Sustainability and the Arts
The challenges posed by climate change, rising pollution levels, and the destruction of vital wildlife habitats threaten the foundations which sustain us all. Considering these challenges facing communities worldwide, the selected theme QAIC has chosen for this year is sustainability.
The concept of sustainability is touched upon in all spectrums of our world, from politics to modern industry to even the arts and culture. While ensuring a path to a sustainable world will safeguard our collective future, we ask, how do sustainability and environmental stewardship influence the arts and the way we approach creative expression?
Connecting creatives and artist empowerment are central tenets of QAIC’s philosophy. In that vein, every year, QAIC selects several promising artists to receive its IMPART Artist Grant, which will “incubate” and support the artists for their artistic venture in the year to come. This year, IMPART Artist Grants focuses on “Sustainability & the Arts.”
As part of our chosen theme and in partnership with ConocoPhillips, this year’s FOCI photography contest will focus on the importance of water in our daily lives as humanity faces ever greater water scarcity. The United Nations estimates that half the world’s population could live in areas facing water scarcity by as early as 2025. To garner more attention to this issue, we encourage submitted photographs to take creative liberties with this year’s theme to capture water’s beauty, power, and fragility. The selected photos will be featured on QAIC’s social media and publicly displayed at QAIC for World Water Week from August 23, 2022, until September 1, 2022.
In addition to this year’s sustainability theme, we partnered with a local urban farm, Common Good City Farm; as a symbol of our friendship, we adopted a fig tree that will grow year-round. The fig tree symbolizes peace, prosperity, and wealth, with roots reaching deep into the ground and fruits and flowers that nourish and heal. We also contributed to helping their LEAF (Learning for the Environment, Agriculture and Food) youth program, which aims to teach kids basic gardening skills, learn about healthy eating habits, and have the opportunity to create and take home healthy snacks and recipes. You can read more about Common Good City Farm here.
