(Photo | Courtesy Erin Moore)
Speakers Offer Perspectives from the Arts, Humanities & Environmental Sciences; Share Their Knowledge & Experiences on Connecting History, Living Culture & Ecology
Pine Meadow Ranch Center for Arts and Agriculture (PMRCAA), a working ranch in Sisters focused on arts, agricultural and ecological projects, and The Roundhouse Foundation, which supports innovative programs in Oregon’s rural communities, will host an upcoming lecture series with the theme of Coexistence and Regeneration. This theme is also the focus of this year’s artist in residency program at the Ranch, and seeks to offer a more expansive perspective that recognizes the power of diverse ways of knowing and being. Lecturers in the upcoming series offer perspectives from across the arts, humanities and environmental sciences to share their knowledge and experiences on connecting history, living culture and ecology.
“Our selected speakers are a great fit for our program theme this year, helping to provide fresh perspectives and new connections,” Ana Varas, Arts Projects coordinator for PMRCAA said. “Here at the Ranch, we concern ourselves with how to instill ethical relations of production and explore the role artists, culture bearers, scientists, scholars and researchers play in nourishing radical imagination and facilitating transformative change. The lecture series will help bring these concepts to life over the next few months.”
Coexistence and Regeneration: Connecting history, living culture and ecology
Date: April 28, 2022
Time: 6-8pm
Location: Sisters School District Administration Building, 525 E Cascade Ave., Sisters
Speakers:
- Rebecca Dobkins, Professor of Anthropology and American Ethnic Studies, Willamette University, and Curator of Indigenous Art, Hallie Ford Museum of Art
- Erin Moore, AIA, Professor, Department of Architecture and Environmental Studies Program, University of Oregon
- Colin Fogarty, Executive Director, Confluence
Coexistence and Regeneration: Learning from rural voices
Date: July 28, 2022
Time: 6-8pm
Location: Sisters Art Works Building, 204 W Adams Ave., Sisters
Speakers:
- Ashley Ahearn, Independent science/environment audio journalist, producer/creator of Grouse podcast and Women’s Work
- Sally Linville, Founder and Creative Director of The City Girl Farm and Chicken Foot Stools
Coexistence and Regeneration: Rethinking Fire
Date: September 29, 2022
Time: 6-8pm
Location: TBD
Speakers:
- Ken Van Rees, Professor Forest Soil, University of Saskatchewan and artist
- Marko Bey and Belinda Brown, Executive Director & Tribal Partnership Director of Lomakatsi Restoration Project
- Nils Christoffersen, Executive Director of Wallowa Resources
Through its programming and activities, PMRCAA works with artists, educators, researchers and Tribal members to support the long-term resilience of the local ecosystem. As stewards of the land, the organization relies on a deep understanding of the local ecology and the application of time-tested techniques to conserve natural resources and maintain the fertile conditions in which life can flourish. Understanding how different entities within the ecosystem interact and coexist at PMRCAA has allowed the organization to focus on preserving the ranching tradition and maintaining agricultural land. The hope is to restore PMRCAA’s soil by understanding the diverse web of relationships responsible for maintaining its fertility.
Lecture series information can be found here: roundhousefoundation.org/pine-meadow-ranch/events.
About Pine Meadow Ranch Center for Arts and Agriculture
Pine Meadow Ranch Center for Arts and Agriculture (PMRCAA) is located on the historic Pine Meadow Ranch, a 260-acre working ranch in Sisters, Oregon at the base of the Cascade Mountains. The vision of PMRCAA is to connect sustainable agriculture, conservation arts and sciences with traditional and contemporary crafts and skills integral to ranching life. Located in the traditional territory of the Wasco, Warm Springs and Paiute peoples, work at the ranch is grounded in a strong sense of place and community, and the diversity and multiple perspectives of the people that call our region home are deeply valued. Today, Pine Meadow Ranch operates as a program of the Sisters-based Roundhouse Foundation, and it continues to operate as a working ranch.
About The Roundhouse Foundation
The Roundhouse Foundation is a private, family foundation, based in Sisters, Oregon since 2002. The Foundation believes that solutions to the unique challenges of Oregon’s rural communities can be found through creative thinking and problem-solving, innovation and collaboration. We partner with community organizations to develop, implement and sustain creative, place-based approaches and programs that strengthen and celebrate rural Oregon.
In addition to providing grant services to rural communities and tribal regions throughout Oregon, The Roundhouse Foundation operates Pine Meadow Ranch Center for Arts and Agriculture in Sisters.
