About

A viaduct is a kind of bridge. The Viaduct Arts newsletter brings together the various ways artists can help carry us up and over the climate crisis.

We need a new relationship with nature as the starting point for climate action - artists and musicians can help show the way forward. Ok, that future is looking less and less like The Jetsons and more like The Road. But chin up and chest out and all that. (And yes, we might also have to meet you at the barricades to defend democracy, but trying not to spread too thin here.)

Maybe we also need a new relationship with art, both as artists and consumers of art. What should art do? What should artists do? Many are concerned but not sure how to put that concern into their work. No artist wants to be preachy or, worse, make bad art.

Oh yeah, and a new relationship with the future. Past confidence in human progress now seems tenuous at best. Yet perceptions of where we are and where we're headed have often been shaped by art of the times. Viaduct is about creating community, energy, resilience, and solidarity no matter what the future brings.

Who is Viaduct aimed at? Artists, those who appreciate art, art educators and students, and anyone looking for a positive movement to latch onto in the climate crisis.

Is it free? For the moment.

Sounds good, but as a subscriber what sort of content should I expect? Generally the mix will include:

Weather Report

Short local dispatches from around the world. Like if the weatherperson was an artist, with personal images and micro-storytelling on the weather, environment, and life. Not simply pretty landscapes, or even direct climate commentaries, Weather Report reflects on our connection with the natural world in our everyday lives. A DIY, humanistic, citizen-artist vibe is valued more than slickness.

Many people still don't like talking about climate, but everyone likes talking about the weather. Maybe climate is abstract, someone else's problem somewhere else. Weather is climate that's happening to you.

What's it doing where you are? Want to be a Weather Report contributor from your corner of the world? We’re looking for photographers, artists, writers, designers, and creative people who might not call themselves any of those things. (Sorry I can't pay, at least at the moment. Not even myself. Just trying to build a cool thing that might help the common good.)

Weather Report is also on Instagram @viaductarts.

Artist Features

Art, photography, music, etc - from up-and-comers to established artists - that explores climate themes in inspiring, imaginative, forward-looking ways. With a focus on the creative process as much as the final product. Curated to illustrate cool approaches, personal vision, observations, and ideas that might help carry us forward in the Anthropocene.

Future-Music

Musicians who are not just conveying climate themes but taking us forward with new ideas and energy in uncertain times. What is the balance between sending a direct message and something more subtle? What is the music that makes us believe in the future?

Climate-art residencies

Boston-based artist and educator Stephan Jacobs dives into the vast world of artist residencies that have a focus on sustainability and climate studies.

If you know of a good potential addition to this list, please reach out to Stephan at stephanwjacobs@gmail.com.

And more

Over time we are also looking at building out features like an affordable health care model for artists, climate-arts curriculum, and possible funding for climate-related projects.

We are in precarious times. Maybe art can help save us.

ORIGIN STORY

Viaduct Arts started as a house salon in Takoma Park MD for local music and visual art with topical relevance - themes like Mars, fracking, climate, social justice and others.

When COVID shut that down, we moved things outside to the driveway concert series Roadside Attractions for the community. For a time, it was perhaps the only live music 'venue' in the DC area. City funding paid honorariums to otherwise out-of-work artists. With audiences socially distanced across the street, RA had incredible sets by the likes of Yasmin Williams, who has since been featured in Rolling Stone and NY Times.

Our ViaArt collaboration with the Takoma Artery artist collective is focused on the climate crisis. Through discussion meetups and showcase events, we work through the questions we all have - How can artists help in ways that are particular to art? Can art help shift people's mindsets? Should every artist become a 'climate artist'? What does that look like in our work and practices? How can art/artists be leveraged for greatest impact?

Viaduct Arts is a project of American photographer, educator, and organizer Bill Crandall. Full bio here.