Despite the confinement and anxieties surrounding this past year, 149 students age 8 to 25 managed to make and submit films to the One Earth Young Filmmakers Contest. Of those, 10 will receive top prizes at 3 p.m. Saturday, March 13, in the Awards Celebration, while 15 Honorable Mention films will be screened during the Earth Day Festival in April.
For the past 9 years, the One Earth Film Festival has filled up to 600 volunteer slots for everything from registration table greeters to clean up crews. This year. . . well. . . it’s going to be a little different. Due to COVID restrictions on large gatherings, we’re going virtual and national for our 10th anniversary season March 5-14.
Instead of a brew and view at Great Central Brewery or an after-service film at St. Giles Church, we’re bringing click-to-watch parties to sofas across the country.
We’re getting a new look and a new name! GCC Midwest Inc is now One Earth Collective. Our 501(c)(3) organization will retain the same board of directors and has a new logo and new digital home at www.oneearthcollective.org.
One Earth Collective has three program areas: One Earth Film Festival, which celebrates its 10th anniversary season in 2021; One Earth Youth Voices, which focuses on programs for youth ages 8-25; and One Earth Local/Green Community Connections, which focuses on local sustainability programs in Oak Park and River Forest, Illinois.
The Green Community Connections/One Earth Board welcomed three new members at its November board meeting. They will join the other four sitting directors. We are grateful and excited to have them join the board. Their unique talents, expertise and perspectives will help us further our mission to support the growth of environmental awareness and inspire the adoption of solution-oriented actions through inclusive educational events and programs.
The art show “Third Coast Disrupted: Artists + Scientists on Climate” was scheduled to close on Friday, Oct. 30, but will reopen Monday, Jan. 11, and continue through Friday, Feb. 19, at Columbia College Chicago’s Glass Curtain Gallery, 1104 S. Wabash.
After seeing the show recently, one of its artworks continues to haunt me.
