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In A Time of Change (ITOC)
Visit the ITOC website for even more.
Collaborators
Mary Beth Leigh
Professor
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Dr. Lissy Goralnik
Assistant professor in environmental studies and community engagement - Department of Community Sustainability
Michigan State University
John Smelter
Research Assistant Professor
University of Alaska Fairbanks
In a Time of Change (ITOC) is an incubator for advancing environmentally focused art-science integration in Alaska.
We facilitate creative collaboration across the arts, humanities, and sciences, and produce public exhibitions and events focused on social-ecological themes relevant to Alaska. The program is founded on the premise that integrating science with the arts can create an inclusive pathway to engagement, learning, and care about environmental change and impacted landscapes and communities.
Since 2007 ITOC has hosted 8 multi-year projects, each of which culminated in exhibits and/or performances. Several projects toured for multiple years in Alaska, nationally, and internationally.
ITOC is directed by Mary Beth Leigh (University of Alaska Fairbanks). Lissy Goralnik (Michigan State University) leads research and evaluation of the program, and John Smelter serves as curator and coordinator.
ITOC research and evaluation explores the dynamics of interdisciplinary relationship building and integration and the impacts of interdisciplinary outcomes for broad audiences. In this work we explore questions like:
- What is the role of place in art-science practice, and how does place experience impact artists’ understanding of place-based science, perception of the scientific process, and creative process?
- What conditions best facilitate collaborative capacity building for artists, scientists, and teams?
- In what ways do art-science events impact audience engagement and relationships to the boreal forest, science, and place relationships?
Our findings with artist and scientist participants demonstrate the important role of in-person relationship-building for collaborative capacity building and the value of play and exploration for creative growth. In our work with public audiences, we have documented remarkable impacts related to perceived knowledge gains, heightened curiosity and wonder related to the natural world, and deepened relationships with place as a result of art-science exhibits.
- Leigh, Mary Beth, Susan Campbell, Daryl Farmer, Margo Klass, Carolyn Kremers, Jennifer Moss, and Ree Nancarrow (Eds.). Boreal Forest Stories: Creative Collaborations in the Environmental Arts, Humanities, and Sciences in Alaska. University of Alaska Press. In press.
- Why Integrate Art and Science? In Leigh, MB et al. Boreal Forest Stories: Creative Collaborations in the Environmental Arts, Humanities, and Sciences in Alaska. University of Alaska Press. In press.
- In a Time of Change: A Nested Ecosystem of Environmental Arts, Humanities, and Science Collaboration
- Arts and Humanities Inquiry in the LTER: Empathy, Relationships, and Interdisciplinary Collaborations
- Integration of the arts and humanities with environmental science in the LTER network
- Arts and Humanities Efforts in the US LTER Network: Understanding Perceived Values and Challenges
- Coming soon!
Major support for Bonanza Creek LTER’s ITOC comes from the National Science Foundation (DEB-2224776, DEB-1636476, OIA-1757348) and the USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station (RJVA-PNW-20-JV-11261932-018) through the Bonanza Creek Long-Term Ecological Research Program. Additional ITOC activities are supported by the National Science Foundation under award #OIA-2344553 and by the State of Alaska through Alaska EPSCoR. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in the material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. Additional support for ITOC’s touring exhibitions is provided by the Rasmuson Foundation through the Harper Arts Touring Fund, administered by the Alaska State Council on the Arts, and by anonymous donors, ITOC’s partner venues, and volunteers.
Awards supporting ITOC activities
- Advancing Public Engagement Across LTERs (APEAL) Seed Grant to Bonanza Creek LTER. NSF via Hubbard Brook Research Foundation: Leigh, MB and A Goralnik
- In a Time of Change: Boreal Forest Stories. Alaska State Council on the Arts - Harper Arts Touring Award : MB Leigh
- IoC: Interface of Change: Building collaborations to assess harvested and farmed marine species prioritized by Gulf of Alaska communities facing environmental shifts. National Science Foundation – EPSCoR program: Konar, B. (PI), et al.
- Collaborative Proposal: Interacting effects of increasing Wildfire severity and Abrupt permafrost Thaw on the Carbon balance of High-latitude ecosystems (WATCH). National Science Foundation OPP-ARCSS: X Walker (NAU PI) et al., Leigh, MB (UAF PI), and L Goralnik (MSU PI)
- LTER: Changing Disturbances, Ecological Legacies, and the Future of the Alaskan Boreal Forest (Bonanza Creek LTER renewal). National Science Foundation: Mack, M (PI), et al.
- ITOC: Microbial Worlds tour to Pratt Museum in Homer AK. Funded by Alaska Branch of the American Society for Microbiology: Leigh (PI)
- In a Time of Change: Microbial Worlds exhibit tour to Oregon State University. Funded by Oregon State University: Leigh (PI)
- In a Time of Change: Microbial Worlds tour to University of Oklahoma, Funded by University of Oklahoma College of Fine Arts: Leigh (PI)
- LTER: Cross-scale controls over the response of the Alaskan boreal forest to changing disturbance regimes, National Science Foundation: Ruess, Roger / Mack, Michelle (PI); T. Hollingsworth, J. Jones, M. Mack, and D. McGuire (CoPIs); T. Brinkman, P. Doak, E. Euskirchen, H. Genet, S. Goetz, T. Harms, F. Hu, J. Johnstone, K. Kielland, G. Kofinas, M.B. Leigh, C. Mulder, V. Romanovsky, T.S. Rupp, T. Shuur, E. Sparrow, D.L. Taylor, M. Turetsky, D. Verbyla, and D. Wagner (CoIs)
