EcoCultureLab began as a network of scholars and practitioners centered at the University of Vermont in collaboration with community members of Vermont’s largest urban area, metropolitan Burlington. Coordinated by Adrian Ivakhiv, Steven Rubenstein Professor of Environment and Natural Resources, with a steering committee of scholars, artists, and activists, EcoCultureLab organized a series of events and activities including the 2018 symposium and festival Feverish World: Arts and Sciences of Collective Survival, gallery exhibitions, book talks, and public forums. In this it was supported by the Steven and Beverly Rubenstein Charitable Foundation, the Gund Institute for Environment, and others.
Following a hiatus resulting in part from the Covid-19 pandemic, EcoCultureLab is being redeveloped as an international network, with a core hub at Simon Fraser University in metropolitan Vancouver, Canada, coordinated by the J. S. Woodsworth Chair in the Humanities. The network shares the goals of raising, and working toward answering, these questions:
What would it mean for culture to be sustainable and ecological, here in this place? (What is culture? What is sustainable? What is ecological? What is this place?) And what will it take to get there?
EcoCultureLab welcomes the participation of those who share its general vision. Information about affiliate groups will be shared on this web site. Please stay tuned.
If you would like to join the EcoCultureLab mailing list, please write to ecoculture@uvm.edu.