songbird

WELCOME TO THE ARCHIVED SONGBIRD WEBSITE

1998-2002

One of the important pleasures, for me, was meeting Nelson Gray and Beth Carruthers of the Songbird Project in British Columbia. It was very clear to all present that they are doing exemplary work...
You are lucky to have these two creative artists, and their colleagues, working on behalf of human-earth relations in Western Canada.
Dr. David Abram, cultural ecologist and author of "The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-than-Human World"

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Arts & Ecology In Practice

SongBird was a project and later an organisation that developed and implemented strategic outreach initiatives and alliances to engage people in learning about and caring for their local environments. Our approach was to link the arts, sciences and communities in innovative ways that reach across age, cultural and lifestyle demographics. Because we believe that the human/ecosystem relationship is central to our being in the world, and that our emotional connection is one that will ultimately change human behaviours, a primary focus for the project was developing and producing celebratory and non-confrontational strategies that capture the imagination and engage the heart and mind.

We chose songbirds, whose populations are in decline world wide, to represent this work. Beyond being indicator species for ecosystem stability, songbirds were a metaphor, literally the canary in the coal mine, and present in the stories of almost every human culture.

SongBird produced a number of exciting partnerships and initiatives and won local, national and international support for its pioneering work in hybrid alliances and community initiatives.

Until the end of 2000, SongBird was a long–term project co-managed by Savage Media and co-directed by their artistic director, Nelson Gray. In 2001, the name was changed from the SongBird project, to SongBird – Arts & Ecology in Practice. Founding and Creative Director Beth Carruthers remained as Creative and Executive Director of the new organisation until the autumn of 2002.

This website holds most of the information on SongBird's initiatives and partnerships over the years the project was active. Please explore and address any enquiries to Beth Carruthers.