempt to master nature. Probing with courage and integrity, they are guiding us to reexamine assumptions, challenge myths, and see and think anew in harmony with nature.

Gallery Night Reception on September 19, 5-9 pm along with the Climate Change Theatre Action (CCTA) a staged reading of plays at 7pm in the Paff Auditorium featuring Lighting the Way a group of plays commissioned for this biennial event and presented by the award winning Wilbury Theatre Group. The Climate Change Theatre Action (CCTA) is a worldwide project involving the commissioning of 50 short plays from around the world on various topics of Climate Change Action with performances presented world wide as reading and fully staged production from September 15 th through December 21 st 2019 to coincide with the United Nations Santiago Climate Conference meetings. Using stories to bring communities together and encourage them to take local and global action on climate change initiatives, the project is modeled on previous NoPassport theatre actions focused on gun control (After Orlando) and the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon BP oil spill, CCTA draws on the expertise and resources of local artists, while being global in scope and uniting multiple countries
around a common issue.

Under the direction of Logan Serabian with a company of Wilbury Theatre Group actors, the evening will feature, Ice Flow by Phillip Braithwaite, Migratory Birds by James Celenza, , Sex with Monsanto by Darcie Dennigan, Absolutely Nothing of Any Meaning by Sunny Drake, there are a lot of stories you can tell about humanity by David Finnigan, The Donation by Jordan Hall, The butterfly that persisted by Lana I. Nasser, The Earth’s Blue Heart by
Katie Pearl, Blood on the Leaves by Madeline Sayet, A letter from the Ocean by Caridad Svich and Dust by Marcus Youssef. Among the cast from Wilbury Theatre Group are: Nick D’Amico, Brian Kozak, Brien Lang, Jennifer Mischley, Maggie Papa, Jason Quinn and Helena Tafuri. There will be a post performance discussion led by Logan Serabian along with Barnaby Evans form Waterfire, Alicia Lehrer from Woonasquatucket Watershed Council and Performance Artists Eli Nixon.

And the Local Impact of Climate Change Round Table Forum in the Paff Auditorium September 26^th 7pm

“In conjunction with the exhibition, we are proud to feature a public panel presentation reporting on the University’s major leadership role on climate science research,” stated Steven Pennell. The community forum features current information on the impact of climate change in our region and recommended action steps individuals can take. The discussion with Senator Sheldon Whitehouse moderated by Ian Donnis with presentations by faculty from the URI Graduate School of Oceanography and The Coastal Resources Institues Jeremy Collie, Isaac Ginis, Howard Ginsberg, John W. King, Pam Rubinoff.