The 2022 Arts & Climate Incubator
The Incubator took place June 27-July 1, 2022 at the SEED Lab in Anchorage, Alaska.
After a two year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Incubator is back! We can’t wait to gather in person and connect around our shared desire to harness the power of the arts to address the climate crisis.
The Incubator is open to anyone – artists, activists, scientists, educators, and others – who wants to engage or further their engagement with climate change through artistic practices. All disciplines are welcome and individuals from traditionally underrepresented communities are encouraged to attend. The Incubator is an inclusive environment that supports diverse perspectives.
During this 5-day intensive, participants interact with accomplished guest speakers from fields such as environmental humanities, psychology, climate activism, and visual and performing arts. Through discussions and creative exercises, we exchange tips and best practices, as well as explore how to remain courageous in the face of inevitable losses; increase our collective resilience; and find joy in the work ahead. Together we will develop tools that can help us heal ourselves, our communities, and the planet.
Limited to 20 participants. Availability is on a first come, first serve basis. Participants are responsible for their own travel and accommodation, and are required to be fully vaccinated. A few scholarships and half-scholarships are available.
All sessions take place at the SeedLab, 111 W 6th Ave, Anchorage, AK 99501 (a 2-min walk from the Anchorage Museum). There are a number of hotels within walking distance and the location is accessible by bus. Because the summer is a busy tourist season, we recommend that you book your lodging early.
The Incubator is taking place within Dena'ina Ełnena. We acknowledge and pay our respect to the Dena'ina Athabascan people and thank them for stewarding these lands and waters through the generations. We recognize that we are visitors and are grateful for the opportunity to discover and learn about this territory and culture.
For examples of work at the intersection of art and climate change, visit Artists & Climate Change, a program of the Arts & Climate Initiative.
Read our blog post Bringing the Arts, Humanities, and Sciences Together to Address Climate Change published by Future Earth to find out how the Incubator started.
“The incubator was a truly transformative experience for me that has radically reshaped the way I understand my role as an artist in addressing the climate crisis.”
In keeping with our value to keep our carbon footprint small, we offset our carbon emissions through Carbonfund.org.
Guest Speakers
BRIAN ADAMS (b.1985) is an editorial and commercial photographer based in Anchorage, Alaska specializing in environmental portraiture. His work has been featured in both national and international publications, and his work documenting Alaskan Native villages has been showcased in galleries across the United States and Europe. His first book of photography, I AM ALASKAN, was published in October 2013 by University Of Alaska Press. His most recent book, I AM INUIT was published in December 2017 by Benteli. In 2018, he received a fellowship grant from The Native Arts and Cultures Foundation and the Rasmuson Foundation to continue his work on documenting Inuit life in Alaska and the circumpolar.
Professor MARI HAHN has been on the UAA Music Department faculty since 2002. She is active as versatile performer of opera, oratorio, and art song. Recent performances include the soprano solo in Gorecki’s Third Symphony with the Anchorage Civic Orchestra, Bach’s St. John Passion and the Defiant Requiem with the Anchorage Concert Chorus under Murry Sidlin. Most recently, as a music and stage director, she created an Alaska Native adaptation of Englebert Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, entitled Aklaq and Nayak, in a collaborative production with Anchorage Opera.
SHELLY LAWS is a Tlingit of the t’akdeintaan from the Snail house. Her grandmother’s name was Woosh-kin-din-da-aat, her mother is Ldaan-aat, and she is S’eiskaa. Shelly was born in Olympia, Washington in 1958. Her family moved to Anchorage when she was three and this has been her home for most of those years. She is a Chilkat weaver and a storyteller, and lives in Anchorage.
REBECCA POTTEBAUM is an arts advocate, interested in how we live and shape the world. She is the Public Programs and Audience Engagement Manager at the Anchorage Museum and manages the Seed Lab, a project of the Anchorage Museum, committed to public engagement around art, climate, energy and equity issues. Through previous roles such as Director of the Anchorage International Film Festival and even itinerant tour leader, she's watched countless stories about how the climate changing has impacted the world and has seen noticeable changes directly in the state of Alaska. She is passionate about the arts as a catalyst for social change and community-building.
LIBBY RODERICK is an internationally recognized, award-winning singer/songwriter, recording artist and activist whose music has been featured on CNN, CBS, at the UN conference in Beijing, at the Ms. Foundation, World Wilderness Congress, by the Associated Press, and in many other forums. She has received a citation of excellence from the Alaska Legislature, and is a Rasmuson Individual Artist Fellow and an Alaska Woman of Achievement. Libby is also Director of the Difficult Dialogues Initiative, Associate Director of the faculty development center at the University of Alaska Anchorage and Vice Chair of the Difficult Dialogues National Resource Center. A longtime climate activist, she helped guide a partnership between the University of Alaska and the Municipality of Anchorage to create the new Climate Action Plan for the city of Anchorage.
SUSAN JOY SHARE is a visual artist, bookbinder and performer. Her passion for the book form, its structural variations, materials and movement potential blends with her interest in sculpture, painting, sewing and collage. Share has exhibited, taught and performed across the US and received grants from the Rasmuson Foundation, Alaska State Council on the Arts and New York State Council on the Arts. She worked in book conservation at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Historical Society, and The Brooklyn Museum. Collections include the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the Anchorage Museum and the Jaffe Center.
BROOKE WOOD serves as the Donor Relations Director for the Anchorage Museum as well as helping to lead the museum’s climate catalyst team. Dr. Wood received her Ph.D. from Texas Tech University in 2021 where she studied the efficacy of the arts in communicating climate change and motivating action. Her research focused on the intersection of climate change communication efforts and needs, the work of art for social change, and the role of the imagination in artistic experiences. Brooke is currently exploring the use of the arts to process emotions about climate change, find healing, and cultivate resilience.