Multimedia Performance Caps Community Climate Symposium

Multimedia Performance Caps Community Climate Symposium

The task of helping Maine communities tackle climate challenges was front and center on April 30, 2026, as a campus symposium and a concert were both dedicated to the issue.

The day began with the symposium, as faculty and students from Bowdoin and elsewhere met with community groups. From flood resilience to food access, from the use of sustainable building materials to nature-based strategies, a host of challenges were up for discussion.

The event was called Collaborating Towards Climate Solutions: Connecting Academic Institutions and Community Partners, and for senior Chloë Sheahan it was a chance to share important lessons about how to balance the demands of undergraduate life with those of a working researcher.

"It's all about creating long-term partnerships with community organizations," she said, something the environmental studies (ES) and government major knows about from firsthand experience.

Sheahan, who is heading to Germany as a Fulbright fellow after graduation to research energy security, spoke on one of the panels. She described her experience building and conducting a cross-institutional research project studying the resilience of rural communities, working alongside faculty from a number of institutions. "One of the professors I worked with was on the panel with me, so we shared our experiences."

The daylong symposium was also an occasion to honor Senior Lecturer in Environmental Studies Eileen Johnson, who is soon to retire after twenty-four years at the College. "It has been a wonderful way to wrap up my time here at Bowdoin," said Johnson, who also played a key part in putting the event together. "What was so exciting is that we had seventy-five participants over the course of the day from across the state, half representing academic institutions including students, staff, and faculty and half representing community organizations or municipalities."

Presenters discussed best practices on a variety of topics, she added. These included how to take those first steps in forming academic-community partnerships and how to establish and sustain long term, cross-institutional collaborations. "Interweaving these presentations were breakout sessions for participants to talk with one another, enabling opportunities for future collaborations," explained Johnson. "By the end of the day, we had identified concrete next steps for a multitude of projects that emerged from the conversations during the day and that were informed by lessons from our presenters."

"The key message of my presentation," said Lauren Caffe '21, "is that these partnerships have so many short- and long-term benefits." Caffe is a long-range planner with the city of Auburn, Maine. "In the short term, communities can get assistance for projects they may not have full capacity for and academic institutions (faculty and students) can engage in research. Long-term, these partnerships help build trust between the different partners to potentially unlock even more meaningful work," she added.

Caffe, who, like Sheahan, majored in ES and government, credits her Bowdoin education with setting her up for a career in environmental work. "I was fortunate enough to be a part of various community-based academic partnerships during my time at Bowdoin," she explained. "These partnerships were instrumental in shaping my trajectory during my undergraduate and later years."

Julia Maine '16 is a project manager with FB Environmental Services, a Portland-based group that works on issues like watershed planning and ecological assessment. For her, the symposium was a chance to catch up with friends and colleagues and to scope out possibilities for future collaboration.

"Meeting [professor] Karen Wilson from USM was probably my favorite part of the whole day," enthused Maine, who majored in earth and oceanographic science. "That's because the work we do with FB Environmental overlaps with Wilson's research monitoring watersheds in Portland." Maine said Wilson expressed a willingness to share data on the project and is also interested in collaborating. "It would be so fun to work together. I guess that was kind of the point of the whole day!"

Another point of the day was to celebrate the contribution that Bowdoin's Eileen Johnson has made during her nearly two-and-a-half decades at the College. "What a wonderful, passionate, kind, and persistent person, to say the least," observed Caffe, reflecting the general mood in the room. "Her commitment to Maine's environment and her passion for partnerships and collaborations is so inspiring. I know her legacy will continue indefinitely," she added.

A Musical Conclusion
After the symposium, attendees were invited to an environmentally themed musical performance in Studzinski Recital Hall's Kanbar Auditorium. The concert featured the world premiere of a work created by the Halcyon String Quartet, a Maine-based collective that often integrates storytelling and multimedia aspects into its performances.

The group's latest project, called The Future is Here, also features singer/songwriter Alisa Amador. It is inspired by another Johnson in the Bowdoin community-Roux Distinguished Scholar Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, a marine biologist, climate activist, writer, and teacher. More specifically, the inspiration came from Johnson's latest book, What If We Get It Right? Visions of Climate Futures, a collection of essays and conversations tackling the climate issue from a number of angles.

"Her vision for what environmental advocacy looks like has inspired much of our recent work," says Halcyon's artistic director, Sophie Davis. "Johnson has a way of centering climate solutions in a conversation that is exciting and empowering and yet urgent and honest," she added.

The Future is Here is a multimedia work featuring audio excerpts of Johnson reading from her book. It also includes video animation and interviews with various Maine community members who are working on the ground to mitigate the climate crisis.

"It's thrilling for my work to have been an inspiration to the Halcyon Quartet," said Ayana Johnson. "The arts have an enormous role to play in creating the culture shifts we need in order to accelerate climate action."

The performance was hosted by the Environmental Studies Program and supported by the Bowdoin College Annie Talbot Cole Lectureship, Bowdoin Organic Garden, Bowdoin Outing Club, the Departments of Music, Earth and Oceanographic Science, and Government and Legal Studies, and the McKeen Center for the Common Good.