Longmeadow Climate Change Perspectives: From Despair to Action, a Digital Storytelling Initiative
Climate Change Perspectives is a community-wide digital storytelling initiative and exhibit developed by Arts Integration Studio as part of the public engagement portion of the Town’s climate-resilient Long Range Plan (LRP) update. Like the rest of the LRP update, this intergenerational community arts education program was funded by the FY23 Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Action Grant awarded to the Town from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.
Approximately fifty people were engaged in Climate Change Perspectives, as interviewers or interviewees. Everyone was closely associated with the Town of Longmeadow, either as residents, students, or people employed in or by the town.
Arts Integration Studio, a consulting firm in Holyoke, utilizes creativity and the principles of arts integration to address critical issues in education and community health and well being.
Thanks to our supporting project partners: Bay Path University, Deza Studios, Longmeadow Community Television, and Mass Audubon. Special thanks to our funders, the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy & Environmental Affairs' MVP Action Grant Program.
Climate Perspectives Film & Digital Exhibition
On Friday, June 9, 2023, the Town and partners Arts Integration Studio and Bay Path University hosted a creative event and exhibit, Longmeadow Climate Change Perspectives. Katherine Antos, Massachusetts EEA Undersecretary of Decarbonization & Resilience, was they keynote speaker, with a robust program filled out by speaking engagements with State Representative Brian Ashe, State Senator Jake Oliveira, and the Longmeadow Planning Board Chair and Long Range Plan Steering Committee Chair Cheryl Thibodeau. The highlight of the event was the premiere of the short documentary film "Longmeadow Climate Change Perspectives," followed by round-table style "community conversations" facilitated by Mass Audubon.
