Communicating Ecology Through Art: What Scientists Think

Abstract

Many environmental issues facing society demand considerable public investment to reverse. However, this investment will only arise if the general community is supportive, and community support is only likely if the issues are widely understood. Scientists often find it difficult to communicate with the general public. The role of the visual and performing arts is often overlooked in this regard, yet the arts have long communicated issues, influenced and educated people, and challenged dominant paradigms. To assess the response of professional ecologists to the role of the arts in communicating science, a series of constructed performances and exhibitions was integrated into the program of a national ecological conference over five days. At the conclusion of the conference, responses were sought from the assembled scientists and research students toward using the arts for expanding audiences to ecological science. Over half the delegates said that elements of the arts program provided a conducive atmosphere for receiving information, encouraged them to reflect on alternative ways to communicate science, and persuaded them that the arts have a role in helping people understand complex scientific concepts. A sizeable minority of delegates (24%) said they would consider incorporating the arts in their extension or outreach efforts. Incorporating music, theatre, and dance into a scientific conference can have many effects on participants and audiences. The arts can synthesize and convey complex scientific information, promote new ways of looking at issues, touch people's emotions, and create a celebratory atmosphere, as was evident in this case study. In like manner, the visual and performing arts should be harnessed to help extend the increasingly unpalatable and urgent messages of global climate change science to a lay audience worldwide

Creative convergence: exploring biocultural diversity through art

“…Visual art is a powerful communication tool (Curtis et al 2012). In many cases, the use of visualizations can reveal ideas that are difficult to comprehend through oral communication alone (Cornwall andJewkes 1995, Hunn 2006).…”

“…Art can also be an important tool for communicating research results to the general public (Curtis et al 2012). There is growing recognition for the responsibility of scientists to reach beyond their disciplines and share their results more broadly (Baron 2010, Smith et al 2013.…”

“…Visual art and design play a significant role in scientific communication, education, innovation, and public support for research (Curtis et al 2012). Likewise, new scientific technologies continue to provide artists with contemporary methods of expression (Rieland 2014).…”

Performing biospheric futures with younger generations: a case in the MAB Reserve of La Sepultura, Mexico

“…Visioning plays a crucial role in building the future and when merged with critical thinking, it has the potential to connect with people's motives and aspirations, and be conducive to informed purposive action (Tilbury andWortman 2004, Wayman 2009). In this respect, the arts have a promising potential in the development of visions about the future while offering intuitive, experiential, and less inhibited ways to explore and represent systems dynamics and people's positions in these dynamics from different perspectives (Curtis 2009, Curtis et al 2012, Wiek and Iwaniec 2014, Scheffer et al 2015. Furthermore, the arts can help strengthen emotional bonds between places and people, which lie at the base of personal motives for caring and acting (Inwood 2008, Kagan 2008, Selman et al, 2010.…”

Art and artistic processes bridge knowledge systems about social-ecological change: An empirical examination with Inuit artists from Nunavut, Canada

“…For example, the relationship between artists Ecology and Society 21(2): 21 http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol21/iss2/art21/ and the environment has been explored in an Australian case study examining how artists harvest and utilize different species (Koenig et al 2011). The capacity of art to communicate complex ecology has also been described (Curtis et al 2012, Vervoort et al 2014. Scholars have discussed the need to integrate aesthetics more rigorously into the process of scenario planning (Ramırez and Ravetz 2011), into governance (Armitage et al 2014), and in how knowledge bridging is approached (Elgin 2002, Rathwell et al 2015.…”