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The Nest Completed

Even though the pandemic put a pause on the Waller Creek project we were still able to bring some of our plans to fruition a year later. This involved a much different process than we had in store last year including online communication, less in-person meetings, and more work on your own. However, despite these challenges our project has been a huge success. 

A year ago I described our project and how the pandemic had put an indefinite pause on it. Little did I know that we would get another chance to engage the city of Austin with our cause. Many changes were made this time around to adapt to pandemic life. One such change was that we cancelled our plans for yoga sessions and a mental wellness space; we also cancelled our plans for our Earth Day march. These would have been hard to do since people would be so close to each other and safety and health was our number one priority. We as a group decided to also focus on sustainability more so than mental wellness this time because we wanted to show people how they can be sustainable on their own.

Another change we made were less in-person meetings and more online communication. This was a bit of a hurdle because we had to find new times and dates to meet with our teams. There would also be times when there would be problems and it would be hard to communicate what was going on virtually. However, despite this we still were able to plan out our project and achieve our goal.With in-person meetings we would make sure everyone took a Covid-19 PCT test before coming to class. We wanted to make sure to protect our fellow students and professors by staying safe and healthy.

For my part in the project this time I worked mostly on editing audio from the past versions of the project. I edited the creek monster sounds and songs we composed in the past to be used in social media posts and for the nest itself. For the creek monster sounds this was done by making short arrangements of the sounds to be played. The music and sound effects were then made into various clips of five, fifteen, thirty second and minute long clips. These were then sent to the social media team to add to videos and gifs. I also came in to help build some eyes for our nest, and it was very nice to have some hands on experience and meet face to face with members of our team!

This may not have been what we originally planned for our project, but we still did the best we could to make it amazing given the circumstances. We still had a lot of fun planning and building our nest, and I gained so much knowledge on how to edit audio. We all worked well as a virtual team and all of our hard work paid off. I cannot wait to see the impact our project has had on Austin!

 

 

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Waller Creek: The End For Me But Not For You

This semester was an interesting one. Never would I have imagined that a nationwide pandemic would force us to stay home, effectively stopping the Waller Creek Earth Day Project in its tracks. All the work that we had done as a class just negated, meaningless. I’m graduating, so I won’t even be able to see the end of the project. So, what’s the point now? What can I do?

It’s easy to get caught up in this kind of negative thinking, so let’s not do that. Let’s instead focus on the good that we have done, and are continuing to do despite our situations. Firstly, we are still accomplishing our goal of raising awareness for Waller Creek. Every student in this class has been working hard to expand our project to social medias since we can’t physically finish it.

A social media flier created by Laura Godinez to help continue our Earth Day Project

We’ve been reaching out to people, to get their voices heard, to channel the voice of Waller Creek through them.

Second, we’ve been writing about everything we did earlier this semester in detail. Just because it didn’t happen this year, doesn’t mean it won’t happen ever. I actually have a feeling that by next year, when we have a better grip on this virus, Waller Creek will still be calling, and it will be louder than ever. And even though I won’t personally be there to listen to its call, others will. So that’s why we’ve written down everything we’ve done, from all the little details that seem trivial to the bigger ones that seem so daunting, so that the people who pick up this project will be able to do all that we did, and more. I might not be there physically to help, but I will be there spiritually. So, this might be the end of my journey with Waller Creek, but it’s far from the end for Waller Creek. As long as it calls, people will listen.

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Earth Day Course Review

The story for this project begins with Karen Maness and Texas Performing Arts being presented with an opportunity to participate in the Waterloo Greenway 2019 Creek Show by creating a site specific art installation. 

This opportunity led to the formation of a course in the Fall which designed and realized a Creek Monster Habitat over the course of the semester which was experienced by 60,000 people during the Creek Show. (That’s the photo Below.) The project is still ongoing and we’ve been working this semester to bring an iteration of the installation to UT campus for a celebration of Earth Day 50. 

Our focus through all of this has been on engaging the public in natural urban spaces, revealing aspects of our riparian habitats and that often go unnoticed, and all while taking into account sustainable design and fabrication methodologies. 

I’d like to mention here that this work is a reality because of a collaboration with the Sustainability Office and support through the Green Fund. an outdoor sculpture is lit up at nighttime

The first and most central goal we have is to raise awareness of the environment and our responsibility to it. As storytellers our approach has been to empathize with the creek ecosystem and use the installation as a space to bring people into connection with the spirit of the creek. We want to create caring connections across our community; for ecosystems and critters, for ourselves and our mental wellbeing; all the while connecting with the researchers and organizations on campus that are working for a sustainable present. We believe art is a powerful means to bring compelling new perspectives to light that can bring about healthy change and community action.

Community engagement is at the heart of this project and over the course of the last year we have had the opportunity to collaborate with a diverse set of people and organizations. 

We’ve gotten to learn about and share work being done by researchers and student groups across campus and even beyond UT. 

The physical creation of installation has necessitated and allowed for guest artists and experts to come and engage with the courses to help realize the vision. Creating new connections and opportunities for students. 

All aspects of the work have been dreamed up and created by students from a diverse set of departments and colleges.

I’d like to share with you a little of what we had planned for our Earth Day installation, which would be up and glowing on 24th and San Jacinto along Waller Creek right now. We have three main areas of engagement we are working with.

Our installation team has been working to create physical manifestations through lighting and sculpture in order to express the story of the creek and  to generate curiosity from passing pedestrians.

The social media team is working to spread the word by gathering stories from our local heroes, making infographics, and by creating fun filters for social media platforms. 

The mental wellness team has been in charge of putting together activities that engage the community in positive practices.

Like all events… we’ve had to put a pause on our physical encounters for the time being, but we plan on bringing the installation back next Year! Luckily, social media has been a part of our plan from the beginning so we are now focusing on sharing the stories of sustainability and growth we’ve gathered from students and local heros. We’d love your help and voices in amplifying the Call of Waller Creek. If you are interested in participating the sustainability office, on their website, has shared the call we are putting out to gather personal stories and testimonies of sustainability being done throughout our community.  

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