Artful Activism: What Musicians Can Learn from Environmental Filmmakers

A few weeks ago, Madison was lucky to witness the Tales From Planet Earth. It's hard to described what exactly TFPE was, except that one could call it a hybrid film festival/call-to-action for anyone concerned about the environment, society, and politics. Yeah, I guess that pretty much sums it up...

So, anyways, what I found most amazing about it was the vigor, the excitement, the passion that was present among all those participating (filmmakers, community coordinators, and audience). But more important than that - and I realized this in the midst of the opening night extravaganza featuring a talk by Guggenheim-winning social activist Majora Carter - was the why. That is, why everyone seemed to cared so much...after all, it was just a film festival calling out the problems of our complex society, right? Wrong.

What set it apart from a film festival, and what translated to over 4,600 people turning out for it, was the way it blended, nay synergized, the energy stirred up by films like Academy Nominated-The Cove (2009) and Trouble the Water (2008) into action. How did co-directors Judith Hefland and Gregg Mitton (of UW's Center for Culture, History, and Environment) do this? By coupling action with art.

These four themes provided a roadmap of issues explored by the various films presented on the roster:

•Landscapes of Labor
•Precious Resources
•Strange Weather
•In the Company of Animals

Each track featured cinema that interwove environmental activism with poverty, race relations, immigration, politics, globalization, and economics. This, of course, reflects the interconnected, complex, and complicated relationship all of these issues share. Next, by offering seven community events that matched the themes and their relational complexity (e.g., quasi-think tanks, Community Supported Agriculture fundraisers, and town-hall type interactive panel discussions), audience members were able to instantly channel their interest into action that, when brought home to each participant's local community, could have a lasting impact on Madison, to Wisconsin, to the whole country.

Now, imagine what could happen if we (as artists) could channel that same passion we have into community action. Even if we could tap into 25, 50, 100 people in our community to get together and (instead of just sitting there listening to us sweat-it-out on stage) work collaboratively, it would become something more than just a concert. That way, we could all make a huge difference (in a localized sense) towards promoting a better/stronger/healthier __________(and yes, here feel free to fill-in-the-blank on the issue of your choice). Couple that with the connectivity Twitter, Facebook, and the iPhone offers...and we're talking something big!

Where do we start? That's the question, isn't it! Well, all I can think of as a starting point is Bill Ivey's notion of cultivating an "expressive life." He proposes that just as so many in society had equated tangible (financial) wealth as a sole measure of success for much of the 20th century, we must now look towards the art around us (and our ability to synthesize it into our lives) as a new addition to that rubric. I think this goes two-ways. In other words, artists need not only search for meaning in art, but a meaning through art. As he writes in the introduction to his must-read book Arts, Inc.: How Greed and Neglect have Destroyed Our Cultural Rights (2008), "...by failing to link our expressive life to America's public purpose, we have placed our nation's heart and soul at risk" (p. xviii).

Well said, Mr. Ivey, and let's be the first to take up the cause and turn our artistic abilities into activism.

So, what do you want to do?
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To learn more about Tales From Planet Earth, check out: http://www.nelson.wisc.edu/tales/speakers.html