Our newest installation in 100 Acres: The Virginia B. Fairbanks art and Nature Park, Mary Miss’ FLOW: Can You See the River?, is all about community engagement. What better way to talk about community efforts than by asking one of our partners to highlight some of the ways that they will be reaching out to people. The EcoLab at Marian University is just one of many partnerships brought about by Miss’ work and we are happy to have them share some opportunities that they will host over the next couple of days.

The Marian University Ecolab is 55 acres of wetlands, forest and prairie in the heart of Indianapolis. Besides being an incredibly diverse and beautiful area, the EcoLab is committed to environmental education through interaction with the environment.  We were very excited when Mary Miss approached us with an art-in-nature collaboration and knew it was a creative fit to our mission.  An art exhibition like this is another ingenious way to help connect the community to nature.  During FLOW week we are offering a number of FREE events, all of which will engage the visitor in his/her surroundings and help them see how “all property is riverfront property.”

FLOW-focused field trips: The EcoLab will be offering free FLOW-focused programs to school groups throughout festival week and will continue to offer similar programming through the duration of the installation. These programs will include a short presentation on the importance of the White River in our daily lives, a nature hike highlighting the several installation points on the EcoLab grounds, and a hands-on restoration project that will benefit our watershed.  For more information about how to schedule a FLOW program for your class during the week of the festival or anytime following, please contact Shannon Unger, Environmental Education Coordinator, at 317-524-7700 or sbigham-unger@marian.edu.

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Filed under: Art and Nature Park, Local, Public Programs

What’s working for the @NatHistoryWhale that makes me want to visit the American Museum of Natural History?

I have the distinct pleasure of being in Daniel‘s class this fall, Museums and Technology.  While it is surprising for my classmates that I would take a class about something I do already, I am excited for the opportunity to explore more thoroughly the meaning of technology for the museum experience and how the visitor is affected by these changes. I see continual parallels between issues encountered with visitors in physical space and issues we are encountering all over again in our digital spaces. I’ve talked about Twitter before and I have been thinking about how it is harnessed by museums and where we are going wrong. Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: Marketing, Musings, New Media, Technology