arts & environment

Dr. Linda Booth Sweeney is a systems educator, author and advocate for healthier human systems. She is internationally recognized for her efforts to make systems thinking accessible to diverse audiences, including students, educators, policymakers, and business leaders. She has made significant contributions to promoting the use of metaphors like the bathtub model to enhance public comprehension of critical issues such as climate change.

The First Parish in Concord social action community and Concord Public Schools are pleased to host Bill McKibben to speak in-person on Climate Change, Migration and Racism. For over 30 years, McKibben (website) has been at the forefront of climate activism, having founded the organizations 350.org and ThirdAct.org, and with numerous books beginning with The End of Nature (1989) to his most recent The Flag, the Cross and the S

2023 Earth Month Exhibition

April 5 – 23, 2023

The Umbrella Arts Center Main Gallery

Reflections: Listening to Nature 

When a rainy day deterred plans for an outdoor Full Moon Lantern Celebration at The Old Manse on Wednesday, December 7, The Umbrella’s Arts & Environment Department brought the outside in. 

As the event transitioned from a night under the light of the full moon, complete with telescopes, a bonfire, and a silent, meditative walk through the meadows at The Old Manse, The Umbrella staff and members of the Steering Committee rallied to ensure that this indoor event would be just as magical for the participants.  

As part of a comprehensive strategic planning process, The Umbrella Arts & Environment program will invite the community to participate in an open, interactive public listening session to provide input on and ideas for future expanded programming initiatives at the intersection of the arts and environmental issues.

On Tuesday July 12, the publishers of Zeke Magazine and The Umbrella Arts & Environment Program hosted a virtual discussion with three world-class documentary photographers featured in the current gallery exhibition, Sustainable Solutions: Documentary Photographers Explore the Climate Crisis, on extended view through August 15.

Last week’s decision by the Supreme Court makes meaningful climate change mitigation at the federal level more difficult, at least in the immediate future. The ruling strictly limits the ways in which the Clean Air Act, the nation’s main air pollution rule, can be used to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.

Visual Arts and Environment Programs Collaborate with Social Documentary Network for Powerful Global Storytelling

The Umbrella Arts & Environment and The Umbrella Visual Arts programs, in partnership with the Concord, MA-based Social Documentary Network/ZEKE Magazine, present an exciting new exhibition (July 5–31, 2022) of world-class documentary photography emphasizing long-term sustainable solutions to the climate crisis.

Thanks to Minuteman Media Network for its new program highlighting this season’s Go Out Doors - Neighbors installation at Bradford Mill in West Concord, in collaboration with Artscape. The new segment shares the background of the multiyear Go Out Doors project and interviews several of the participating artists at Bradford Mill.

Artists Respond to Famed Park Sites, Connecting Park to The Umbrella's Expanding "Go Out Doors" Regional Project

An exciting new public art exhibition has been installed in the Minute Man National Historical Park this month, in collaboration with The Umbrella Arts Center.