Woman speaking

Creative leaders from MN, ND and SD participate in Salzburg Global Seminar

March 7, 2016

Four creative leaders from our region traveled to Salzburg, Austria last month to participate in a Salzburg Global Seminar entitled Beyond Green – The Arts as a Catalyst for Sustainability. 

The five-day seminar was an opportunity for the participants, who were sponsored by the Bush Foundation and selected by seminar staff, to meet with more than 50 other leaders from around the world. The gathering allowed these leaders to exchange ideas about how the arts can raise awareness of the impacts of climate change and inspire people in different countries and across sectors to take action to combat it. 

The Bush Foundation-sponsored participants were Steve Dietz, president and artistic director of Minneapolis-based Northern Lights.mn; Seitu Jones, a St. Paul-based visual artist and advisor; Brandie Macdonald, a program manager with First Peoples Fund, in Rapid City, SD; and Prairie Rose Seminole, a prevention specialist with the Boys and Girls Club of the Three Affiliated Tribes, based in New Town, ND. 

Salzburg’s goals were for participants to collaborate and brainstorm recommendations for fostering broader public engagement as well as for spurring business leaders and policymakers to adopt more sustainable practices. 

The key themes from Beyond Green focused on:

  • Artists catalyzing change
  • Designs on beauty
  • Tipping points: Raising awareness, engaging the public and changing behavior
  • People and planet: Connecting stewardship, justice and prosperity
  • Sustainability and the city
  • Forging new alliances and partnerships for exponential change

Prairie Rose Seminole (Native Nation Rebuilder Cohort 5), touched on several of those themes during her presentation, entitled “We Are What We Eat.” In her fireside chat, she talked about the cultural significance of food within her tribe and she explained to the seminar participants that her community urgently needs to “reclaim our land where we can and make our voice heard.”

Read a summary of “We Are What We Eat” 

Learn more about the Salzburg Global Seminar  

View photos from the seminar.