Out in the Community
OSGF
While Oak Spring has been a bustle of on-site activity – from artist residencies, visiting researchers, farm harvests, and more – we are also doing a lot of work beyond the borders of our stone walls and split rail fences. Explore below to read about just a few of our recent public engagement opportunities.
American Conservation Film Festival
2019 Conservation Filmmaker Workshop participants. Photo by Jennifer Lee, courtesy of ACFF.
We were thrilled to be a sponsor of the 17th annual American Conservation Film Festival and the 8th annual Conservation Filmmaker Workshop, hosted earlier this month in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. The festival, aimed at showcasing a diverse array of conservation filmmakers and offering education on conservation-related issues, screened 39 feature-length and short films.
This year’s workshop welcomed 26 participants from various backgrounds, skill levels, and geographical locations. Participants spent two days together and received instruction from and networking with 15 conservation media experts from Smithsonian Channel, National Geographic, and more. Funds from OSGF directly supported these emerging filmmakers, through scholarships, lecturer honorariums, and pitch panel awards.
As a student filmmaker, I was in awe at my time here. Equally informative and intimate, I had real one on one time with professionals outside of the festival… I took so many notes to take with me going forward! The pitch panel was an incredible opportunity to get real professional feedback. The cash prize is a wonderful incentive but the knowledge gained is something you cannot put a price tag on. I hope one day I can give back to the festival as much as it gave me this weekend!
- Abigail Mellinger, student filmmaker, scholarship recipient, and 2nd place student pitch panel winner.
Public Lectures and Screenings
Closer to home, we have been very excited to host public events at the Hill School in Middleburg over the past two months. In September we hosted a free screening of Beatrix Farrand’s American Landscapes, as well as a Q&A with the film’s director, Stephen Ives.
In October, we welcomed Larry Weaner of Larry Weaner Landscape Associates, who delivered a fascinating talk on alternative methods for ecologically maintaining your gardens and landscapes.
Both of these free events were major successes, filling the theater nearly to capacity and helping us share landscaping ideas and histories with our local friends and neighbors. We plan to do more events like this in the future, so stay tuned!
#CropsInColor
The Crop Trust’s Luis Salazar photographs beans growing at Oak Spring’s BCCF.
In September, OSGF became a sponsor of The Crop Trust’s #CropsInColor initiative, along with the project’s new official media partner, Food Tank.
#CropsInColor began in Latin America in 2015 as a way to tell and share stories of agricultural biodiversity and food cultures in action.
As a direct outcome of this new partnership, the latest #CropsInColor campaign came to Appalachia – the most biodiverse foodshed in the United States, which is also rich in cultural and culinary diversity – and kicked of at our very own Bio-cultural Conservation Farm (BCCF).
Our BCCF staff had the opportunity to join the Crop Trust across different parts of Appalachia, connecting with and learning from some of the region’s most knowledgable farmers, growers, seed savers, and more.