Tidriks Distance Learning Calendar
June 2023
Saturday & Sunday June 3-4, 2023
Full course from $15
Registration Deadline: May 30, 2023
Special Topic: Climate Intelligence & Action for Artists
Climate change ― climate disruption ― is now a bona fide civilizational emergency. Yet, to understand climate change, it must be seen as part of a suite of interconnected ecological and social crises, arising from the same pathology: us. Billions of creatures and millions of species may soon vanish; billions of people live in critical deprivation; and systems of food, energy, and economy will soon be going away, collapsing under the weight of a civilizational metabolism that requires nearly two planet’s worth of resources to sustain itself. The next ten years are critical to turn things around.
A different future could be ours: a sustainable, just, and vibrant space upon this island planet defined by a human civilization that thrives within the ecological means of the planet, and without the subjugation of its living creatures. And we have everything technological we need to realize an alternate reality. Yet, scientists, for all of their hard work, have not been able to sufficiently move the needle in terms of general cultural acceptance. There are stories to be told that would connect to science in a way that impels response, and we are in desperate need of the storytellers.
These storytellers are the artists. Protests songs since the beginning of civilization have galvanized entire political movements. Novels such as Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin and Upton Sinclair's The Jungle helped abolish slavery and address worker abuse. Vibrant and fantastical murals capture a community's spirit for racial justice. Artists who witness the events of their time can not only document them through word, music, and paint, but do so in ways that invite empathy and action. And artists can employ their hard-won skillsets and overactive imaginations to message a future that is just and green.
To this end, this course specifically for artists is a weekend-long introduction to a whole-systems framework of planetary boundaries and social foundations. With some reading and viewing of documentaries suggested beforehand, connections will be laid bare by renowned scholar/communicator of climate science (and music lover) Rob Davies so that the climate-aware artist can begin to inform themself and stir their creative psyche for stories to convey through their chosen medium. As part of the Academy’s Climate Commitment, through the marriage of scientific knowledge and artistic imagination, everyone will be given the tools to begin to see where their own special charisma as artists fits in the urgent race for our existence, no matter their talents, interests, or means.
The Happy Hour will feature Rachel Epperly, Seare Farhat, Christine Hedden, Aakash Mittal, Hitomi Oba, and Andrew Rodriguez from Composing Earth Cohort III as guest speakers.
Two classes + Happy Hour (three meetings)
Saturday, June 3 (Masterclass): 9am-11am PT/12-2pm ET
Sunday, June 4 (Masterclass): 9am-11am PT/12-2pm ET
Sunday, June 4 (Happy Hour): 2pm PT/5pm ET (with guest speakers from Composing Earth Cohort III)
Registration closed.
