Local foundation grant to support University’s ‘KEEPING WATCH’

The Blumenthal Foundation of Charlotte has awarded the University $22,500 for a collaborative initiative that will increase the profile of and engage the public in issues about the natural environment.

The UNC Charlotte Urban Institute in partnership with the College of Arts + Architecture will lead the initiative called KEEPING WATCH. The project will work with writers, artists, historians, scientists and environmental experts and multiple community partners during a three-year period to explore a different issue each year: plastic waste and recycling (KEEPING WATCH on PLASTICS, 2014), urban streams (KEEPING WATCH on CREEKS, 2015) and air quality and the value of trees (KEEPING WATCH on AIR, 2016). The bulk of each year’s events will take place around Earth Day in April.

The Blumenthal Foundation grant will be spread across all three years of the project.

Trash, urban streams and air quality are significant issues being addressed by many local government agencies and groups. KEEPING WATCH aims to create an alliance among the public and private entities in order to provide a stronger voice and broader platform for these efforts, using programming at multiple venues, involving multiple groups.

Contemporary arts, narrative nonfiction, online multimedia, public exhibitions, film screenings, panel discussions, neighborhood-level events in underserved areas and public lectures and forums are all part of the planned three-year project. PlanCharlotte, the online publication of the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute, will publish an ongoing series of articles examining these key, local environmental issues.

Programming for KEEPING WATCH will kick off Friday, March 28, with the opening of the exhibition “Sustain Me Baby” at the Projective Eye Gallery at UNC Charlotte Center City and “Is This Yours?” a collection of public art installations in spots around Charlotte.

Related programming throughout the spring includes a “Recycled Runway” fashion show April 12, plus film screenings and panel discussions on May 16 and June 13 at UNC Charlotte Center City. In addition, an installation at the McColl Center for Visual Art by resident artist Aurora Robson will examine plastic waste.

Mary Newsom, associate director of urban and regional affairs at the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute; Crista Cammaroto, director of galleries for the College of Arts + Architecture; and independent curator June Lambla, Lambla artWORKS, will direct the KEEPING WATCH initiative.

In addition to the Blumenthal Foundation funding, KEEPING WATCH is supported by the UNC Charlotte College of Arts + Architecture, the Arts & Science Council, Discovery Place, Foundation for the Carolinas, the Knight Foundation Fund and the North Carolina Arts Council.

Community partners in the initiative, to date, are the Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation, the City of Charlotte, Clean Air Carolina, Discovery Place, Keep Charlotte Beautiful, McColl Center for Visual Art, Mecklenburg County Solid Waste, North Carolina Dance Theatre, Slow Food and Sustain Charlotte.