OUTREACH THROUGH SCIENCE AND ART: GRADUATE STUDENT-LED INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATIONS WITH COMMUNITY ARTISTS

Partnerships between scientists and artists have the potential to provide engaging science education to the general public while broadening the outlook and communication skills of artists and scientists alike. Artists working in a variety of media are inspired by topics and issues in Earth and environmental sciences. These artists share scientists’ goal of broadly sharing scientific information while also exploring how humans interact with science’s evolving understanding of the natural world.

Outreach through Science and Art (OSA) is a University of Minnesota student group dedicated to examining the links between science and art and sharing these connections with the general public. OSA recognizes the role of art as a mode of communication and seeks to support artists with scientific insight, context, and background while providing scientists with a space to explore creative methods of communication. Over its three years of existence, OSA has partnered with local performing arts venues to create public displays and interactive exhibits that provide scientific context for the artistic works and demonstrate how artistic media can be used to explore human interactions with scientific concepts and ways of understanding the world. OSA also connects scientists and researchers with local artists, promoting the exchange of expertise. These works help initiate discussions around science topics, encourage curiosity, and establish human connections with the process of science and its intersection with daily life. We present several OSA projects, including science-based exhibits designed to augment professional dance productions and conversations with emerging artists in the Twin Cities area.